IDE hdd about to crash?

wouldn't ya know it... bosses computer goes 2 days out of warranty, and starts having problems. Computer is a Asus A7PRO motherboard with a 850 Thunderbird, 256mb RAM, 20 gig Fijitsu (sp?) hdd. Locked up and wouldn't get any further than detecting the drives, then flashed the " Hard Disc Failure ".... not a good thing to see when you #1 have no recent backup on CD, and what backup you do have is on another partition.Booted with the boot disc, and loaded cd drivers, at A:, I type in C:+ent and it says invalid drive.
Did manage to get the drive to boot in another computer as a slave and retieved all the vital data <book keeping/job related software>, re installed the drive as a master, and it booted into windows <running ME btw> . Was this just a fluke, or is it a sign of the hdd about to go DOA on me? The hdd is not making any death rattles, so I'm not really sure how to diagnose this one.I'm thinking it may be safer to get a new drive and reload, but I thought I'd get some input from you guys. TIA as always.

 

About all you can do is try running FDISK /mbr to see if you can restore the Master Boot Record. If you have it installed as the primary master the above command is correct. Just boot to a start-up or boot disk with utilities and from the A:> prompt type FDISK /MBR and press enter. If you get no screen message and it returns ti the A: prompt that's normal.

Now if you still have it in the other machine as a slave do this command, FDISK /CMBR 2and press enter. That will direct it to the #2 drive. Then take it out and try to boot it.

Try both ways, you have nothing to lose.

Other than that, I can tell you I have one just like it that will operate fine as a slave but won't boot as master. I figure it's something wrong with the onboard hardware (controller board) and you're may have the same problem.

Be happy you were able to retrieve the data.

Good luck and post back your results please.

 

You might want to download and run Fujitsu's drive diagnostic program - couldn't hurt.

 

Good idea Cliffh

http://www.fujitsu.ca/download/hard_drive.html

 

THANKS Guys!!!!!!!!! I appreciate the input... I am assuming that also wipes the master boot record (MBR) ? I don't care about the data on it now that I recovered it, but I want to see if the drive is still usable.
Thanks again.

 

No, it doesn't wipe the MBR, it replaces it with a backup copy that dos stores for the purpose. It's very useful for instances like this. Also good for when you get a boot sector virus.

 

Ok... gotcha. Got any links regarding the mbr?

 

About all you need to know is MicroSoft explanation and some further elaboration here.

 

Zephyr Thank You sir!
I'm not perfect, but I do try to learn something everyday with these computers.
Thanks again for a great place on the web like this and to people who help the rest of us out... maybe one day we can repay the favor

 

I had that problem off and on for 6 months on a Maxtor. I was getting ready to send it back. I removed the side of the case and touched the power connector at hd - it would respond by failing. Swapped the connector with the cd and it's run like a champ since. A longshot, but who knows.

 

You're welcome »â„¢Ã‘¡ckÅ¡FË4X« and I hope you solve that drive problem so we can all learn something.

dmz1967 may have something there, look for any possible bad socket connection, pins bent or pushed back through the socket. Also check to see that the jumper is good, the guts sometimes fall out of those things and it becomes nothing but a piece of plastic. Check for a damaged ribbon cable.

I have had all of the above happen at one time or the other so look hard and long for something easy to fix.

Did you try the FDISK /MBR or FDISK /CMBR 2 command?

When you run FDISK does it recognize the second drive and if so can you repartition and format it?

Do you have the drive diagnostic program from the web site of the manufacturer? If so what did it say about the drive's condition?

Lot's of questions so keep the info coming. Try to report everything you see, the details are important in tracking this down.

Regards