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From: Ben Myers on 15 Oct 2009 00:40
DaveJohnson12(a)nomail. wrote:
> On Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:55:34 -0400, Ben Myers <ben_myers(a)charter.net> wrote:
>
>> DaveJohnson12(a)nomail. wrote:
>>> On Tue, 13 Oct 2009 22:18:14 -0400, Ben Myers <ben_myers(a)charter.net> wrote:
>>>
>>>> DaveJohnson12(a)nomail. wrote:
>>>>> On Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:05:54 -0400, Ben Myers <ben_myers(a)charter.net> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> DaveJohnson12(a)nomail. wrote:
>>>>>>> On Tue, 13 Oct 2009 00:11:03 -0400, Ben Myers <ben_myers(a)charter.net> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> DaveJohnson12(a)nomail. wrote:
>>>>>>>>> It's an Optiplex 755 with Windows XP pro SP2.
>>>>>>>>> I get a blue screen saying Windows has detected an error and is shutting down to protect the
>>>>>>>>> computer. The screen did not list any drivers as causing an issue.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> I called Dell tech support. They had me run diagonostics. No hardware problems.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> The computer boots in safe mode. For some reason there are no restore points though it's set up to
>>>>>>>>> use 18GB of space for restore points. ;-) Dell recommends reinstalling the OS.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Any suggestions on correcting the problem would be appreciated. :-)
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> I was going to burn data to DVDs but Nero cannot find any DVD burners, probably because it only runs
>>>>>>>>> in safe mode. I have backups but they are so disorganized that it would be much easer to copy what
>>>>>>>>> data is on the computer now.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> I'm planning to buy another hard disk, install Windows on it and copy the data from the old hard
>>>>>>>>> drive to the new one, then reformat and reinstall Windows on the old hard disk if necessary.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> I haven't yet found a good place to buy the specific hard drive I want. Please see my other post if
>>>>>>>>> you have any recommendations about that.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Thank you.
>>>>>>>> Run the DRIVE MANUFACTURER'S diagnostics, downloaded from the mfr's web
>>>>>>>> site, on the hard drive. Dell's diagnostics do a quick sanity check on
>>>>>>>> the drive, not at all thorough. Also run HDAT2, a free download, to
>>>>>>>> examine the SMART data on the drive.
>>>>>>> I downloaded Seatools. It's a seagate hard drive. Unfortunately I could not install it.
>>>>>>> The computer will only boot in safe mode and software can't be installed in safe mode.
>>>>>>> I tried a diagnostic startup and it would not boot like that either.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> If you can wait until a new drive arrives, do so, unless the drive
>>>>>>>> diagnostics show the drive as A-OK. Then copy whatever data possible
>>>>>>> >from the old drive to the new one, after installing Windows.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> It looks like that is what I will do.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Any complaint about unusual performance by one of my clients gets me to
>>>>>>>> run diagnostics first, screw around with Windows afterward. If one does
>>>>>>>> otherwise, he is peeing in his own soup, to quote an old Slavic saying.
>>>>>>> lol good one. I never noticed any performance problem or any other kind of problem. I had the
>>>>>>> computer running for a while and when I came back to it the blue screen was there. Thanks.
>>>>>> You need a version of SeaTools that is self-booting and runs under DOS.
>>>>> If it's self booting, does that mean it somehow causes DOS to run? Is DOS included in the
>>>>> self-booting version?
>>>>>
>>>>>> Seagate has SeaTools downloads for a bootable CD (ISO file) or a
>>>>>> bootable floppy. Your CD burning software needs to be able to burn an
>>>>>> ISO file correctly. If your system does not have a built-in floppy
>>>>>> drive, an USB floppy drive will do.
>>>>> Do I have to change something in the BIOS to get the computer to boot from a CD. I don't
>>>>> have a floppy drive.
>>>>>
>>>>> I think HDAT2 also boots from a CD.
>>>>>
>>>>> I have Nero 6. I think that can burn from an ISO file though I have never done that.
>>>>>
>>>>>> For me, a blue screen almost always deserves to have the computer run
>>>>>> hard drive diagnostics. if you look through the descriptions of BSODs
>>>>>> on the Microsoft web site, they are as sketchy as can be. The
>>>>>> programmers dreamt up something to satisfy managers flogging their
>>>>>> backs, but they are rarely of much help... Ben Myers
>>>>> I believe you. Thank you.
>>>> Self-booting means that it has enough of MS-DOS (or FreeDOS or Caldera
>>>> DOS or IBM-DOS) to boot and run the diagnostic software.
>>> Cool.
>>>
>>>> With most Dells these days, you hit the F12 key to call up the menu that
>>>> offers the choice to boot from CD, hard drive, floppy drive (if
>>>> available), etc.
>>> Very convenient.
>>>
>>>> Download HDAT2 4.5.2, the latest non-demo version of the software. It,
>>>> like SeaTools, is available in both ISO format for CDs and a file that
>>>> builds a bootable floppy.
>>> I think I might wait until I have copied my data from the drive before running HDAT2.
>>>
>>>> I have not used Nero 6 in a long time. I know that some of the OEM
>>>> versions of Nero are somewhat crippled, and may not burn an ISO file
>>>> correctly, so that the CD boots. As very servicable alternatives, I
>>>> recommend CDBurnerXP (works with Win 2000 and Vista, too) and ImgBurn,
>>>> both free downloads. CDBurnerXP requires .NET 2.0 to install and run.
>>>>
>>>> ... Ben Myers
>>> I tried Nero 6. It worked. Some of the OEM versions only allow you to use Nero Express
>>> which has fewer features.
>>>
>>> Thanks for all the detailed information.
>>>
>>> I tried booting from the Seatools boot CD.
>>>
>>> There was some information about FreeDOS then there was some kind of an error. It said:
>>>
>>> getFATblock failed: 0x000000E8
>>> Interrupt divide by zero, stack:
>>> 03C0 0000
>>> and some more 4 character sequences. It looks like an error in the Seatools program but
>>> I'm not sure.
>>>
>>> I think I will try running Seatools for Windows from the a new hard disk that I ordered
>>> once I get Windows installed on it. Then I will try HDAT2. Thank you.
>>>
>> I have two versions of Seatools for DOS. One has a Windows-like GUI
>> interface and the other is text-only with mouse support. Sometimes one
>> works. Sometimes the other. Neither Seagate nor Western Digital has
>> its act completely together with hard drive diagnostics.
>
> Oh I see. It's possible that the GUI thing is causing the problem. I should have realized
> that because I read something about it on their site. I'll try the text version.
>
>> I only run the WD Data Lifeguard diagnostic from floppy, because a CD
>> with their ISO simply does not work. When I reported the problem to WD,
>> their tech support told me I had a bad download, that my system's BIOS
>> was the problem, and made every excuse possible. I told the idiots that
>> I downloaded it several times and tried it, and that their diagnostic CD
>> fails on every system I ever used it on, including Intel-brand
>> motherboards. WD customer support needs to learn how to deal with real
>> live customers.
>
> I don't think WD's customer support people work for WD. I had to get them to escalate my
> call yesterday to level 2 in order to talk to someone who could accurately answer my
> question. They connected me to someone in the US at their corporate headquarters.
>
>> You might even run HDAT2 from bootable CD even before you switch drives.
>> It will give you a good indication of the overall health of the drive
>> and how much time it may have left. Seagate manages to mung up some of
>> the SMART values (as do other drive manufacturers), but you'll recognize
>> them because the values are so outrageous. SMART is supposed to be an
>> industry standard. HA! Someone should inform the drive manufacturers.
>>
>> ... Ben Myers
>
> The only reason I'm thinking about waiting until I copy my data before using HDAT2 is I
> don't know much about the software and there might be some small risk of messing up the
> hard disk worse than it is. I won't be using the hard disk again until I copy data from
> it. Just in case it is about to fail completely I think I might also wait until I copy my
> data before trying the text version of Seatools. Thanks for all your help.
>
>

As with any troublesome hard drive, the risk is that it will spin up
this time, but never again. And nobody can quantify the risk. I guess
I agree that you need to play safe here... Ben
From: William R. Walsh on 19 Oct 2009 00:54
Hi!

> No the newest chipset I have in my old computers is the Intel 440 BX. ;-)
> :-)

Hey, if they're useful, why not? I'm sitting next to an HP Vectra VL Pentium
II/450 that's humming away nicely on Windows 2000.

And I recently built something out of a Pentium Pro-based Vectra VA Series
6/200. Something that, as it turned out, could do more than hold its own
against an Apple Time C[r]apsule:

http://greyghost.mooo.com/timecapsule-vs-freenas/

Good luck! I hope you get things up and going again.

William


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