kshaffer@modcomp.uucp (Ken Shaffer) (01/03/91)
My brother's system when booted cold will not boot from his hard disk. If he let's it sit and warm up (leaving the invalid boot device message on the screen - or similar) for 15-20 minutes, then ctrl-alt-del, the system then boots from the hard disk. Any suggestions as to the fix? What is the cause? Thanks, Ken Shaffer modcomp!kshaffer
ti@altos86.Altos.COM (Ti Kan) (01/04/91)
In article <kshaffer.662913738@modcomp> kshaffer@modcomp.uucp (Ken Shaffer) writes: >My brother's system when booted cold will not boot from his hard disk. >If he let's it sit and warm up (leaving the invalid boot device message >on the screen - or similar) for 15-20 minutes, then ctrl-alt-del, the >system then boots from the hard disk. Perhaps the power supply is inadequate, so when the hard disk is spinning up during power up the disk controller (or some other circuitry) logic fails. After the disk is up to speed, the power drain is much reduced, and hence at this point doing a warm reboot will succeed. -Ti -- Ti Kan | vorsprung durch technik! \\\ Internet: ti@altos.com \\\ UUCP: ...!{sun|sco|pyramid|amdahl|uunet}!altos!ti /// \\\ The opinions herein are not necessarily those of Altos. ////////\
quimby@madoka.its.rpi.edu (Tom Stewart) (01/04/91)
(Ken Shaffer) writes: >My brother's system when booted cold will not boot from his hard disk. >If he let's it sit and warm up (leaving the invalid boot device message >on the screen - or similar) for 15-20 minutes, then ctrl-alt-del, the >system then boots from the hard disk. > >Any suggestions as to the fix? What is the cause? > My guess is that the drive format is a little flakey, and the drift caused by the platter's thermal expansion is enough to make a difference. It's normal for some drives to fail boot when they are very cold, 0-20 degrees F or so, and it's not a good idea to try to boot one that is that cold - writing to a very cold drive can cause problems when the drive warms up again. Unless your brother keeps the room temperature at 50F or so, I'd suggest re-low-level formating the drive at normal operating temperature. It could be that the original format was done when the drive was very warm, or it could be that the drive has "drifted". Drives that start to "drift" often don't last more than a year or two. (Rough estimate, I've only seen it happen a couple of times.) As to power supply problems, it's certainly possible, but usually PS failure occurs at high, not low temp, and usually the failure mode is no output on any line. Quimby (mailer disfunctional, replies to: quimby@mts.rpi.edu, quimby@rpitsmts.bitnet)
als@hpwarqp.hp.com (Al Sherman) (01/04/91)
In article <kshaffer.662913738@modcomp> kshaffer@modcomp.uucp (Ken Shaffer) writes: >My brother's system when booted cold will not boot from his hard disk. >If he let's it sit and warm up (leaving the invalid boot device message >system then boots from the hard disk. > I had the same problem. It was cured by reformatting the disk. I'd suggest using SPINRITE or similar. I've had good luck with IAU shareware. Probably explained by thermal expansion compensating for wear-in drift. Al
dlow@pollux.HP.COM (Danny Low) (01/05/91)
>(Ken Shaffer) >My brother's system when booted cold will not boot from his hard disk. >If he let's it sit and warm up (leaving the invalid boot device message >on the screen - or similar) for 15-20 minutes, then ctrl-alt-del, the >system then boots from the hard disk. There are multiple causes of this problem. The simplest thing is open up the system, pull and reseat all the connectors and cables. The next simplest is back up the HD and do a low level re-format. Sprinrite II or some similar program will do this. If this all fails then it's time to bite the bullet and send the system to a repair shop. Danny Low "Question Authority and the Authorities will question You" Valley of Hearts Delight, Silicon Valley HP CPCD dlow@pollux.svale.hp.com
alien@hpdmd48.boi.hp.com (Tom von Alten) (01/05/91)
I had this same problem with a Seagate 20M (ST-225?) drive. It degraded over time from having a few problem areas to needing 30-60minutes before it would even boot. I ended up replacing it with a larger drive, but I was able to recover most of the files off it. (Some were copiable after corruption! You'll want to check this out carefully.) If I ever have a mind to try and fix it, I'll start by re-doing a low-level format (warm? cold? probably cold!), filling it up with files I have stored elsewhere and playing around with it to see if I can make it fail some more. _____________ Tom von Alten email: alien@hpdmd48.boi.hp.com