woan@cory.Berkeley.EDU (Ronald S. Woan) (10/30/87)
My hard disk recently seems to have blown-up or something. Overnight it seems to have developed great difficulty reading/writing. I tried using DOS format to try to map out bad sectors but to no avail. Mysterious read/write errors periodically occur with no warning all over the disk. I am told by some that I may be able to solve my problems with a low-level reformat of the hard-disk, but I do not have the software to do so. If anyone happens to have a PD formatter, please let me know... By the way the hard disk is a trashy CMI 20 meg. in one of those first 2000 AT's to roll off the assembly line of IBM... Thanks much... Ronald S. Woan woan@cory.berkeley.edu P.S. If anyone could hazzard a guess of how the problem started (virtually overnight), let me know. So far guesses include lightening, power outage at night, and trojan programs, along with standard disk failure...
burton@parcvax.Xerox.COM (Philip M. Burton) (10/30/87)
In article <4678@zen.berkeley.edu> woan@cory.Berkeley.EDU.UUCP (Ronald S. Woan) writes: >My hard disk recently seems to have blown-up or something. Overnight > ... >I am told by some that I may be able to solve my problems with a low-level >reformat of the hard-disk, but I do not have the software to do so. If anyone >happens to have a PD formatter, please let me know... By the way the hard disk >is a trashy CMI 20 meg. in one of those first 2000 AT's to roll off the assembly Consider yourself lucky you got this far with that drive in your machine. You got three years out of it, more than most guys. By now, disk prices are so much lower than they were in 1984 or 1985, that you can easily save yourself the problems with that drive by getting a new 30 or 40 MB drive. If your new drive formats to more than 32 MB, just go to DOS 3.3, and you get multiple hard disk partitions. By the way, you'll still need a low- level formatter. -- Philip Burton burton.osbunorth@parcvax.COM Xerox Corp. .... !hplabs!parcvax!burton 408 737 4635 ... the usual disclaimers apply ...
wwhite@teknowledge-vaxc.ARPA (Bill White) (11/02/87)
in article <4678@zen.berkeley.edu>, woan@cory.Berkeley.EDU says: > > My hard disk recently seems to have blown-up or something. Overnight > it seems to have developed great difficulty reading/writing. I tried > using DOS format to try to map out bad sectors but to no avail. Mysterious > read/write errors periodically occur with no warning all over the disk. > > I am told by some that I may be able to solve my problems with a low-level > reformat of the hard-disk, but I do not have the software to do so. If anyone > happens to have a PD formatter, please let me know... By the way the hard > disk is a trashy CMI 20 meg. in one of those first 2000 AT's to roll off the > assembly line of IBM... My AT, which is almost 2 years old now, started out with a CMI drive. IBM replaced it twice during the warranty period (the 2nd replacement wasn't a CMI). Each time the failure symptoms were the same. Sectors start to go bad for no apparent reason. Each day I'd use the Norton Utilities to map out a few more bad clusters, only to end up with more the next day. Reformatting (using Advanced Diagnostics to do a low level format) seemed to bring back all the disk, but after a few days the problem came right back. I'd replace the disk asap if I were you. Bill White wwhite@teknowledge.arpa -- Bill White WWhite@Teknowledge
kevinc@auvax.UUCP (Kevin Barry Crocker) (11/02/87)
In article <4678@zen.berkeley.edu>, woan@cory.Berkeley.EDU (Ronald S. Woan) writes: >I am told by some that I may be able to solve my problems with a low-level >reformat of the hard-disk, but I do not have the software to do so. If anyone >happens to have a PD formatter, please let me know... f anyone has one of these PD or shareware low-level formatters that would work on a Zenith 241 (not a 248) could you please send it to me also. I do a lot of intense disk writing and have reformatted my 40 Mbyte OSI hard disk a few times. When this is done I have been getting more and more bad sectors and such every time. For preventative reasons I wish to really format the hard disk to get it back close to factory specs. Thanks in Advance ihnp4!alberta!auvax!kevinc (Kevin Crocker Athabasca University) Do our employers have opinions or is that what we get paid for!
justin@inmet.UUCP (11/04/87)
/* Written 3:33 am Oct 30, 1987 by woan@cory.Berkeley.EDU.UUCP in inmet:comp.sys.ibm.pc */ /* ---------- "low-level format" ---------- */ I am told by some that I may be able to solve my problems with a low-level reformat of the hard-disk, but I do not have the software to do so. If anyone happens to have a PD formatter, please let me know... By the way the hard disk is a trashy CMI 20 meg. in one of those first 2000 AT's to roll off the assembly line of IBM... /* End of text from inmet:comp.sys.ibm.pc */ I assume, from this, that it is an AT that this problem is with. Well... My former company had to figure out how to sand-blast a disk some while ago; we had installed Xenix on an AT, and couldn't figure out any way to get it off. The answer, we discovered after much research, was a disk called something like "IBM PC AT Advanced Diagnostics", which is normally only available to dealers. We purchased a copy (for something like $200 -- this isn't necessarily a cheap solution), and that proved to have a low-level format option. (Nice option, too -- you have to go through about six levels of confirmation before it will actually sand-blast the disk). -- Justin du Coeur
Dion_L_Johnson@cup.portal.com (11/08/87)
Once your disk has been low-level formatted, you dont need to do it again unless you spawn new bad tracks. Often this does NOT happen. If it does, then you can do the low level format in several ways. 1. For IBM AT class machines with WD controller, there's a BIOS address you can branch to which does the job. See your controller/disk manual. 2. Use one of several low-level format programs: SPeedstor is one I know of. I have seen some Public Domain ones; log in to your local friendly BBS and search. 3. The IBM Advanced Diagnostics do the same thing. However, if your disk is OK, but you just need to scrape off DOS or XENIX, then run FDISK, from a booted DOS floppy. It will remove any partitions you have, and let you create a new DOS partition. If you are moving TO XENIX, you can just run a normal installation which invokes XENIX fdisk (lets you create a XENIX partition to cohabit with your DOS), as well as the "badtrk" utility which deals with bad tracks. If you are aiming at DOS, then after your low-level format, you need to do a "high" level format, using the FORMAT command. Remember to use the /s option if you want a bootable hard disk. If you cant find the low format stuff, email me and I will send you some items which have come through in this conference that are more specific.