Accessing HD by bypassing BIOS?
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From: Here and Kickin' on 10 Sep 2005 03:13 My mom's Seagate ST38421A died after my sister's kids installed a game on her computer (I do not think the kids caused the problem, however.) The HD was factory installed into a Compaq 5441, and my attempt to diagnose the problem is the first time that anyone has touched the innards of the PC since it was assembled at the factory approximately six years ago. The symptoms are a strange singing sound as the computer starts up (my mom says that the sound was present for a time before the drive failed; the sound is NOT the BIOS beeping). After trying to boot from the HD, the CD-ROM, and the floopy disk. the computer announces a boot problem, and asks me to provide a system disk. The HD is the only device connected to the second IDE controller of the computer. The motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-5SMM. What I've done: -Booted from drive A: system runs MS-DOS fine, but declares a "Invalid drive specification" when I try to switch over to C:. -Tried to use Compaq's restore disk, but the system could not find the HD; the restore program asks me whether I want to restore again or exit the program. -Swapped the drive into my working Compaq 5204; no sound, but same error. Same difficulties with accessing C: -Tried to see whether the BIOS in my mom's computer has a HD diagnostic function; it doesn't. (Just a fuction that allows me to choose the boot device order. Fooling around with that didn't change the error message.) The BIOS is from Award; according to the chip's label, it is "PCI/PNP"-aware, and has a sticker that says "1.2B". -Spent two nights downloading Debian Linux, burned the image on a CD-R, and tried to boot off the CD; the same boot error message popped up. -Downloaded Seagate's OS-independent diagnostic tool, and it doen't work because the BIOS apparently can't see the HD. The program can talk to the HD controllers, however. -Finally, I popped off the jumper on the drive that changed the connection from "cable select" to "slave". Booted from drive A:. The HD still could not be found. I cannot believe, aside from a possible mechanical problem that has caused a major malfunction/destruction of the HD's inner workings, that it is impossible to talk to the drive via software, somehow. Does anyone have a suggested solution, or should I give up? -d
From: Ge on 10 Sep 2005 10:45 Here and Kickin' wrote: > After trying to boot from the HD, the CD-ROM, and the floopy disk. the > computer announces a boot problem, and asks me to provide a system disk. Sounds like at least the boot partition of the HD is bad. Maybe the boot sector, too. Maybe even the HD... > The HD is the only device connected to the second IDE controller of the > computer. [...] > -Finally, I popped off the jumper on the drive that changed the connection > from "cable select" to "slave". Booted from drive A:. The HD still could > not be found. If the HD is the only device, it should probably be either "cable select" (if you have a cable that supports this) and be connected to the master port, or it should be "master" or "single" (if that option is provided in the jumper settings). In any case, /not/ "slave". > -Booted from drive A: system runs MS-DOS fine, but declares a "Invalid > drive specification" when I try to switch over to C:. If the partition is toast, you won't be able to switch to it. You could try to repartition the drive (fdisk). > -Tried to use Compaq's restore disk, but the system could not find the HD; > the restore program asks me whether I want to restore again or exit the > program. This might work better after repartitioning the drive with another tool. I don't like Compaq's software... It's so "either it works as planned by Compaq or it doesn't, but if it doesn't, you're pretty much lost" :) > -Swapped the drive into my working Compaq 5204; no sound, but same error. > Same difficulties with accessing C: Same as above: if the partition is bad, you won't be able to access it in the normal way. > -Downloaded Seagate's OS-independent diagnostic tool, and it doen't work > because the BIOS apparently can't see the HD. The program can talk > to the HD controllers, however. That's odd. But I'd still try to repartition the disk (delete all partitions, and then create at least one new partition). MS-DOS fdisk can do that (usually). It still could be that the HD is bad. This is not unheard of... I've got a few of those lying around here :) Gerhard
From: Iago on 10 Sep 2005 11:55 Here and Kickin' wrote: > My mom's Seagate ST38421A died after my sister's kids installed a game on > her computer (I do not think the kids caused the problem, however.) The > HD was factory installed into a Compaq 5441, and my attempt to diagnose > the problem is the first time that anyone has touched the innards of the > PC since it was assembled at the factory approximately six years ago. > The symptoms are a strange singing sound as the computer starts up (my mom > says that the sound was present for a time before the drive failed; the > sound is NOT the BIOS beeping). After trying to boot from the HD, the > CD-ROM, and the floopy disk. the computer announces a boot problem, and > asks me to provide a system disk. > > My mom's Seagate ST38421A is the only device connected to the second IDE controller of the > computer. The motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-5SMM. > > What I've done: > > -Booted from drive A: system runs MS-DOS fine, but declares a "Invalid > drive specification" when I try to switch over to C:. > > -Tried to use Compaq's restore disk, but the system could not find the HD; > the restore program asks me whether I want to restore again or exit the > program. > > -Swapped the drive into my working Compaq 5204; no sound, but same error. > Same difficulties with accessing C: > > > Does anyone have a suggested solution, or should I give up? If you can find another ST38421A swap the electronics of the two drives. I never tried this but there is a chance your mom's data is still intact, only not accessible. >
From: Odie Ferrous on 10 Sep 2005 15:04 Iago wrote: > > Here and Kickin' wrote: > > My mom's Seagate ST38421A died after my sister's kids installed a game on > > her computer (I do not think the kids caused the problem, however.) The > > HD was factory installed into a Compaq 5441, and my attempt to diagnose > > the problem is the first time that anyone has touched the innards of the > > PC since it was assembled at the factory approximately six years ago. > > The symptoms are a strange singing sound as the computer starts up (my mom > > says that the sound was present for a time before the drive failed; the > > sound is NOT the BIOS beeping). After trying to boot from the HD, the > > CD-ROM, and the floopy disk. the computer announces a boot problem, and > > asks me to provide a system disk. > > > > My mom's Seagate ST38421A is the only device connected to the second IDE controller of the > > computer. The motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-5SMM. > > > > What I've done: > > > > -Booted from drive A: system runs MS-DOS fine, but declares a "Invalid > > drive specification" when I try to switch over to C:. > > > > -Tried to use Compaq's restore disk, but the system could not find the HD; > > the restore program asks me whether I want to restore again or exit the > > program. > > > > -Swapped the drive into my working Compaq 5204; no sound, but same error. > > Same difficulties with accessing C: > > > > > > > Does anyone have a suggested solution, or should I give up? > > If you can find another ST38421A swap the electronics of the two > drives. I never tried this but there is a chance your mom's data is > still intact, only not accessible. > > It sounds to me more like a r/w head problem. Try an identical logic board by all means (with this particular drive you don't necessarily risk damaging it further) but be prepared to pay silly money to have it recovered. Not an easy recovery at all if it is indeed the r/w heads. Odie -- Retrodata www.retrodata.co.uk Globally Local Data Recovery Experts
From: Rod Speed on 10 Sep 2005 15:14 Here and Kickin' <carthell(a)charm.net> wrote: > My mom's Seagate ST38421A died after my sister's kids installed a > game on her computer (I do not think the kids caused the problem, > however.) The HD was factory installed into a Compaq 5441, and my > attempt to diagnose the problem is the first time that anyone has > touched the innards of the PC since it was assembled at the factory > approximately six years ago. > The symptoms are a strange singing sound as the computer starts up (my mom > says that the sound was present for a time before the drive failed; the sound > is NOT the BIOS beeping). That is likely the drive recalibrating when it cant read the platters. > After trying to boot from the HD, the CD-ROM, and the floopy disk. the > computer announces a boot problem, and asks me to provide a system disk. > The HD is the only device connected to the second IDE controller of > the computer. The motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-5SMM. > What I've done: > -Booted from drive A: system runs MS-DOS fine, but declares a "Invalid drive > specification" when I try to switch over to C:. > -Tried to use Compaq's restore disk, but the system could not find the HD; the > restore program asks me whether I want to restore again or exit the program. > -Swapped the drive into my working Compaq 5204; no sound, but same error. Same > difficulties with accessing C: > -Tried to see whether the BIOS in my mom's computer has a HD > diagnostic function; it doesn't. (Just a fuction that allows me to > choose the boot device order. Fooling around with that didn't change > the error message.) The BIOS is from Award; according to the chip's > label, it is "PCI/PNP"-aware, and has a sticker that says "1.2B". > -Spent two nights downloading Debian Linux, burned the image on a > CD-R, and tried to boot off the CD; the same boot error message > popped up. > -Downloaded Seagate's OS-independent diagnostic tool, and it doen't > work because the BIOS apparently can't see the HD. The program can > talk to the HD controllers, however. Then the drive has died and since its dead your PC too, it isnt something basic like the ribbon cable, power or even the motherboard controller. > -Finally, I popped off the jumper on the drive that changed the > connection from "cable select" to "slave". Booted from drive A:. The HD still > could not be found. All that indicates that the drive had died, particularly its invisible to the Seagate diagnostic. > I cannot believe, aside from a possible mechanical problem that has > caused a major malfunction/destruction of the HD's inner workings, > that it is impossible to talk to the drive via software, somehow. If the logic card fails, nothing will be able to see it. > Does anyone have a suggested solution, or should I give up? Since you're trying so hard, presumably the data hasnt been backed up properly. It may be possible to get the data back by swapping the logic card from a known good identical model.
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