ljason@wam.umd.edu (L. Jason colton) (05/30/91)
I have a good ol' (well not THAT good) Compaq XT clone. Recently, my Seagate
HD apparently just decided to STOP working!! When I turn the computer on,
the HD light instantly goes on, the drive making no motion or sound.
After about 2 minutes, it finally looks in the A drive, and I must boot from
there.
Once booted, DOS will not recognize the presence of a C or D drive!!
I can't use Norton Disk Doctor, or even do a low-level format because
the drive is just supposedly Not There.
Can anyone out there in the world of Knowledgeable People help me with this?
Soon after this, I did encounter a virus called the Stoned virus on some
floppies. I have since gotten rid of it, but (of course) not on my poor
hard disk. Might this be the problem? I doubt it.
Any info would be infinitely appreciated...PLEASE email if possible.
P.S.--any idea how much I may be able to sell my Compaq for?
(XT compat., portable, 5 1/4", 40MB HD, 640K, 1200B modem)
thanks oh so much...
ljason@wam.umd.edu "I can go stick my head in a bucket of water
O-|--< if you like. Would you like that?"
-Marvin the Paranoid Android
--
| . _ _ _ _ O "Just remember...I'm holding you
| |(_|(_(_)| | ljason@wam.umd.edu \|__ responsible for all of this."
` ' ` _) ' ...if stickmen | --Camper Van Beethoven
ruled the earth... / \ (now defunct) {*snif*}barnett@rex.cs.tulane.edu (Karey Barnett) (05/31/91)
In article <1991May30.073542.27676@wam.umd.edu> ljason@wam.umd.edu (L. Jason colton) writes: >I have a good ol' (well not THAT good) Compaq XT clone. Recently, my Seagate >HD apparently just decided to STOP working!! When I turn the computer on, >the HD light instantly goes on, the drive making no motion or sound. >After about 2 minutes, it finally looks in the A drive, and I must boot from >there. >Once booted, DOS will not recognize the presence of a C or D drive!! >I can't use Norton Disk Doctor, or even do a low-level format because >the drive is just supposedly Not There. > I had this same problem on my XT compatible after I had parked the disk and moved my computer to another location. I assumed that the hard drive heads had crashed and that I'd need a new hard drive. But then I kept turning the computer on and off for a series of times and finally the hard drive was recognized with all of my data. However, when I turned the computer off, and then back on, the hard drive wasn't recognized. It seemed that the heads had gotten a little off track, so I ran the XT low-level formatter (debug: g=c800:5), but there was no luck the first time. After a series of trying this formatter, and then turning the computer off and then on again, the hard drive was once again recognized. (I also tried this with the computer on its sides.) I then low-level formatted the drive again, and I have had no problems since then. Bottom line: If you still have no luck with the low-level formatter, like you seem to have, you might have a crashed hard drive.