invalid disk

[Grimmy]

My roommate is having problems with his puter. He will turn it on and it will say something like invalid disk, and nothing in the CDROMs or the A drive. He has replaced the drive and it is still happening. Any ideas on what to check out? Could the mobo be taking a dumb on him?

If doesn't do it to him all the time though. Just frequently it happens. It's a Dell 8200. He ran some disk utilities, and the SMART test failed. I don't know what it is or what it means. :WTF:

[Sirc]

Don't let him EVER buy a Dell again. LOL. It kinda sounds like it's a controller problem, which mean the mobo is probably shot unless the controller is a seperate card and isn't on the mobo.

[Grimmy]

That is what I am starting to think. I used to like Dell, for those that don't know jack about puters, I think they are good. I told him I will build him a new one, but he doesn't like that idea, becuase if something goes wrong, then there is no support to call for help and all. :rolleyes:

It's a weird thing, becuase I have it on right now, running some norton's system works tests. So maybe I just have the touch or something :shifty:

[Grimmy]

:rofl: :unsure: As I was running Norton System Works, this came up. This is what happens when he boots up sometimes too. :WTF:

[Sirc]

I dunno. :WTF: You probably have already done this, but unplug and re-plug everything.

There was a thread a long time ago in the WCFD forums about how several of the members were having all kinds of problems with Dell computers.

And don't start with me about the WCFD clan! :P :rofl:

[Grimmy]

yup, unplugged and replugged everything back in. And to just have it happen while being logged in and all, well all I can say is thank goodness for asus :D

Sicr, you wouldn't happen to have a link to that thread or where I could find that would ya?

[Sirc]

Originally posted by Grimmy@May 27 2003, 01:04 AM
yup, unplugged and replugged everything back in. And to just have it happen while being logged in and all, well all I can say is thank goodness for asus :D

Sicr, you wouldn't happen to have a link to that thread or where I could find that would ya?
It was in the WCFD forum web site, which doesn't exist anymore. They moved back to the Seriously! forums. I don't know why they didn't come here instead. :WTF:

Anyway, there was nothing in that thread that gave any advice, it was just general bitching about Dells. LOL.

[chaotic42]

If the SMART says that the drive failed, it's likely the drive. Can he RMA the drive or system?

[Sirc]

Originally posted by chaotic42@May 27 2003, 07:53 AM
If the SMART says that the drive failed, it's likely the drive. Can he RMA the drive or system?
But he already changed the drive out, and it still says it. :hmmm:

[Slash]

That is a hard drive error. Grimmy, when you said you replaced the drive, what exactly were you referring to?

[Grimmy]

He went out and bought a new hard drive, took out the old one and put the new one in. The new one is a maxtor 80G that was brand new. (Staples had a rebate on it) The drive isn't more then a couple weeks old.

Could I take that drive out of his put and hook it up to mine, as a slave, and wouldn't the like triple verify that it isn't the hard drive?

[JIMINATOR]

the smart drive thingy is a drive diagnostic tool. it really isn't being supported
by many manufacturers though.
so if smart reports that a drive is failing, there is either a problem with the drive
or the controller (which will be the board) or maybe a cable (easiest option).
the drive has been replaced. does that mean that the original was taken out?
or is it still in the system?
If it is still in the system, then pull it out.
If you haven't tried other cables, then do that.
Are there any problems inserting the cables, any bent pins?
the drive is likely on ide0 with cdrom at ide1.
try putting the drive on ide1 with no cdrom, see if any difference.
anyways good luck, and let us know if any of this helps.

[Grimmy]

Jim, the drive has been taken out (the old one), and the cables went in good. That SMART test, I don't know if it tests the drive or not, I just remember him saying that the SMART test failed, and then he wasn't too happy :wacko:

Maybe I will get to build him a puter :w00t: urm I mean sell him parts of mine and upgrade my own :devil: :jammin:

[JIMINATOR]

Originally posted by Grimmy@May 27 2003, 12:14 PM
Jim, the drive has been taken out (the old one), and the cables went in good. That SMART test, I don't know if it tests the drive or not, I just remember him saying that the SMART test failed, and then he wasn't too happy :wacko:

Maybe I will get to build him a puter :w00t: urm I mean sell him parts of mine and upgrade my own :devil: :jammin:
That's the way to do it! :thumbs:

[Slice]

I would also check the jumpers on the drive. Some boards need to see a forced master jumper configuration rather then the default which is cable driven. Try changing the jumper configuration on the hard drive to force it to master.

[Grimmy]

Originally posted by Slice@May 27 2003, 11:18 AM
I would also check the jumpers on the drive. Some boards need to see a forced master jumper configuration rather then the default which is cable driven. Try changing the jumper configuration on the hard drive to force it to master.
I just did that now, and so far so good. It was set on cable select (enhanced) whatever enhanced is :WTF: I called him on the phone and when he gets home he will type something up for me to post on what he has all done, and what it has all been doing. He said the HD was making some sort of clicking sound too. Will see what he says when he gets home.

He told me he just went out and bought an HP tower :blink: :wacko: I think I have him convinced that I can build him something cheaper and probably more beefier. Update for me :D He gets my old stuff, I get new. I game, he just emails. :wootrock:

Will post more on what is happening, in his words when he types me up something about it :thumbs:


Gosh, I am all excited now. More goodies for me :w00t: :w00t: :jammin:

[Grimmy]

Here is a pic of the tests from a floppy that I just ran. It shows that SMART self test -failed, and I don't know what that is.


Slice, I have that jumper in as master. I let the puter set for about 5-10 minutes, turned the monitor back on and the screen saver was on. Moved the mouse and the motion of the screen saver stopped, but no desktop. It froze up.

[Slice]

Can you disable that test in CMOS, or smartdrive itself for that matter?

[Grimmy]

I am not sure, those tests were ran off of a floppy.

[Slice]

Well in those tests it looks like it is recognizing the drive because it lists the name. The drive may just have a bad or corrupt boot sector.

[Grimmy]

so not a good sign if I wanted to get all the data off of it then right?

[Slice]

You may be able to get the data off of it if you can get it to work as a slave drive.

[OUTLAWS WHOCARES]

This may be off the wall but check the cables.
Make sure they are on correct.

[Death-Dude]

I don't really like System Works running at start-up, but I haven't had it on in a couple of years. What does it say for the IDE channels in the BIOS? I would guess that they are set to auto, and if all that is unchanged, then maybe the HD is crapping out. Yeah, you could take the drive in question out and slave it in somewhere to test its function.
As far as the support goes....what does Dell have to say about any of this? Having a big company behind you for support feels good, but, now is when you need it, and I wouldn't just fix the problem with a new brive before contacting them and seeing if they want to address it with a solution or a new drive.
I really feel anymore that I can get more support here from our buds and in tech forums, like the forums at AMDMB.com (http://www.amdforums.com/) than I will calling Dell, or HP, or any other faceless megacompany. I have an HP in the basement right now to fix over the weekend, they couldn't get any satisfaction from an all-to-long phone call. OK, rant over, I'll stfu.

[Grimmy]

Dell didn't really say much. The puter is about 3 years old, and out of warrenty. Dell gave him some things to try, and some utilities, such as the one that I posted a pic on, and had one fail. That is about all Dell has done. :rolleyes:

[Grimmy]

Originally posted by Slice@May 27 2003, 04:00 PM
You may be able to get the data off of it if you can get it to work as a slave drive.
That is what I am trying to do, in the other thread I started :D


Who, checked that, they are good.

[JIMINATOR]

Originally posted by Grimmy@May 27 2003, 07:06 PM
Dell didn't really say much. The puter is about 3 years old, and out of warrenty. Dell gave him some things to try, and some utilities, such as the one that I posted a pic on, and had one fail. That is about all Dell has done. :rolleyes:
I would shoot myself before I would call tech support...

[Grimmy]

Originally posted by JIMINATOR+May 27 2003, 06:50 PM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (JIMINATOR @ May 27 2003, 06:50 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin--Grimmy@May 27 2003, 07:06 PM
Dell didn&#39;t really say much.&nbsp; The puter is about 3 years old, and out of warrenty.&nbsp; Dell gave him some things to try, and some utilities, such as the one that I posted a pic on, and had one fail.&nbsp; That is about all Dell has done.&nbsp; :rolleyes:
I would shoot myself before I would call tech support... [/b][/quote]
Is that a 24/7 offer?? :D

[FUS1ON]

I wonder what the default ATA setting is for the new drive (i.e. ATA66, ATA100, ATA133 etc.....) and what that motherboard chipset is set for or what setting it needs?

Most of the new drives (retail) i&#39;ve seen come with a utility (Like Maxblast) to adjust this for your motherboard.

[Death-Dude]

Originally posted by JIMINATOR+May 27 2003, 05:50 PM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (JIMINATOR @ May 27 2003, 05:50 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin--Grimmy@May 27 2003, 07:06 PM
Dell didn&#39;t really say much.&nbsp; The puter is about 3 years old, and out of warrenty.&nbsp; Dell gave him some things to try, and some utilities, such as the one that I posted a pic on, and had one fail.&nbsp; That is about all Dell has done.&nbsp; :rolleyes:
I would shoot myself before I would call tech support... [/b][/quote]
You must have learned the first time?&#33; No, I&#39;ve had good and bad ones. I worked in a shop for a large company, and we were required to do it to satisfy warranty agreements, and HP was actually great to deal with. I don&#39;t know what they&#39;re like now, but if their website is any indication, they inherited some bad traits from Compaq. Visioneer was laughable. WD had one guy I would have slapped, and another guy who was great. I bought a Dell back in like 94 or 95, and the salesman lied to me, then lied about lying....and he had a carsalesman-like pushy, "So, are you ready to order now?" demeanor. Just to satisfy myself, I took his deceit a couple of levels over his head, until I got a , "I see your point, but we won&#39;t do anything about it." from them. Cool, it made me want to research and build my own box.

[JIMINATOR]

Originally posted by Grimmy+May 27 2003, 08:53 PM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Grimmy @ May 27 2003, 08:53 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>
Originally posted by -JIMINATOR@May 27 2003, 06:50 PM
<!--QuoteBegin--Grimmy@May 27 2003, 07:06 PM
Dell didn&#39;t really say much.* The puter is about 3 years old, and out of warrenty.* Dell gave him some things to try, and some utilities, such as the one that I posted a pic on, and had one fail.* That is about all Dell has done.*&nbsp; :rolleyes:
I would shoot myself before I would call tech support...
Is that a 24/7 offer?? :D [/b][/quote]
In sam I blow myself up all the time, so may as well...