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1. How do I copy data from an old drive to a
new drive without reinstalling Windows?
Reader: I want to replace my primary
IDE hard drive with a larger capacity one. Is
there a way to copy the data on it to the new
drive without having to reinstall Windows?
Computer Doctor: Yes, install the new drive
as a primary slave, or a secondary master or
slave, and then you can use a program like
DriveCopy by PowerQuest
http://www.powerquest.com to copy everything
over. Some IDE hard drives also come with their
own drive-copying program. If you didn't get a
utility disk with your IDE drive, check with the
manufacturer's web site to see if you can download
a utility program to perform this task for you. In
my experience, though, I find that DriveCopy is
faster and better than the drive manufacturer's
freebies.
Be sure to check the copy software instructions
carefully to see how to connect the old and new
drives to your system. You may need to disconnect
any other drives temporarily until the files are
transferred.
2. Do I need a BIOS update to use the full
capacity of a drive larger than 2.1 GB?
Reader: I have just installed a large
IDE hard drive, but after jumpering it the BIOS
detects it as having only 2.1GB of capacity. Do I
need a BIOS update to use the full capacity of the
drive?
Computer Doctor: It may be necessary, but
first you should make sure that you have used the
correct information for setting the jumpers. Many
drive makers supply two sets of instructions: one
set of jumper settings is used for systems whose
BIOSes can use the drive's full capacity, and a
second set of settings that may be referred to as
"spare" or "alternate" or "reduced capacity".
These settings reduce the reported size of the
drive to 2.1GB to allow older systems to use the
drive, but you must use a program like EZ-BIOS or
Disk Manager to access the full capacity of the
drive in these cases; I recommend a BIOS upgrade
or BIOS helper card instead.
Make sure you are using the normal jumper
settings, and if you are unable to use them
successfully (the computer still won't recognize
the full capacity or locks up when it tries to
access the drive), get a BIOS upgrade or a BIOS
helper card instead.
3. Why won't PartitionMagic make a partition
larger than 2.1 GB?
Reader: I installed a 20GB hard drive
in a system. I partitioned the drive with DOS
6.22's FDISK program and although FDISK sees the
entire drive, the largest active partition that
FDISK can make is about 2GB. And, after I
formatted the partition, FDISK reports the total
drive size as 8GB. What happened to the missing
12GB? Do I have a BIOS limitation or what?
Computer Doctor: Since FDISK originally saw
the entire capacity of the drive, the BIOS isn't
the issue. You've run into two limitations that
DOS 6.22 imposes on hard drive sizes. The first
limitation is that DOS 6.22 cannot recognize a
drive larger than 8.4GB (even if your BIOS can);
the second limitation is that a single partition
can't be larger than 2.1GB. These limitations are
also shared by the original Windows 95 and the 95a
release. You need Win95B or newer (Win98, Me, NT4,
2000) to support your entire drive properly.
4. How should I jumper two drives on the same
system?
Reader: Which setup allows my hard
drives to run faster – 1) two drives, each on its
own IDE cable; or, 2) two drives set as master and
slave or cable select on one cable?
Computer Doctor: Your drives will run
faster if each IDE drive is on a separate cable,
both as master. Your CD-ROM or CD-RW drives can be
connected as slave to either cable.
5. Can I revert a FAT32 drive to FAT16?
Reader: I have converted my drive from
the FAT16 file system to FAT32 because FAT32 is
faster. However, I now want to convert back to
FAT16. Can I make this conversion?
Computer Doctor: Yes, you can, although all
recent Windows programs support FAT32. There are
two ways to switch a FAT32 drive back to FAT 16.
If you use FDISK, you must back up your drive,
remove all existing partitions and then
repartition the drive from scratch as either FAT16
or FAT32.
After market programs like Partition Magic
http://www.powerquest.com can convert existing
partitions from FAT16 to FAT32 and back. The
converter included with Windows only goes one way
(FAT16 to FAT32).
6. My Windows performance has really degraded
over time. Should I reformat and reinstall Windows
to reclaim the performance my computer has lost?
Reader: There are times when my screen
freezes up, ( the mouse won't move, I can't type,
etc.) but if I wait a while it will correct itself
and everything will work....Do you know how I can
fix this inconvenience?
Computer Doctor: As you use a Windows
system over several months and years, installing
and de-installing various files and programs, it
seems that several remnant drivers and files
remain and end up clogging up the system, causing
problems. Normally the best way to solve this is
to annually perform a refresh on the system. This
involves several steps:
-
Backup all data (and data only).
-
Completely wipe out the bootable hard disk
by either using a low-level format utility, or a
program like the WIPEDISK function in the Norton
Utilities, or by simply using FDISK to remove
the existing bootable partition.
-
Install Windows FROM SCRATCH. Use an
original OEM or retail CD, preferably not an
upgrade version.
-
Reinstall all Windows updates which apply to
your version of Windows
-
Re-install all of your hardware drivers
(video, lan, etc.), using latest versions.
-
Re-install all of your applications.
-
Reload your data files from backup.
This sounds like a lot of work, and it is.
Unfortunately it is the best way to "reset" a
Windows system and get back to a known good state
of operations.
7. Why does my computer report that the
operating system is missing?
Reader: What would cause a computer to
display the "Missing Operating System" error
message when I turn it on?
Computer Doctor: The message "missing
operating system" is displayed by your Master Boot
Record (MBR) boot code after it reads the
partition table (also contained in the MBR) to
determine which partition is bootable and where it
starts, and then reads the first sector, called
the Volume Boot Record (VBR) of the partition
(which contains the operating system boot code)
and that sector doesn't end with the signature
bytes "55AAh".
Now several things can cause this:
-
Drive parameters entered in the BIOS Setup
are incorrect or corrupted. These are the
parameters defining your drive that you entered
in the BIOS Setup, and which are stored in a
CMOS RAM chip powered by a battery on your
motherboard. Wrong parameters will cause the MBR
program to translate differently and read the
wrong VBR, thus displaying the missing operating
system message.
A dead battery can also cause this, since that
will lose or corrupt the stored CHS (Cylinder
Head Sector), translation and transfer mode
parameters. In fact a dead battery is probably
the most likely cause. To repair, check and/or
replace the CMOS battery, run the BIOS Setup, go
to the hard drive parameter screen, and enter
the correct drive parameters, preferably exactly
what had been entered before for that drive.
Save and reboot.
-
Drive is new, or not yet partitioned and
formatted on this system. To repair, run the
BIOS Setup, enter the correct drive parameters
(use autodetect if this is supported by the
BIOS), save and exit. Boot to an OS startup disk
(floppy or CD), and run the FDISK program to
partition the drive into one or more volumes
(drive letters). Reboot again from the startup
disk, and then run the FORMAT command on each
volume created. For the first volume, use
"FORMAT C: /S" to copy the system files onto the
volume and make it bootable. Then continue with
the OS installation.
-
MBR and/or partition tables are corrupted.
This can be caused by boot sector viruses among
other things. To repair, COLD (power off, then
on) boot from a known non-infected, write
protected floppy containing the FDISK program
from the same OS as on your hard drive. Enter "FDISK
/MBR" at the command prompt, which will recopy
the MBR code, but not alter the partition table.
Reboot. If the message still persists, you will
then either need to rebuild the partition tables
from scratch using a 3rd party utility like the
DISKEDIT program included with the Symantec
Norton Utilities, or hire a data recover
specialist who can do this for you, or
repartition the drive using FDISK, then
re-FORMAT and reinstall the OS and everything
else from scratch.
-
VBR is corrupted, doesn't end in 55AAh. To
repair, secure a bootable floppy created by the
same OS version as is on the hard disk, and
containing the SYS command from that OS. Run
"SYS C:", which will recopy a good VBR and
system files to the volume.
8. Scandisk reports that every cluster on my
drive is bad? Should I believe this?
Reader: I just installed a 40GB hard
disk and decided to run Scandisk on the drive.
After about 3/4 of the drive has been tested,
every cluster is listed as bad. Should I believe
what Scandisk is reporting?
Computer Doctor: There are problems with
Scandisk on Windows 95 and Windows 98 and large
drives. See the link below for more information
and for an updated version.
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q243/4/50.ASP
Note that this problem affects only the
protected-mode (graphical) version of ScanDisk.
The real-mode version of ScanDisk does not exhibit
this problem. As a workaround, you can boot to a
command prompt and run ScanDisk in real mode,
which is something I usually recommend anyway. I
recommend you ditch Scandisk and use something
better like the Norton Utilities or Norton System
Works. <g>
I recommend you check the Microsoft Knowledge Base
for any questions or problems concerning Microsoft
products. There is a wealth of information there,
especially related to quirks, bugs, limitations,
defects, etc. of Microsoft products.
9. My computer shuts down while I'm working.
What is causing this?
Reader: I am running Windows 98. I've
noticed that when I am typing a letter in either
my email client or my word processor and the time
goes beyond the time I set my hard drive to shut
down in the Screen Saver tab for the Energy saving
settings, my hard drive actually shuts down while
I am still typing away. It's only when I use my
mouse to left click on something that I can hear
my hard drive start up again. As long as I am
using my keyboard, why does it go into its
shutdown mode? Is this normal for Windows 98?
Computer Doctor: It's normal for the drive
to go into standby mode after an elapsed period of
time with no disk activity. Keyboard or mouse
activity doesn't matter, only whether the drive is
accessed or not. Clicking on icons or menu
selections causes Windows to read data from the
drive, hence the drive spins up. If you typed a
command that accessed the drive, the same thing
would happen, the drive would spin up. Only the
screen is kept awake by keyboard or mouse activity
alone.
10. Some of my drives are running in DOS
Compatibility Mode. How do I run these devices at
normal speed?
Reader: I recently tried to add a CD-RW
drive to an older Pentium 133MHz Aptiva computer.
I connected the drive to the same IDE cable as the
hard disk, and now both the hard disk and CD-RW
drive are running in the painfully slow "DOS
Compatibility mode". How can I run these devices
at normal speed?
Computer Doctor: You may not be able to.
Several older IDE controllers, including one that
may be in your Aptiva, had problems running
different devices on the same channel at different
speeds or in different modes, or had problems
running devices on separate channels in different
modes.
A hard disk drive may be in DOS Compatibility Mode
for several reasons. I recommend that you read the
following article available at Microsoft's web
site about this problem:
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q130/1/79.asp
Device drivers, boot-sector viruses, unrecognized
hard disk controllers, resource conflicts,
incorrect use of troubleshooting options, missing
or damaged Windows device drivers for IDE or SCSI
ports, using controllers which cannot handle
mixing and matching of real-mode and
protected-mode devices, and incompatible hardware
questions are are covered in this excellent
article.
See if you can get a protected mode driver for
your CD-R device, and make sure you are running it
on the secondary IDE channel. If this doesn't
help, then you may have to either live with this
or purchase a separate IDE card so you now have an
additional IDE controller on which to run the CD-R
device. This would then allow your built-in IDE
controller to use the protected mode drivers.
11. How can I manually set up a large disk
that doesn't support autodetect?
Reader: What is the correct way to
manually set up a hard disk greater that 528MB in
a BIOS which doesn't have the Auto drive type?
I've read about LBA mode translation but am not
sure if I'm supposed to change the Head, Cylinder,
and Sectors per Track numbers myself or if the
system does it for me.
Computer Doctor: All drives larger than
528MB should be running in LBA mode for use with
DOS or Windows; some versions of Linux and NetWare
don't use LBA mode. If your system has LBA mode
support in the BIOS, always enter the
manufacturer's listings for cylinders, heads, and
sectors per track, then select LBA as the
translation type. On some systems, the LBA mode
setting is not on the same screen as the rest of
the hard drive information.
For example, if your drive's physical parameters
are:
Cyls: 8,896
Heads: 16
Sectors: 63
-------------------------
Total Sectors: 8,967,168
The correct logical parameters would then be:
Cyls: 556 = (integer(8896/16))
Heads: 256 = (16*16)
Sectors: 63
-------------------------
Total Sectors: 8,967,168
This conversion is made automatically when you
select LBA mode; always enter the physical,
not the logical values into the BIOS setup screen.
The algorithm the BIOS uses to calculate logical
drive parameters is simple, divide the physical
cylinder count by multiples of two until it is
less than or equal to 1024, take the integer of
that number, and then multiply the physical heads
by the same number you divided the cylinder count
by. The sector count number is carried over
unchanged.
12. How will ideinfo.arj help me with my hard
disk?
Reader: Your "Upgrading and Repairing
PCs" 8th Edition suggested getting ideinfo.arj
from www.de.ee. I did, only I don't know what to
do with it.
Computer Doctor: It first must be
uncompressed, after that you can run it. All that
program will do is tell you the factory Cylinder
Head Sector (C/H/S) specifications for your drive.
These are what should be entered in your CMOS
setup, and they can also normally be read right
off of the sticker on the top of the drive.
13. What do I do when I get messages telling
me that my hard drive is invalid?
Reader: I'm trying to solve I disk
problem. I have an AT type PC with a 1.5 GB hard
drive. The FAT or other disk info is either
missing or invalid because when I try to access
the C: drive, I get an error message, reading
"drive C is invalid, abort, retry or fail". FDISK
gives me the same message. MIRROR /PARTN and
UNFORMAT /PARTN seemed to work OK. DEVSPACE /LIST
said I have a floppy drive (A) and a hard drive
(C) with 4096 MB, but the drive is actually 1.5
MB.
Computer Doctor: OK, it sounds like either
your CMOS parameters are messed up, or your Master
Boot Sector is damaged, or your DOS boot sector(s)
are damaged, or your File Allocation Table is
damaged. It is also possible you have a failing
drive or cable problem. This will be difficult to
troubleshoot via email or the phone. I suggest you
fully check out your drive, check every aspect of
the installation (CMOS parameters, cabling,
jumpering, etc.), then you'll need a utility
package like the Norton Utilities from Symantec to
evaluate the rest of the drive.
I hope you have a backup, because in the worst
case situation you have a dead drive, or one which
will need to be reformatted and everything
reinstalled from the ground up!
14. What does it mean when I get an Ultra DMA
mode-2 S.M.A.R.T. error at startup?
Reader: I am receiving error messages
at boot, reading "Ultra DMA mode-2 S.M.A.R.T.
Capable but disabled." The line immediately
preceding reads, "Pri Master : 9517 FUJITSU
MPA3035ATU" I'm not sure if this is connected. Can
you tell me what's going on?
Computer Doctor: This is not really an
error message, it's an informational message.
S.M.A.R.T. stands for Self-Monitoring, Analysis
and Reporting Technology. This is a recent feature
that provides near-term failure prediction for
disc drives. When S.M.A.R.T. is enabled, the drive
monitors predetermined drive attributes that are
susceptible to degradation over time. If a failure
is likely to occur, S.M.A.R.T. makes a status
report available so that the host BIOS or driver
software can prompt the user to back up the data
on the drive. Obviously not all failures are
predictable, and S.M.A.R.T. predictability is
limited to the attributes the drive can monitor,
attributes which are pre-determined by the drive
manufacturer and cannot be modified.
15. Is S.M.A.R.T. a new development?
Computer Doctor: Indeed it is. You must
have a recent BIOS or software package that
supports S.M.A.R.T. to enable or disable the
feature on ATA drives. Judging by your startup
message, your BIOS does in fact support S.M.A.R.T.
but you have disabled it. Most likely there is a
CMOS setting which can be changed via your BIOS
Setup program which can enable or disable
S.M.A.R.T. Consult your motherboard BIOS
documentation to see how the setting is changed.
Let me know if you figure out how to turn it on.
16. Can you tell me how to mount a hard drive
upside down?
Reader: I am attempting to mount a hard
drive upside down. So far, I've been unable to
find information about doing this successfully. I
even checked your book, but couldn't find
information there either. Can you tell me how to
mount a drive upside down?
Computer Doctor: My book does indeed have
info on drive mounting in the hard disk chapter!
What I state (the truth) is that virtually all
modern drives can be mounted in any position,
which is why you can't find any info from WD for
example, it isn't an issue. However there were
some older drives for which specifically mounting
on end (tail up or tail down) was prohibited,
while any other vertical (sideways) or horizontal
(either side up) was fine. Some older drives also
prohibited any mountings on an angle, only true
vertical or horizontal alignments were allowed.
The bottom line: if there are any mounting
limitations on a particular drive, the tech manual
for the drive will always list them, and no drive
that I am aware of EVER prohibited upside down
mounting, nor would running it either side up
affect drive operation in any way. In fact that
brings up the question, which side do you think is
really UP anyway? In any given drive,
approximately half of the heads are always upside
down.
17. Why doesn't my SCSI drive work after a low
level format?
Reader: I have a 9 GB SCSI drive that
was working until I performed a low level format
via the SCSI host adapter (buslogic bt930). The
drive is now not useable. This utility reported
that the low level format was successful. However,
when trying to partition the drive, I start having
problems. If I try to format the drive, it reports
a bad partition table. What's going on here?
Computer Doctor: The key here is that your
drive is over 8GB. Many host adapters on the
market cannot properly handle drives that are over
8GB. I had this very same problem myself. The
solution is to either get an updated BIOS for your
Buslogic adapter or get one of the newer Adaptec
adapters which can definitely handle drives over
this capacity. I would contact Buslogic as they
should be aware of this problem and be able to
help you out. The best solution would be if the
adapter has a flash BIOS and they have a simple
routine which can update the adapter BIOS. If the
card does not have a flash BIOS then they may be
able to send you a new EPROM with the correct
updated BIOS. Let me know how this turns out.
18. What does cable select mean?
Reader: The Master/Slave jumper on my
drive has 3 sets of pins, namely: CS (which is
reserved and should not be used according to the
manual), SL (slave), and MA (master). What would
CS be used for?
Computer Doctor: CS is for Cable Select,
which is documented in my book. It relates to pin
28 of the ATA interface standard. With a specially
modified cable (pin 28 is cut before the last
connector), both drives can be set to cable select
and then the master/slave setting is determined
automatically depending on which cable connector
you plug the drive into, thus simplifying
installation.
19. I am confused with the master and slave
settings for my hard disk.
Reader: When I opened my PC I noticed
that the Master/Slave jumper for the hard disk is
"set" so that it bridges one of the Master pins
with one of the Slave pins (i.e. it is set at 90
degrees to the way it would normally be set for
either Master or Slave). It's almost as if it is
not being set to "anything". Should I leave it
like this (is this the default Master setting?) or
should I set it back to the "real" Master setting?
(I was never supplied the manual for the hard disk
with my PC, so I can't check this.)
Computer Doctor: It should be set as either
Master or Slave. Consult WD for the proper jumper
settings for this drive. I believe you can get the
specs and jumper settings for all of their drives
from their website or faxback numbers. The vendor
list in my book has the relevant addresses/phone
numbers to call.
20. Are there any sector editors that you
would recommend?
Reader: Your book Upgrading and
Repairing PC's and Ralf Brown's 80x86 Interrupt
list have been the sole sources of information
that I have used to create a pretty slick sector
editing program for hard drives using fat16. Are
there any publicly available sector editors that
you would recommend?
Computer Doctor: There is an absolutely
killer sector editor known as the DISKEDIT program
which is part of the Norton Utilities. I have been
using that program since the early '80s, and
through it's more than 15 years of refinements
nothing else even comes close in capability. I
consider the DISKEDIT program an essential part of
any data recovery specialists' toolbox.
21. Are there any great sources for how
information is stored in the MBR, DBR and FAT?
Reader: I was wondering if you could
give me some internet sources where I can get a
deeper explanation of how information is stored in
the MBR, DBR, FAT and stuff. It doesn't seem like
this information is out there!
Computer Doctor: I have never found any
such information on the 'net. I have a library
which includes DOS manuals for every version since
1.1 as well as the more important DOS Tech. Ref.
manuals for these versions published by both IBM
and Microsoft. These along with other esoteric
documents I've collected over the last 15-20 years
(such as the much more detailed information found
in the older obsolete Norton Utilities program
versions) are my main sources for information.
Actually I would say the documentation is a start,
but my best source of info has always been
experimenting on actual drives with DISKEDIT.
22. What is the difference between and adapter
and a controller?
Reader: I went to the library yesterday
and check out a few books about hard drives and
learned that some hard disk are connected to the
motherboard via an adapter. I'm confused, though.
In other placed, these books referred to the
adapter as a controller. Which is which? Or, are
they the same thing?
Computer Doctor: ALL IDE drives technically
have the "controller" integrated into the drive.
That is why they are called IDE (Integrated Drive
Electronics), the term refers to the fact that the
controller is built-in to the drive. The IDE
connector on the motherboard would be more
properly called a "host interface" or "host
adapter".
23. Is it OK to turn a computer on its side?
I've heard this can be harmful to the hard drive.
Reader: I am setting up a group of
servers for use in my office. Unfortunately, these
will be placed in cramped quarters. I am
considering placing these desktop boxes in 'CPU
stands' on the floor to free up space at the
workstations. One of my associates mentioned that
doing so would be ill-advised in that the
possibility of damage to the disk could occur over
time.
Computer Doctor: That is not a problem on
any drives which use a voice coil head actuator,
which basically means all drives of 100MB or
larger. Most drive manufacturers rate their drives
for any vertical or horizontal orientation,
however some do recommend against angled
orientations. Even that is not an issue for newer
drives.
24. Why does your book say that a PCI/IDE is
not a controller?
Reader: You mention again and again
that there is no hard drive controller on the
motherboard that you have ever seen, and state
that this is why it's called IDE, Integrated Drive
Electronics. Fair enough. But what you don't
clarify is that there is a PCI/IDE controller on
the motherboard, which is a frequent problem
component on modern motherboards, at least in my
experience as a tech. I think in your next
edition, you should make this distinction a little
clearer. I have seen many of these controllers go
bad and as a result, the hard drive will not be
recognized by the BIOS, or may not work correctly
in Windows. I scratched my head, quoting your
books, which declare there is nothing more than a
stripped down bus slot for IDE interfaces, and
could not understand why after replacing the hard
drive in several units it would still not work.
There is most certainly an IDE controller built
into the chipset which controls the PIO among
other things.
Computer Doctor: I guess were splitting
hairs here, but technically what is in my book is
correct. The PCI/IDE "controller" as you are
calling it is not really a drive controller, but
is a host adapter instead. A host adapter is
defined as something that adapts one bus to
another. IDE started out as really just an
extension of the ISA bus, or rather a subset of
that bus. The actual disk controller chips in your
system are on the drive, which are plugged into
the IDE bus slots on the motherboard, which are
really extensions of the ISA bus. The IDE pins
have virtually a one for one matchup with the pins
of the ISA bus, missing any unnecessary pins of
course. That is why they are only 40 pins and not
the full 98 pins of a 16-bit ISA slot. Thus an IDE
controller/drive plugs into the IDE (ISA) bus the
same as a SCSI controller/drive plugs into a SCSI
bus. Then you have a SCSI host adapter which
connects the SCSI bus to the ISA or PCI bus, much
like you have an IDE host adapter which connects
the IDE bus to the ISA or PCI bus in modern
systems. If the IDE host adapter goes bad, then
certainly the drive controllers and drives on that
bus will not function, the same as if a SCSI host
adapter goes bad, the SCSI controllers and drives
on the SCSI bus will not function. Just because
the true drive controller is on the drive doesn't
mean that the host adapter can't go bad or cause
problems as you've found! I hope this clears
things up.
25. Why is my hard drive not recognized after
installing a new SCSI controller, a CD-R drive and
a hard drive
Reader: I installed a SCSI controller,
a new CD-R (ID 3), and a hard drive (ID 6). Both
drives are detected during the boot phase of the
computer and the screen shows "SCSI BIOS installed
successfully". I can see also both devices and
their properties if I open Start/Control
Panel/System. However, while the CD-R is depicted
in the Explorer and is available, the hard drive
remains invisible! What's going on?
Computer Doctor: You have not yet
partitioned the drive. Until it is partitioned,
Windows Explorer will not recognize it as it
doesn't yet have any drive letters assigned. You
have to partition the drive (use FDISK), and the
perform a high level format (use FORMAT) on each
of the logical drives or partitions created. Then
they will be visible to both DOS and Windows
Explorer.
26. After unsuccessfully attempting to install
a second drive as a secondary drive, I now can't
see my original drive. Can you help?
Reader: I'm trying to install a second
drive, but now my old drive isn't recognized by
the system anymore. I left my hard drive in and
just attached the new drive to the same cable that
goes to my hard drive (it has an extra plug
attachment in the middle of the ribbon). I took
one of the extra smaller plugs that the hard drive
needs and plugged it in so that now the new drive
has the same two plugs as the old drive. I turn on
my system, go into setup and let it auto detect
the master & slave drives. But, the machine
detects the new drive as the master and won't
detect the old as anything. So I unplugged the new
drive and let setup detect my old drive as the
master drive (which it did just fine). THEN.....as
it was booting up, the screen Windows 95 flashed
for a second and I got messages like:
Missing or corrupted
c:\windows\himem.sys
c:\windows\dblbuff.sys
c:\windows\ifshlp.sys
I also tried booting and pressing F8 and tried the
safe mode. At the Windows 95 startup menu I got a
message: Warning: Windows has detected a
registry/configuration error.
I honestly did nothing more than attach the new
drive and then detach it. I promise. If I switch
to c:\windows and type DIR, all I see is a TEMP
directory. If I change to the TEMP directory and
do DIR, all I see is some old DOS file from 1993.
What have I done and how can I fix my old drive so
that I don't lose all of my data? It doesn't
recognize my CD-ROM drive any more either. Your
help is appreciated.
Computer Doctor: Let me just start this by
saying how important backups are, as you very well
must be thinking now. In the worst case here you
could be reloading Windows and all of your other
applications programs from scratch, MINUS any and
all of your data files. Were you prepared to lose
everything? I'm not saying you have (yet), but you
should always be prepared as if exactly that will
happen. Certainly you should NEVER open up your
system without having first run a complete backup.
Installing a hard disk is even worse, you are
directly messing with THE data storage device in
your system. Backup, Backup, Backup! The bottom
line is that you must always treat a computer as
if it is about to die, irretrievably losing any
and all data in the process. I would be out of
business if I didn't maintain this philosophy. OK,
I'm off the soapbox now...
You made several mistakes. Number one you should
have written down EXACTLY what your existing hard
disk parameters (stored in the CMOS memory) were
before adding the other drive. Actually, number
one should have been a backup, but we've been over
that already!
OK, once you had backed up your files, and
THEN wrote down (or printed) all of the CMOS
settings relevant to your existing hard disk, only
then you were ready to install the new one.
When you installed the new drive, it seems you did
plug in the cables correctly (I'm assuming since
the drive was detected), but you failed to change
the jumper settings on BOTH of your drives to
accommodate the new drive. Before changing jumpers
you first have to decide which drive is to be the
master (C:), preferably the one you already have
installed. It will currently be set as a MASTER
with NO SLAVE PRESENT (also called single drive
master on some drives). You need to change it to
MASTER with SLAVE PRESENT (or master in a dual
drive configuration on some drives). Then you must
set your new drive as the SLAVE. To clarify, there
are three relevant settings for IDE drives:
-
Master WITHOUT Slave
-
Master WITH Slave present
-
Slave
Your existing drive was setup as #1, and you
needed to make it #2. The new drive should have
been set as #3.
Since your computer saw TWO master drives (#1
configuration above), it simply reported only the
first one it saw, which was apparently the new one
you had just installed. In many cases it would not
see anything as both drives are in conflict.
Unplugging the new drive and letting setup detect
the old drive most likely is EXACTLY where your
problem lies. The newly detected parameters are
NOT the same as the parameters the drive had been
set to previously. Once a drive is formatted under
a given set of parameters, changing them will
cause the drive to read data incorrectly, as none
of the sectors will have the same geometrical
(cylinder, head, sector) addresses as before.
Essentially all of your data is there, but it is
just being read incorrectly, so it appears
corrupt. When you restore the drive parameters to
their original settings (that is why it was so
important to write the drive CMOS settings down
before you started) then everything will really be
just fine!
If you don't have the previously used CMOS
settings written down, then we have a problem.
Hopefully they can be deduced, and there are a few
simple mistakes that can occur here, but in some
cases this can be a real difficult situation. Your
data is there but it is being held hostage until
we come up with the right "combination", that is
the correct matching CMOS parameters.
The error messages you are seeing confirm my
feeling that your CMOS parameters are not what
they used to be. Of course, since I cannot
actually see your system, I can't be sure. It's
also possible that somehow the files on your
driver ARE actually corrupted, in that case you
may have to backup what you can after booting from
a floppy, and then reformat and reload everything
from scratch. I hope it is not the latter.
The reason you can't read your CDROM drive is
directly related. Since your system will no longer
boot from the hard drive, the CDROM driver cannot
be loaded from the hard disk, hence there is no
functional CDROM drive. You would need a copy of
your CDROM driver on a floppy if we can't recover
the configuration on this drive and you want to
install Windows off the CD from scratch. Hopefully
it doesn't come to that, but you should have a
bootable floppy with your CDROM drivers just in
case of such an emergency as you are having now.
Normally your system vendor should have provided
such a disk.
OK, what can we do? Hopefully we can restore your
CMOS parameters to what they were before. If
originally the drive was not installed via the
autodetect feature in your CMOS then using it now
as you have may result in different parameters
than before. One of the most common mistakes, and
fortunately the easiest to correct is an error in
the MODE setting of the drive. You didn't say what
BIOS version you had, but the most popular AMI
BIOS has three different settings for MODE, called
LBA, LARGE, and NORMAL respectively.
Newer drives support a feature called LBA (Logical
Block Address) mode, which is a method of
translating the actual drive specs to a usable
cylinder, head and sector number, while older
drives do not support this feature. Get into your
CMOS setup and look for a MODE setting for the
drive. If it says LBA mode now, then change it to
LARGE, save the settings and reboot. It may now
boot normally. If not, then reenter CMOS setup and
try NORMAL mode. Save and reboot again and see if
it works. If it was not in LBA mode when you first
went into CMOS setup, then set LBA mode now, save
it and reboot. Many older BIOSes had autodetect
routines which INCORRECTLY detected and set the
drive MODE, so hopefully this is your problem.
If not, then things are going to get a lot more
difficult and you will need more help than I can
give in this message. You would need to tell me
exactly what BIOS version you have, the exact make
and model of your drive, and you would possibly
need to have a utility program like the Norton
Utilities as well as explicit instructions as to
how to use the program to help determine your
correct CMOS parameters. If it makes any sense,
you can determine the CMOS parameters (cyl, head,
sectors) by deducing them from the data found at
offset 446 (which is the partition table) in the
first physical sector (cylinder 0, head 0, sector
1) of your drive. The Norton DISKEDIT program can
be used to read this sector and view the data
contained therein. From these numbers I can
usually determine exactly what CMOS parameters
were used when the drive was last formatted, which
will then allow the drive to boot, and all the
files to be accessed normally.
27. How do I format a drive and reload Windows
95?
Reader: Do you know where I can find
written procedures on how to properly format a
hard drive and reload 95 using a CD ROM? I must be
doing something wrong because I always have had to
reload it by disks.
Computer Doctor: That should be in the
Windows documentation, or in some of the Windows
books on the market. I do see the need for this
information and will be including such
instructions in the next edition of my book. The
current edition only addresses low level
formatting, partitioning, and high level
formatting, but not actually installing an
operating system.
The biggest problem people have is that for their
CDROM drive to work to load Win95, they have to
load a 16-bit DOS based CDROM driver plus the
MSCDEX driver in DOS. Once these drivers are
loaded then the CDROM drive will work and you can
run the SETUP program on the WIN95 CDROM. This is
most likely your problem.
Check your system documentation, especially that
for your CDROM drive. You'll need to find the
CDROM device driver and install it via an entry in
your CONFIG.SYS file. Then you'll have to load
MSCDEX.EXE (which comes with DOS) via your
AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Once those two drivers are
loaded, the CDROM drive will work and you can
install Win95 from the CD.
28. Why isn't my SCSI drive visible to my
computer?
Reader: I originally planned to connect
a SCSI system (CD-R & Hard Disk) to my Laptop for
flashing CDs. For that, I bought an APA 1450A Slim
SCSI for my Laptop. Now that the hard disk are
properly partitioned, I expected everything to run
smooth, but on the laptop: - the SCSI hard disk is
once again not visible on the Explorer.
Computer Doctor: I'm afraid you purchased
the WRONG SCSI adapter for your notebook!! You
should have bought the 1460 or 1480 (cardbus)
cards instead of the 1450. The card you have will
only support tape and other removable storage
drives, it doesn't include proper drivers for hard
disks and other devices. Return it and get one of
the two other Adaptec SlimSCSI cards I
recommended, both of which include the necessary
Adaptec EZ-SCSI driver software and which will
support ANY SCSI devices.
29. I have a primary SCSI drive and I can't
add my IDE as a second.
Reader: I have a SCSI Hard Drive as my
Primary Drive. I wanted to add an IDE drive as a
second drive but when I install it, the PC will
not recognize it at all. I've tried it as a
Master, Slave, Primary and Secondary IDE. I even
switched around the boot sequence and it still
isn't recognized, although the drive has power and
spins up.
Computer Doctor: Normally when you mix SCSI
and IDE drives, the system will only boot from the
IDE drive. Some systems allow you to change this
in the BIOS Setup.
First, make sure your IDE drive is properly
installed. It should be set on the primary IDE
connection as master. Then make sure the BIOS
Setup info is correct. Setting the drive type to
Autodetect works best. Note the drive will have to
be partitioned (FDISK) and formatted (FORMAT)
before the operating system will recognize it.
If it still doesn't work, then try removing the
SCSI card and rebooting. If it still doesn't work,
then either the cable, drive or motherboard is
bad, or the BIOS doesn't support the drive
capacity. In that case you'll need to replace or
upgrade those items. Start with the cable, as it's
the easiest and cheapest component to change.
30. Can I "clone" my primary hard drive?
Reader: I'm wondering if it's possible
to install a second identical hard drive on my
system and have the PC see it as ONE drive?
Computer Doctor: Yes, there are RAID cards
which can stripe data across two drives, which not
only makes them seem line one larger drive, but
also one that is twice as fast. That is called
RAID Level 0. You could use a card like the
FastTrak66 from Promise Technologies
. Unfortunately such a
setup would also be half as reliable (if either
drive fails you lose everything) so be sure you
keep good backups!
There are also software spanning utilities which
can make two (or more) drives act like one, but
you don't have any benefits in speed and you still
have the half-reliability issue. See DriveSpan
from Future Systems Solutions at
You will need to back up any data you have on the
drives, create new partitions and install the
operating system and applications from scratch
after installing the RAID card. Note that the
FasTrak66 card and the DriveSpan utility both list
for $69 but with the card performance will be
doubled. Personally I always favor a hardware
solution over a software one, for both performance
and reliability. Many of the new high-performance
motherboards on the market also feature built-in
RAID, so if you are in the market for a new
motherboard, look for this feature.
31. How do erase and replace an operating
system on a hard drive
Reader: How do I erase the information
on a hard drive so I could install another
operating system?
Computer Doctor: If you want to remove the
existing partitions so that new partitions can be
created, then all you need is the FDISK program
that came with your OS. Boot your Windows startup
floppy, run FDISK, use the menus to remove all
logical drives in extended partitions, then remove
the extended partitions, then remove the primary
partition. After you reboot, you will essentially
have a blank drive you can install a new OS on
from scratch.
Alternatively, you could use the Zap program from
IBM at
http://www.storage.ibm.com/techsup/hddtech/welcome.htm.
This will accomplish the same thing as above
except it will be quicker!
If you want to erase data so as to prevent anybody
else from ever recovering it, then the above
procedure won't be enough. Information could still
be recovered by somebody who knew data recovery
techniques (like me
). For security purposes, if I were selling a
drive that I had been using, I would run a
WipeInfo program on the drive, which would
overwrite everything on it. Such a program is
included with the Norton Utilities and Norton
System Works by Symantec
, or you can use a free
Wipe program you can download from IBM at the same
site I listed above. That one will work on drives
up to 8.4GB. For any drives larger than 8.4GB, use
the Norton Utilities/SystemWorks WipeInfo.
32. How can I get more throughput on my IBM
9.1GB SCSI2 hard drives?
Reader: I have 2 identical IBM 9.1GB
SCSI2 hard drives that bench a throughput of
19.8MB/s individually. Wanting to get a higher
throughput, I created a stripe set (RAID0) in Disk
Administrator. After the stripe was created my
throughput dropped to 14.2MB/s. I was told
that a stripe set would greatly increase my
throughput, not decrease it.
Computer Doctor: The problem is you are
using software to do the striping. That is never
recommended as it makes your processor do the work
which should be done in the adapter instead. If
you want to do it right, then you need a real
hardware RAID adapter, such as the Adaptec
AAA-131U2 SCSI RAID adapter.
http://www.adaptec.com/worldwide/product/proddetail.html?prodkey=AAA-131U2&cat=%2fTechnology%2fRAID%2fAdditional+RAID+Products
33. Do I need an add-on card to support my new
20GB 7200 RPM Ultra DMA ATA 66?
Reader: I'm replacing an older ATA 33
Ultra DMA 6.3GB hard drive with a new 20GB 7200
RPM Ultra DMA ATA 66. Do I need an Ultra DMA/66
add-on card to get full performance from my new
drive? My motherboard supports only Ultra DMA 33.
Computer Doctor: Most ATA drives running
7200 rpm like the Maxtor DiamondMax Plus series
only transfer data at an average speed of
(43.2+21.6)/2= 32.4 MB/sec. In other words, you
will hardly notice a difference by installing that
ATA/66 card, since the drive can barely exceed
ATA/33 in real performance. Don't be fooled by the
interface transfer speed, what is more
important is the media transfer speed. See
page 623 and 624 of the 12th edition for more
information. To calculate transfer speed for the
Maxtor DiamondMax Plus, I used the information at
http://www.maxtor.com/products/diamondmax/diamondmaxplus/QuickSpecs/42071.txt
Note the data transfer rate:
To/From Interface (UDMA/66): ............. Up
to 66.7 MBs
To/From Media: ........................... Up to
43.2 MBs
The latter figure is the maximum transfer rate
from the media (what the drive can really
do) which is the figure given for the outer zone.
Transfer from the inner zone will be half that
(there are half as many sectors per track on the
inner zone), so to calculate the average transfer
rate the formula works as follows:
(max media rate + (1/2 * max media rate)) / 2
which equals 32.4 MB/sec for that drive. You
can use this same formula with any UDMA/66 or UDMA/100
drive on the market to see if the drive really
requires the faster add-on UDMA interface cards.
In many situations, the drive won't, as in this
case.
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