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Guys, I have Rogers Highspeed with Norton and a message from Norton asked if I wanted to download windows updates which I did and the PC wanted a reboot.
Now the PC won't reboot but stays on the Motherboard Pent III blue startup screen. Has my HD died? What can I try?
I have no files on this 30GB HD since I store them on my 200GB USB HD.
Should I install the XP install CD and try and reload XP?
Running
Pent III
Win XP
Download and run the hard drive manufacturer's diagnostic utility (they all run from floppy, so you don't need to get into Windows), and see what it reports. Here are the common ones:
Seagate Seatools
IBM / Hitachi Drive Fitness Test
Maxtor Maxblast 3
Maxtor PowerMax
Western Digital Software & Drivers
Fujitsu Utilities
Thx Nick, will try when I get a chance.
Can I create a CD from another PC and use it since I can't get OS up on the dead PC for the floppy to be usable?
Yes you can download the bootcd .iso and burn to make a cd with any computer.
How can I write (burn) ISO files to CD
http://www.petri.co.il/how_to_write_iso_files_to_cd.htm
Google search on that subject
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=How+to+burn+a+iso
Or you can download the Ultimate Boot CD, and burn that - it has all those utilities plus many more besides:
Ultimate Boot CD
What's a ISO file? I thought I was working towards creating a diag floppy or get it on CD.
An ISO is an image of a CD or DVD. An burniung program can take an ISO and turn it into a CD. With that CD, it is bootable and all you need to do is boot the problem computer with it in the drive and you can run the diagnostics without needing Windows at all.
I see that http://www-pcdiagnostics.com/?gclid=...FQP0hgod22JY8Q is free if I provide an email id.
But the Ultimate Boot CD is available through people that you pay to receive the CD. I don't see where I can download it. I don't want to wait for a week for the mail to arrive.
You'll find the download option in the red box at the upper left:
I hope this is it http://www.softpedia.com/progDownloa...oad-76994.html
I get msg setup files are corrupted, please obtain a new copy of the program when I click on run on a working PC.
Am I to burn the file UBCD4WinV306.exe to a cd and boot up the dead PC with this CD in the CD drive? Or does this .exe file extract to a directory that I need to add the files to burn?
Quote:
Originally Posted by COPO
Looks good to me.
I extracted the zip file to a directory and burnt the .iso file and installed it into the dead PC and powered it up. It still sits at the Pentium IV Motherboard blue screen. Does it matter if the CD is a CD-RW?
And I also powered up with the Win XP install CD in the cd drive which is set to look here first with the same results as above. Does that prove that the HD is shot?
Generally speaking, most computer will generate a better pci card graphics, if it is in the slot closes to the cpu. Which is pci slot #1.
But if you can live with it in #2, leave it.
You probably need to go into your BIOS Setup and change the boot order of your drives. You should see which key you need to press during the initial POST screen immediately after you power up. Once you're in Setup, go to "Advanced BIOS settings" or similar, and change the boot order to:
1st boot device = Floppy
2nd boot device = CDROM
3rd boot device = HDD 0
I believe I have the correct order as I had to change this when I loaded Win XP last year.
BTW, I did try F8 and F10 yeaterday after I powered on the PC and just see the Pent IV Motherboard Manuf screen.
All this started after a Windows update that Norton said was ready to load. If it's the HD then the next one will be without Norton.
My drive is a 40GB. What's the max GB HD I can install on this PC so the PC will see all GB without any upgrades on this PC.
I see HD under 100GB on eBay since new ones at Future Shop are 100GB and up but I think my PC is too old to see 100+GB drives.
My PC from Everest I ran a year ago.
Motherboard
CPU Type Intel Pentium 4, 1500 MHz (15 x 100)
Motherboard Name Intel Garibaldi D850GB (5 PCI, 1 AGP, 4 RIMM)
Motherboard Chipset Intel Tehama i850
System Memory 768 MB (PC800 RDRAM)
BIOS Type AMI (07/18/01)
Communication Port Communications Port (COM1)
Communication Port Printer Port (LPT1)
and
Motherboard:
Motherboard Properties:
Motherboard ID 51-2300-000000-00101111-030199-$GB850_
Motherboard Name Intel Garibaldi D850GB
Front Side Bus Properties:
Bus Type Intel NetBurst
Bus Width 64-bit
Real Clock 100 MHz (QDR)
Effective Clock 400 MHz
Bandwidth 3200 MB/s
Memory Bus Properties:
Bus Type Dual RDRAM
Bus Width 32-bit
Real Clock 400 MHz (DDR)
Effective Clock 800 MHz
Bandwidth 3200 MB/s
Motherboard Physical Info:
CPU Sockets/Slots 1
Expansion Slots 5 PCI, 1 AGP
RAM Slots 4 RIMM
Form Factor ATX
Motherboard Chipset i850
As long as you have Service Pack 1 or higher, then ther shouldn't be any problem with it seeing any size drive with an i850 chipset. Certainly I had a 250GB drive in a computer of a similar age, and there were no problems.
If you are not able to boot usina a bootable CD, that would usually indicate a motherboard problem.
I'm curious why, if you have a floppy drive, you didn't just use that to run the hard-drive diagnostic as SuperSparks suggested in post #2. Kinda primitive, but a lot less work and just as effective.
I read it was faster with a CD.Quote:
Originally Posted by lgbpop
I have Win XP SP2.
Motherboard Chipset Intel Tehama i850
I'll try a 1.4 floppy boot disc tonight.
You were misinformed, it may take a few seconds longer for the diagnostic program to actually load from a floppy, but after that it doesn't make the slightest difference in how long it takes to complete the tests.
I copied the Western Digital ISO file Diag504cCD.iso from http://support.wdc.com/download/inde...&pid=4&swid=30 and burnt it on a RW cd and powered on my dead PC and nothing happened. The Intel Desltop Board Pentium 4 screen just comes up like before.
If the UBCD didn't work or the Western Digital ISO files then I guess there's no sense in creating a Win XP boot cd?
BTW, anyone have a link to create one?
What happened when you tried the floppy?
I didn't try an ISO floppy, but did try a Win 98 boot disc and the same Intel Pent 4 screen only shows.
I did connect the drive to my 1995 PC as a master as the 1st drive on the cable and received a disk error. Then after putting back the Win 98 HD back in I set the jumpers on the so called dead HD as a slave and connected it to the end ribbon cable and still received a disk error.
I even connected my Win 98 HD to the dead Pent 4 PC and received the same Intel Pent 4 screen that comes up at boot time. Then it sits there alseep. I wonder if I have a bad ribbon cable?
I need a shotgun to put this baby to sleep for good.
I'm going to try my HD in another IDE type PC tomorrow and if it doesn't work then I can rule out a bad motherboard on my PC and pick up a IDE 40GB HD on eBay for $20.
What else can I try?
Trying your HDD in a third computer tomorrow won't work. You really ought to go back to square one (post #2 in this case) - download the appropriate app to your desktop, and run it. Insert a clean floppy into the drive when instructed. When the floppy is created, restart the computer with the floppy in the drive and the boot order set to FDD first. Then just follow the prompts. Nothing else you do is likely to work at this point, and you're only wasting your time doing all the stuff you've done so far.;)
If your PC with the problem is not getting past the blue BIOS screen, it is not booting. You are not going to be able to boot from floppy, hard drive, or CD-ROM drive. If you can get into the BIOS setup, try restoring the factory defaults. If that doesn't work, it is time for a new motherboard.
I tried getting into the BIOS with F10 F8 F6 none work. No success. I just want to verify that my drive works on another more modern than '95 PC.
If I can't get past the blue screen then how am I to get on and download to the desktop. I hope you meant from the other PC that works that has a floppy?Quote:
Originally Posted by lgbpop
To try your hard drive in another (working) computer, just connect it to a free IDE connector in that PC. Make sure that the jumper on it and on the other drive on the same cable (if there is one) are set correctly.
Without knowing the details about your system (homebuild or storebought) it's hard to tell, but try the Delete and F1 & F2 keys as well.Quote:
Originally Posted by COPO
Quote:
Originally Posted by lgbpop
Tried both floppy diags http://support.wdc.com/download/inde...n&pid=4&swid=2 and
cd
http://support.wdc.com/download/inde...&pid=4&swid=30
with the same results.
I tried my HD at work in another PC and I can see all the files. I copied some files on my stick that I needed. So the HD is good.Quote:
Originally Posted by lgbpop
It just won't boot as the master into windows (blue screens) since the internal components differ to the load of Windows XP from my hardware internals.
I'm running check disk on it.
Maybe I have a bad CD drive which is causing the motherboard to hang and stops me from booting. I can disconnect it and try later.
Gonna have the guys here look at the motherboard etc.