greg@phoenix.princeton.edu (greg Nowak) (08/25/89)
I've been trying to install a new disk controller on my Leading Edge D because I thought the old one had died. Symptoms: Norton's NDD was reporting problems with the Partition Map and the boot Sector; the hard disk at this time was accessible but not bootable. Then the hard disk died completely; if I tried to boot from it, I got the 1701 error after the RAM check, and then a "Boot disk failure" error. At this time, Spinrite halted with a message about FATAL DISK CONTROLLER ERROR, and C: was completely inaccessible. I assumed the problem was the disk controller, but the same errors occur with a new disk controller. I've tried putting it in all of the expansion slots, loosened and reattached the 20-pin, 34-pin, and power cables, and so on, and I'm still getting the same error. All of my diagnotic programs refuse to recognize the hard disk; even the hard-disk initialization programs (eg physical format) claim there's no disk there. The hard disk does power up and attempt to boot, but that's about it. I'm even willing to reformat the hard disk, since I've used Norton's Format Recover often enough to have some confidence that I could get back at my data. I'm beginning to wonder if the old disk controller wasn't the real problem, and that there's something wrong with the disk instead. Good news if this means that I can still use the old disk controller, since it means that I'll have a better chance of getting at my data if I can do something with the hard disk, but bad news if it means the disk is shot. Has anyone experienced this set of symptoms before? Did I miss some crucial step in the intallation, or is my disk dead? ...!rutgers!phoenix.princeton.edu!greg Greg Nowak/Phoenix Gang/Princeton NJ 08540