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My hard disk spins down after a period of inactivity even though I disabled power management in the BIOS

Explanation: You have turned off power management, but the hard disk still spins down after a period of inactivity.

Diagnosis: Sometimes the power management isn't really turned off; it's possible that more than one BIOS setting needs to be changed and they weren't all changed. There could be a BIOS bug as well.

Recommendation:

• Go into the BIOS setup and double-check that power management really is turned off at a global level.
• If you are running Windows 95 OEM SR2, look in the Control Panel for an applet called "Power". Go into it, and uncheck the box that controls spinning down the hard disk.
• If the problem persists, it is possible that your BIOS has a bug. Contact your motherboard manufacturer for more information. There was definitely a bug in some Award BIOSes in late 1996 (a motherboard of mine had one). This sort of problem can normally be fixed with a flash BIOS upgrade, if available.
• There could be a problem related to the hard disk, such as a loose cable, or a defect with the hard disk itself; double-check the hard disk connection.
• Troubleshoot the motherboard.

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