zu@ethz.UUCP (Urs Zurbuchen) (06/30/87)
Hello Netlanders, I have a real big problem with my IBM-PC/AT compatible. It simply doesn't boot anymore. How does it came to that? I was simply editing a file the other day. Suddenly, the machine refused to accept any keystroke. Hitting that famous Ctrl-Alt-Del didn't work either. "Thanks God, I have that little reset button", I thought. But when Murphy hits you, he hits badly. The reset button didn't work, too. There was no reaction. The screen still showed the same information as when the computer went to the Nirwana. Turning it off and back on cleared the screen, at least. But that was all. The little red LED indicating harddisk access goes on but never off. No harddisk is selected (the disk's front LED stays dark). RAM test isn't performed, too. At least, nothing is displayed on my screen. It looks to me like my harddisk's controller is bad. Might this be true. Does anybody of you out there know anything on that problem? Ever had the same signs of malfunction? (I don't wish you that, really. It's annoying). I really would appreciate any information you might have. Please HELP. Oh, one thing I almost forgot to tell you about: For about one or two weeks the computer didn't boot after a Ctrl-Alt-Del but had to be reset (with that little switch). The machine went through its boot procedure, but when it had finally had to select the harddisk, it just stopped. That was after that little bell telling you that everything's okay. Best thanks for any help, ...urs UUCP: ...!seismo!mcvax!cernvax!ethz!zu BITNET: K261819 @ CZHRZU1A
smvorkoetter@watmum.UUCP (07/02/87)
Sounds to me like the configuration RAM battery is dead. You should get it replaced. Then, boot from a floppy, and use the advanced diagnostics to restore the configuration information.
billp@unimuc.UUCP (Bill Potter) (07/07/87)
It could be that the boot sectors got zapped, this happened to me
with my XT a couple of times for no apparent reason.
Assuming that you can still boot the system from a floppy do the
following.
1: Boot from the floopy
2: Do a chkdsk to check the intergrity of the disk
3: If all is ok so far then make a backup of everthing (Oh dear all those
diskettes :-) . In your situation this is good idea anyway.
4: Format your disk. This is the only way you have got at the
moment of getting the bootstrap onto the disk. DON'T FORGET the /S .
5: Check that the disk boots, it will comes up asking for the
date and time and have an awful American keyboard which will
give you lots of fun :-( .
6: Restore everything.
7: Now comes the fun part, you've just spend x hours getting here
and you never want to do this again so now use the debugger or
write a program to read sectors 1 & 2 of cylinder 0, head 0.
Transfer the date read into the form of an array initialisation.
e.g. boot_sect[1024] = { 0x00 0x01 ..... 0x?? };
And write a program to write the data to sectors 1 & 2 of
cylinder 1, head 0. Call this program restboot or something
like that. Now whenever you loose your bootstrap all you need
to do is run restboot and of you go again.
All this does not however answer the question as to why DOS
at random intervals trashes the bootstrap.
I would mail you the program except I've got no connection from my
IBM to the NET at the moment. Mail me if you need more help.
bill potter
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