Hard Drive

[Tormentor]

Alright i have a huge annoying problem. Ok it started when i had my computer running and nothing was wrong and i didnt have any programs running then i left and came back maybey a half an hour later and my computer was rebooting itself. When it started it would go to that screen that says there was a problem and it asks if you want to boot windows normally so when i click it my computer will restart and do it all over again. So i finnally gave up and reformatted my hard drive but it wont let me no matter what i do. It keeps on sayin my hard drive is dammaged or corrupt or it will just reboot itself. I have tried everything people have told me to do I even FDISK it. Still nothing works. What should I do? Should i just huck it out the window and buy a new one.(I dont have the money). I really want to save it but i dont know what else to do. Any ideas?

[3rd gen noob]

try booting into windows and running CHKDISK to see if there are any errors on the hdd

[Tormentor]

i cant boot into windows because it not on there anymore. <_< I wiped the hard drive so there is absolutly nothing on there but still the piece of shit says its corupt

[Kunal]

have you deleted you partitions and recreated them?

if you have i think a low level format is your only choice.....

[Tormentor]

ok i deleted the partions and created them and all that but it still dosnt work and how do you do a low level format??

[imported_QuietSilence!]

be fore u try low leve format boot to dos and run fdisk with the /mbr switch to repair ur master boot record

ie fdisk /mbr

most newer hds should not be lowlevel formated only do it as last resort and make shure if u do that u use a low level format program from the manufacture
that made the hd

[Kunal]

what company hard drive do you have? go on there site and they&#39;ll have a tool for it on there....

[Tormentor]

its a maxtor. What would there site be and what would i be looking for?

[Kunal]

have you tried what QuietSilence&#33; said first? if not try it&#33;

the maxtor one is called &#39;maxblast&#39; (Link (http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/downloads/maxblast3.htm))

[Virtualbody1234]

Download Powermax from their site.

http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/downloads/powermax.htm

[Kunal]

Originally posted by Virtualbody1234@16 November 2003 - 20:00
Download Powermax from their site.

http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/downloads/powermax.htm
http://www.mcbriens.net/liam/img/smilies/thmbup.gif to the master of hardware world, follow his instructions, there usually right ;)

[Tormentor]

ok i downloaded powermax and put it on a floppy and put it in my other computer and it ran it then i came up with these legal terma and stuf and told me to press F8 then i came up with how to handle my computer like taking it apart then it said to press F8 to run the program the it went to that black screen with the :> or whatever where i type stuff. what do i do next?

[Kunal]

clarify your english please, because i dunno what your saying&#33;

[Tormentor]

Ok sorry about that im panicing. Ok I downloaded powermax and put it on a floppy and put it in my other computer. It ran the program fine and cam up with this blue window that said all the legal terms. I pressed F8 to continue. Another blue window came up and it told me how to ground myself before installing any knew hardware. I pressed F8 to continue again. After that it came up with that command prompt screen were it had the :> (or whatever it looks like) were I type stuff. Thats it I dont know were to go from there.

[Kunal]

Powermax user guide (http://www.maxtor.com/en/documentation/manuals/powermax_guide_en.pdf) read that it should tell you what to do ;)

[imported_QuietSilence!]

at that screen do a:
then dir
then look for the program (it will be there ?????.exe or ?????.com)
then type the name of the program to run it

did u try to fdisk /mbr yet ?

[Tormentor]

ok i tried that and it wasnt working but I just realized that im on my other comp that dosnt have acrobat :lol:

[Tormentor]

i tried that fdisk /mbr thing and all it did was do somthing with the floppy but nothing showed up on the screen. What does it do?

[Kunal]

Originally posted by andrewlamb098@16 November 2003 - 20:44
i tried that fdisk /mbr thing and all it did was do somthing with the floppy but nothing showed up on the screen. What does it do?
check for errors on your hdd

[imported_QuietSilence!]

it rewright the master boot record an fixes it if its bad and it only take a sec or to do the flopy access was just ur comp get fdisk and loading it it will only say something if it dont work so u probly ran it fine see if u can partishion it now
if u can then do a format c /s and see if it will boot to dos on the hd take out the floppy if it works ur good to go and can reinstall windows

btw have u ever put linux on that hd if so ull have to use linux to remove the linux partishion on it f disk wont reconize it

[Tormentor]

no i have never used linux

[imported_QuietSilence!]

sry i edited that last post try what i said there now

[Tormentor]

alright im really pissed it still wont let me format it. when i try and format a partion it goes to 100% then it says it is corrupt or damaged&#33; can i just low format it and start all over. ANYTHING&#33;

[Kunal]

just low level it.... looks like nothing else is gonna work....

[imported_QuietSilence!]

ya try to low level
but i doubt it will work it sounds like u had a HC crash thats when the heads acualy touch the platter if this has happend in the mbr ur screwd and will need a new hd
if it happened in any other place the low level format will block out the bad sectors and it will still work but it will not be as big as it was before will lose all the area that was damaged

also if it has crashed once it will probly do it again so this will probly happen again

sry to be the barer of bad newws :(
but try the low level format and see if it works

[Virtualbody1234]

Is the drive still under warranty?

[Tormentor]

How do you low level format??

[imported_QuietSilence!]

use a low level format program from the manufacture

BTW if it is still under warinty dont do the low level format it will negate the warinty in most cases

[Tormentor]

Ok i have a 1 year depot warranty on all hardware so I will wait.

[cwctv]

Ok PM me with your email address I might have a disk that may sort it out,THATS if the heads haven&#39;t crashed.

[bowrabob]

Hi ...I have exact same problem...tried to format would not go past 0%...it quick formated and started to load windows ..restarted then i was told ..couldn&#39;t continue....can&#39;t find System32 or part mgr..tried to low level with Maxtor program..it didn&#39;t work ..downloaded PowerMax but I don&#39;t think it works with nvidia implanted boards as is mine. Do you think there is a chance of saving this HDD??????????

[Evil Gemini]

Word of advice.

If you have a Warranty on your hdd dont stuff around with it. Just take it back to the place you got it from and they will give you a new one.

Just dont tell them that you have fucked around with it.

[boyzeee]

first i would check to see if the jumper is set correctly, it may have fallen out ;) when you start the pc does it see the disc correctly in the first bios screen? ie master maxtor*** and the size?

next i would stick the disc in your other pc as a slave (set the jumper on disc to slave) and format it from within windows and then run scandisc or chkdsk to see if there are errors.

you could also download discwizard from SEAGATE (http://www.seagate.com/support/disc/download/discwizard2003_en.exe) , install it on your spare pc, it will access most discs and you can format it from within windows again if your spare pc doesnt see it ;)
nifty piece of software
;)