Strange Problems with new WD3200AAJB Drive
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From: mcp6453 on 25 Jun 2008 09:12 I tried replacing the 160GB hard drive in my ReplayTV DVR with a brand new WD3200AAJB drive. Unfortunately, the AA drives are not compatible with the Replay 5000 series. (I have never had a problem replacing ReplayTV drives. The newer drives are largely incompatible, so the problems are now multiplying.) One of my computers has a real WD3200JB (non-AA) drive that DOES work with Replay, so I decided to reuse the AA drive by cloning the real drive to the AA drive and then using the AA drive as the boot drive in the Windows XP computer. When I installed the AA drive as the only drive in the system, the computer booted normally and everything worked well. Then I decided to run SpinRite on the new drive, just to be safe. SpinRite will not run. Regardless of which medium I boot from (floppy or CD), after I select the proper partition to scan, the program hangs at "Selecting Drive For Use..." after which "Working..." constantly flashes at the bottom of the screen. SpinRite works perfectly on this computer with the real drive installed. So it seems to me that maybe ReplayTV has written something to the drive that SpinRite doesn't like. That seems bizarre since SpinRite's purpose is to solve problems. Nevertheless, I decided to run FIXMBR from the Windows Recovery Console. Running FIXMBR reports that "This computer appears to have a non-standard or invalid master boot record." I let it run, and it reported that "The new master boot record has been successfully written." Next I ran FIXBOOT. "FIXBOOT cannot find the system drive, or the drive specified is not valid." (The BIOS still sees the drive.) Then I ran chkdsk. "The volume appears to contain one or more unrecoverable problems." (That's helpful.) My next exercise was to try to run Western Digital's Datalifeguard Tools, booting from the CD. Here's what happened: Int 13 Level Communications: Attempting Int 13 IO to drive 80 No Response ATA Level Communications: Attempting PM ATA Identify Nothing happens after that. Remember that the drive works perfectly in Windows. The drive is properly detected in the BIOS. Something really strange is happening here, so if there is anything going on related to ReplayTV, I hope someone can shed some light on the problem. Is it possible that Replay can write things to the drive that cannot be erased or reset, or am I just dealing with a defective drive? While the drive is still in warranty, I don't want to return it if there is something that I have done to it or if there is something that can be corrected in the field.
From: Arno Wagner on 25 Jun 2008 17:08 Previously mcp6453 <mcp6453(a)gmail.com> wrote: > I tried replacing the 160GB hard drive in my ReplayTV DVR with a brand > new WD3200AAJB drive. Unfortunately, the AA drives are not compatible > with the Replay 5000 series. (I have never had a problem replacing > ReplayTV drives. The newer drives are largely incompatible, so the > problems are now multiplying.) It might be a WD problem. WD drives have very bad compatibility. > One of my computers has a real WD3200JB (non-AA) drive that DOES work > with Replay, so I decided to reuse the AA drive by cloning the real > drive to the AA drive and then using the AA drive as the boot drive in > the Windows XP computer. When I installed the AA drive as the only drive > in the system, the computer booted normally and everything worked well. > Then I decided to run SpinRite on the new drive, just to be safe. > SpinRite will not run. Regardless of which medium I boot from (floppy or > CD), after I select the proper partition to scan, the program hangs at > "Selecting Drive For Use..." after which "Working..." constantly flashes > at the bottom of the screen. SpinRite works perfectly on this computer > with the real drive installed. SpinRite is essentially worthless today. > So it seems to me that maybe ReplayTV has written something to the drive > that SpinRite doesn't like. That seems bizarre since SpinRite's purpose > is to solve problems. Nevertheless, I decided to run FIXMBR from the > Windows Recovery Console. Running FIXMBR reports that "This computer > appears to have a non-standard or invalid master boot record." I let it > run, and it reported that "The new master boot record has been > successfully written." > Next I ran FIXBOOT. "FIXBOOT cannot find the system drive, or the drive > specified is not valid." (The BIOS still sees the drive.) > Then I ran chkdsk. "The volume appears to contain one or more > unrecoverable problems." (That's helpful.) > My next exercise was to try to run Western Digital's Datalifeguard > Tools, booting from the CD. Here's what happened: > Int 13 Level Communications: > Attempting Int 13 IO to drive 80 No Response > ATA Level Communications: > Attempting PM ATA Identify > Nothing happens after that. Remember that the drive works perfectly in > Windows. The drive is properly detected in the BIOS. Something really > strange is happening here, so if there is anything going on related to > ReplayTV, I hope someone can shed some light on the problem. > Is it possible that Replay can write things to the drive that cannot be > erased or reset, or am I just dealing with a defective drive? While the > drive is still in warranty, I don't want to return it if there is > something that I have done to it or if there is something that can be > corrected in the field. Theoretically, it could have set an ATA password. But unless SpinRite is completely demented, it should give an error message for that. It could also have set a host protected area. Again, this should result in an error message, but given that SpinRite is historical software at best, it may not. Arno
From: Brad Isaac on 9 Jul 2008 11:16 On Jun 25, 5:08 pm, Arno Wagner <m...(a)privacy.net> wrote: > Previously mcp6453 <mcp6...(a)gmail.com> wrote: Sort of off topic...but not too far. I have had spinrite going on a WD drive for the past week and it reports there is still 4169 hours left. That's almost 6 months! I bought the license for a client with the expectation it would take a month or less. But had no idea it would be 6 months. Do you think it's falsely reporting that time or what would you do?? Thanks
From: Arno Wagner on 9 Jul 2008 13:46 Previously Brad Isaac <BradIsaac(a)gmail.com> wrote: > On Jun 25, 5:08 pm, Arno Wagner <m...(a)privacy.net> wrote: >> Previously mcp6453 <mcp6...(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Sort of off topic...but not too far. I have had spinrite going on a > WD drive for the past week and it reports there is still 4169 hours > left. That's almost 6 months! > I bought the license for a client with the expectation it would take a > month or less. But had no idea it would be 6 months. Do you think > it's falsely reporting that time or what would you do?? SpinRite is practically useless today. Run a long SMART selftest, it does effectively the same. Arno
From: Brad Isaac on 9 Jul 2008 14:20
On Jul 9, 1:46 pm, Arno Wagner <m...(a)privacy.net> wrote: u think > > it's falsely reporting that time or what would you do?? > > SpinRiteis practically useless today. Run a long SMART selftest, > it does effectively the same. > > Arno Thanks. So I should stop this test and restart it with the SMART selftest? Also, why do you say useless? Is there something better? |