CMOS checksum error

Here is some explanation of my C partition comment from Radified
http://windows.radified.com/windows_xp_install.htm

"If you need some insights into how to partition your new hard drive, see my Partitioning Strategies. For a partitioning tutorial on how to use FDISK, none is better than Doc's FDISK guide (from Germany).

Personally, I prefer to format the first partition, and only the first partition, as FAT32. FAT32 is compatible with DOS, and you never know when you might need to load a DOS utility. NTFS is not compatible with DOS. I usually make this first partition 4-GB. You will still be able to use this partition just like any NTFS partition from Windows, so the space is not wasted.

The idea is to anticipate problems and leave yourself options down the road. More options are better than less options. Having a FAT32 partition on your system will give you more options. For security reasons, I do not install Windows to my C drive, which is the default install location.

Notice here, at Project Honeynet, where they tried to lure hackers, in order to observe their methods, that they used default installation of the operating system to configure the honeypot. In other words, if you want to attract hackers, install your O/S to the default partition (C drive). "

 

Could it be that Windows doesn't see the partitions because only the corrupted OS partition was set as active?

 

Hi Barry,

Thanks for the quoted info, I learn something every day, but it surprises me that in several years of using computers I've never seen this trick before.

Roger

 

Barry:

This may give you a little guidance and moral support.

 

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll try it out. Would you recommend that I download the DOS or the Windows version?

 

Barry:

I haven't got a clue. As stated earlier, I avoid 3rd party drive utilities like the plague for the very reasons you can now appreciate. Logically speaking, since you are FAT32 and can use DOS in that environment, its probably the better choice, however, if it were my machine I'd save all of my data to another drive or removable media and wipe the whole drive. In your case that will probably require FDISKing the MBR and the drive itself in another machine (you may have some trouble killing that EZ Drive from the machine its currently in). Again, thats my approach and doesn't mean that should be your approach - thats why I deferred on further comment. I don't and won't use things like EZ Drive.

Keep posting and if I spot something I can supplement with help, I'll respond, however, I'm not the guy to lead you through a fix on EZ Drive because of my lack of familiarity with it. Normal windows fixes and utilities probably aren't going to help you out here either. As long as EZ Drive is on there, you have to keep her as your dance partner.

 

Hi all
Ez-drive can be a real pain, but if it is removed all data will be lost due to differences in how it addresses the hdd and the cmos does. It could have been some how put onto the slave hdd and then could be disregarded. When the comp worked -dueing boot, EZ would have stopped and wait for you to select boot to hdd or floppy (may have had a time out). Did this happen ?

It might be possible that PM could be mistakeing a program such as Norton GoBack as EZ drive. (different fix required)

What program are you going to download ? Could not find it in prior posts.

Any 3rd party programs that might work would require us knowing for sure if we are dealing with EZ-drive ,GoBack or not.

Was one of the hdd first installed on a comp that might have required EZ-drive ? (likely a pre "2000" comp)

 

I will put in some thoughts.

The EZ Drive(Bios?) is probably installed in the MBR of the 120 Maxtor drive. I am not certain if the method has changed, but if the Maxtor setup instructions were used to partition the 120Gb drive it is likely that EZ Bios is installed in the MBR of that drive. Once the drives have their configuration changed, EZ Bios becomes corrupted and this ruins the MBR of the other HDDs in the configuration. I find EZ Bios works fine as long as the configuration is not changed. Unless you need a Dynamic Drive Overlay to overcome a size limitation of the computer's BIOS, don't use a DDO.

If you would like to try to recover the partition information of the 160Gb drive, I would run the Maxtor utilities and also the Seagate utilities. They have options to "back up" the MBR. Make a back up first, then you can try recovering the partition information.

The drives will probably need to be configured as they were when they were both working.

Check if there happens to be backups of the original partition information and try installing that/those.

The way I would try recovering the partitions is to run the EZ Bios installation again. You will then be back to where you started and you will find the same result if you change the configuration again. There is an option to uninstall EZ Bios in the Maxtor utilities. That may "fix" the Maxtor drive, but to fix the Seagate drive you may need to use the Seagate tools to repartition and reformat (Ghost/backup the data to image files on the 120GB drive, repartition and format, then ghost the drives back again and run the Win XP repair installation).

You may want to try booting to the Win XP Recovery Console and using the FixMBR command, but I have never known them to be able to repair EZ Bios corruption.

If you want to remove all the corrupted MBR information and start over, use the utilities of the respective drives to low-level format (zero fill) the HDDs. The Maxblast tools may force you to install EZ BIOS again, but once the drive is partitioned the way you want it, run the "Uninstall EZ Bios" utility.

The Maxtor utilities are Maxblast and Powermax, the Seagate utilities are Diskwizard and Seatools.

Matt

 

I'm not sure I am following everything here, but I'll do my best. TopFarmer, here is the program http://www.partition-recovery.com/. I believe that there may be a very slight delay on startup when it was looking for a CD to boot with, but then continues on its own. I ran a search for both GoBack and EZ. Nothing came up from the GoBack search. Here is what came up from the EZ search:
EzDll.dll ArcSoft/Photo Impression
ezrgb24.ax ArcSoft/Photo Impression
EzFile.dll ArcSoft/Video Impression
Ezpad delta force bhd
exsetup.ini delta force bhd
Both HDs were installed brand new on this computer, not an older one. By the way, Mattman, the 120GB is Western Digital, not Maxtor. The WD was new in 2003, while the Seagate is new now.
Mattman, I'm not sure what you mean by changing configuration. I never installed this program. It had to come with a HD. I know nothing about EZ Bios installation. I haven't made any backups of any partition on the Seagate, as I was still installing the drive and all its updates.
I hope all this was helpful.

 

Barry:

That search is basically meaningless because no part of the drive overlay is going to be found in any of your system or program files. EZ-Drive loads proprietary translation information on the boot hard drive giving the operating system access to the drive. Without this proprietary translation code loaded, the drive is unrecognizable to the operating system. Think of it like a communication "gatekeeper" for your hard drive(s) that gets loaded before anything else and runs transparently.

 

the 120g nor the 160g hdd should not have needed a Disk Drive Overlay (ez-drive). The only way for EZ to be installed is by using the setup program from the hdd manufacture, but it should have seen that it was not needed.

from Barry's last post
{but then continues on its own) that would indicate to me EZ is not installed.(?)

Ask you son if he installed Norton GoBack or any third party recovery program, my look like EZ to Pari

Have never used Active Partition Recovery, {I have used a similar free program (TESTDISK)}, but it just might fix the problem with the XP partition. I suspect its problem is in the Volume Boot Record data, but the site for Active PR can not tell if that function is in the Windows version only or if it in the Dos version also.

Try using a Win98 boot floppy diskette (any DOS boot floppy) and doing a DIR C: ,DIR D: ,etc ,what happens ?

Barry your post on "2 Days Ago 20:37" does have me confused. Especially

can you boot into XP or not ? Or how do you get into Disk Management with out booting into XP ? Or what have I missed ?

 

One of the things I hate most about computers is those hidden files. It's like the small print in legal contracts. I prefer clearly knowing up front what I am dealing with. I'm not into surprises after the fact. It's like relationships; if it is supposedly an asset, what is the reason to not clearly express it up front? I believe that the majority of things that slow down a computer aren't even necessary to have on the computer. Sorry for the venting.

 

No, your "venting" is good - that EZ-Drive stuff was originally designed for use with systems that couldn't see the entire capacity of a big drive (bigger than the operating system was able to read). It confuses Windows because its a proprietary translation code. This is well worth "venting" about. [and, well worth avoiding like the plague]

 

My son doesn't download anything other than games or 3-D graphic/animation programs. He isn't into programs to manipulate the computer.
There are two HDs on the computer. The 120GB drive is still fully functional, so I accessed disk management through that.
I'm not sure what a DIR C DIR D means. Is that something to type at the A prompt? Am I looking for the partitions on the 160gb or the 120gb.

 

Opps, I must have picked up "Maxtor" from one of the links. I am quite certain EZ-Bios and EZ-Drive are the same DDO program.

I am not very familiar with Lifeguard, but see this at the WD website:

Check if a version of Lifeguard with a version of 10 or earlier was used for setup of the drive. If you have, or can find, a version 10 Lifeguard or older, see if it has an "uninstall" for EZ-drive.

I would say that WD have "dumped" EZ-drive for just this reason. Every time someone that had it installed changed the drive configuration, it would do the same as you have found. IBM/Hitachi and Seagate also dumped the DDO programs.

Configuration...you had a setup like: 120Gb set as master on the primary IDE, 160Gb set as slave or secondary master, you then set the 160Gb drive as master on the primary IDE (changed the configuration). Configuration is the setting of the drives on the IDE controller channels.

Search and read a little about Dynamic Drive Overlays, that may help explain what has happened. The MBR is read by the computer's BIOS during startup. It is not read by Windows. It won't be downloaded, it will have been installed during the partitioning of the drive originally by an old version of Lifeguard.

Matt

 

Now for some more confusion. I didn't go with active@partition recovery, as it only allows you to view the drive with their free program. To actually do anything, you have to pay up front (no trial period), and their fee is more than my drive cost. I decided to check further with Partition Magic and did discover that there was a rescue disk available with my program. I ran it with only the Seagate attached. You'll never guess the results:
"Error #90
EZ-Drive has been detected on Drive 0, but EZ-Drive is corrupt. Run the EZ-Drive setup diskette to correct this problem. For EZ-Drive support contact your EZ-Drive provider. "

Here we were thinking that the problem was with the old drive, and now find out that it is with the new one.
Here is what Partition Magic Help says:
"Drive Overlay Software

Drive overlays, such as Ontrack DDO, Microhouse EZ-Drive or Pro-Drive, Maxblast, WD DDO, and Seagate DDO, provide your computer with access to larger disk drives. PartitionMagic is compatible with these programs only if the drive overlay program is loaded before PartitionMagic.
If you boot your computer from a disk, the overlay will not load, and PartitionMagic will not get the correct information from your drive. You can boot from a disk and still load the drive overlay by completing the following:

1 Start your computer as if you were going to boot from the hard disk.
2 Press <Space> or <Ctrl> when prompted.
3 The drive overlay information appears with an option of booting from a disk. Select this option and insert the boot disk when prompted. "

I don't quite follow these directions. It sounds like it is saying to start up the hard drive normally and wait for a prompt to press space or ctrl. Where is that supposed to be? Once this is done, what boot disk should be used? I am so grateful that the manufacturers make these things so user friendly.

I attempted to use the Seagate install CD to delete the first two partitions, but it wouldn't allow me to do so. All it seems to allow is to start all over again.
I hope this new information can spark some new ideas on how to handle this. I am getting close to just starting over from scratch, but, if I do, what is to prevent this from reoccurring?

 

The program that installs the DDO will put it onto the Boot HDD even if it is the non boot hdd that needs the DDO. If the DDO was not put onto the normal boot hdd one of a few reasons:
1) The boot drive is in the slave IDE position.
2) The boot drive was not in the system or turned off in bios when DDO was installed.

When installing the DDO the boot hdd MUST be first IDE and Master and hdd positions can NOT be changed. Also can NOT boot directly to the floppy or CD, must always boot to the Master hdd when you want to work with the hdd that requires the DDO.

"I don't quite follow these directions. It sounds like it is saying to start up the hard drive normally and wait for a prompt to press space or ctrl" as I previous posted the DDO "once it is looded from the first track of hdd" should ask if you want to boot the HDD or floppy.

"what boot disk should be used?" PM's ,after you get the prompt for input and select floppy.

If you get no prompt , there is no DDO or it is corrupt and needs to be reinstalled , onto the boot hdd not the slave where it seems to be.

Main thing that needs to be determined is if a DDO is needed.
1) is the Seagate 160g drive identified correctly by size in the BIOS ? as the slave hdd ?
if YES (to first question) DDO is likely not needed.
if NO - 1) check with mother board manufacture for a BIOS update
2) install a IDE card
3) last resort , install the DDO correctly.

Can not tell from your posts, is there anything on the Seagate 160g drive ?

If I read your post correctly- the 120g hdd will boot into XP with no problems ? IF yes- your prior post indicated it would not, what did you do ?

We MUST know just what is happening and why it has changed from a prior post, or you WILL get bad advice.

 

When I originally installed the Seagate hard drive, I had it jumpered to slave, and it was plugged into the center plug on the IDE cable, but the other drive wasn't attached to the computer during the install. I switched it to CS when it was suggested in this thread. The Seagate was working fine till it crashed, probably due to the dead CMOS battery, and did register correctly as 160GB. When it crashed, it didn't shut down properly, so the operating system partition became corrupted. I've been working ever since then to find a way to either repair that partition or reformat it and reinstall WinXP. My son has downloaded his Maya program and files onto one partition, along with movies, audio files, other operational programs and files. Everything can be reinstalled. I was just hoping to reinstall as little as possible. Only the OS partition is corrupt. All the other ones are still fine, though I don't have access to any of them. The 120g hdd continues to work without problems.
Unfortunately, I still don't quite follow your directions. Now that I've answered your questions, hopefully, you'll be able to guide me through this step by step. I assumed that the boot was put down on the first partition on the 160g hdd, but I can't guarantee that. I don't know what an IDE card is or how to reinstall the DDO.
I look forward to more direction. Thank you.

 

Mmmm...direction...let's do a review.
Rockster says he avoids DDOs like the plague. TopFarmer has offered looking at why a DDO should be needed and to use it as a last resort. My vote, I would like to try backing up the MBR and uninstalling the DDO, this has worked magic for me in the past.

I have just booted into Seagate Diskwizard (floppy type). In the Maintenance options I see:

I would back up the MBR, then use those tools to "remove" the DDO and then, maybe you would need to "update MBR boot code ". You will have a backup of the MBR, so just restore it if you seem to be having trouble.

Do a backup of the MBR, then, if you find a quick shortcut by using the tools you have saved yourself a lot of trouble by removing all the disk information for your drive and starting over (a final stage is a low level [zero] format...nothing is left on the HDD).

Matt

 

Barry:

You have me somewhat confused.

1. If I followed you correctly, you say the 160 is the new drive and the 120 is the old drive - please confirm.
2. The 160 is on the terminating (end) connector and the 120 is on the intermediate (middle) connector - please confirm.
3. Both drives are set to CS - please confirm.
4. Both drives have an independent installation of Windows XP on them - please confirm.
5. With both drives hooked up, you get a message that EZ-Drive on HDD 0 is corrupt - please confirm.

Now, you are speculating that the corrupt installation of the EZ-Drive is on the new 160 because Partition Magic is telling you this and with just the 120 installed by itself there is no problem booting and no problem with EZ-Drive. The problem only manifests itself when both drives are hooked up and then you get the message that EZ-Drive on the 160 is corrupt when you select it (you stated you get a prompt and have an option to boot from either HDD during the startup sequence) as the boot drive.

And, on to my confusion ...........

I still believe, as Mattman suggested several posts ago, that your EZ-Drive installation is on your 120. TopFarmer's knowledgeable comments on EZ-Drive appear to confirm this. I also think your problem started when you lost your drive geometry settings in the BIOS due to a bad battery. My guidance regarding setting both drives to CS may be a contributing factor to your current problem because this has introduced another change that quite possibly, EZ-Drive can't handle. So now, whats a guy to do?

My 2¢ ..... Unless you have some national security information on either of those drives, I'd wipe them both clean and lose the EZ-Drive. Then I'd start from scratch. I would never be comfortable with this situation even if Mattman or TopFarmer can figure out a way to get you out of your current dilemma. You or your son will be fighting this for the rest of this computer's life and "normal" Windows tools and utilities just plain aren't going to do squat for either of you. On another note, if you are interested in starting a local chapter of ADDOLTP*, I'll try to find some membership information.



ADDOLTP* - Avoid Dynamic Drive Overlays Like The Plague