Faulty Hard Disk or Virus?

[Meggsy]

Argh, I just typed a huge question and then lost the lot of it somehow. Anyway, here I go again.

I have a friend's computer and it appears to have a virus on it. I can't FDISK it because it says 'No Fixed Drives present' When trying to load windows with a boot disk it says there is no valid FAT32 partition and No valid CDROM drivers selected. When in the BIOS the IDE Primary Master, Slave and Secondary Master and Slave are all showing 'none'. They are all set to auto detect. If it set it to manual it says 'Primary master hard disk fail'.

The first time I turned it on I managed to get into Windows but when I saw the desktop and error appeared saying some file was currupt, sorry, I don't remember the file and I've only managed to see the Windows GUI once. Then the computer froze and so I restarted it and scan disk appeared. I ran scan disk and it went through before comming up with 'Disk Boot Failure, Insert System Disk'.

Any thoughts?? How do I remove a virus from MS-DOS when I can't access the CDROM?? I don't even know what virus it is.

[Quantax]

The next time you boot with what I guess is the Win 98 Startup disk, after the A:> prompt, type in "sys c:"(without the quotes however). Wait to see if it transfers the needed boot up files. If it does, press alt-control-delete and then see if it boots to the GUI.

This would be one test for the drive's health. Another might be to run(if you have)a diagnostic utility if it came with the drive. Or you can go to another computer, access the website of the drive maker and download the diagnostic software program onto a floppy, THEN test that on the questionable drive.

[Meggsy]

I tried the sys c: and it says Bad Command or File Name... I'm trying the diagnostic utility now.

Well it failed the diagnostic test.

Comprehensive Test -> Failed
Error - Power Save Mode Test
CHS: 8080-0-80 STS: 51 Err: 04
Description: Aborted

<Failed> The Drive Failed The Test

[Quantax]

This time at the A:> prompt, type in Fdisk /mbr to see if commands can be written to the drive. If that too fails, looks to me like the drive's gone.

However, if Paul gives other recommendations on this, I'll defer to his greater experience with these things.

[Meggsy]

I read somewhere else to do that, I think it was another post here and so I tried it but it just goes to the top of the screen and says 'No Fixed Disks Present' and a new A:> prompt appears. Is there any scandisk utility on the boot disk I can use to check the whole drive out for corrupt sectors?

[pave_spectre]

Is the drive being detected by BIOS at all?

[Paleo Pete]

When in the BIOS the IDE Primary Master, Slave and Secondary Master and Slave are all showing 'none'. They are all set to auto detect. If it set it to manual it says 'Primary master hard disk fail'.


That along with the troubleshooting you've already done tells me the drive is dead. BIOS won't see it, fdisk won't see it, DOS doesn't see it, diagnostics fails it, that's usually enough for me...it's gone.

[Quantax]

Is there any scandisk utility on the boot disk I can use to check the whole drive out for corrupt sectors?
Yeah, with the Startup disk, you can then type in "Scandisk" after the A:> prompt. Something else to also try is to type in C:> after the A:> prompt, then type in "Dir". If nothing shows up, I would all the more suspect the drive's dead.

[Meggsy]

Yeah, with the Startup disk, you can then type in "Scandisk" after the A:> prompt. Something else to also try is to type in C:> after the A:> prompt, then type in "Dir". If nothing shows up, I would all the more suspect the drive's dead.
It says invalid drive or something like that. (I've since disconnected the monitor I was using to test it as it is needed for another PC).

Well Thankyou very much for your help and speedy replies, I think I might stick around and hopfully I might be able to help somebody else out in an area where I have more knowledge.

[Meggsy]

Oh, just one more thing, I just want to confirm that it isn't just a virus hiding the drives??

[Paul Komski]

It appears than neither your hard drive nor your cd drive are being detected in the bios. That could be caused by one of them being faulty and needing replacement or by faulty/loose ribbon or power cables/connections - or even a faulty power supply itself.

Do you get any flashing led lights on either device when you start up the computer?and can you open the cd tray by pressing the button on the front of it?

First check all the cables and connectors and maybe try swapping the molex power connectors (the little plugs with four wires) into the bargain. I would also completely disconnect both the cdd and the hdd and then try each one on its own and see if they are detected in the bios individually.

The likelihood is that the hdd is gone but until you get it (or a replacement) recognised in the bios you are going nowhere. It just seems a coincidence that the cdd has gone as well though, as mentioned earlier, one bad device can have knock on effects on other ones.

[Meggsy]

I checked the cables for the HDD at the start of my troubleshooting. I swapped them around with ones I know work. The CD Tray will open and there are no red lights anywhere. It appears the floppy's power supply comes from the HDD and it works fine. I wonder why the CD-Rom isn't working. I'll pull the CDD out and try it in another computer and let you know what happens.

Well I tested it in a different computer and the CD-ROM is recognised and works fine. I think I might try the HDD in the other computer too.

[Paul Komski]

no red lights
red or green - it doesnt really matter (if the CD's is red it is usually only when burning with CDRW),

I actully said led (light emitting diode) if that matters. As the bios polls each hardware device during start up all the drives' leds usually blink once or twice.

[Meggsy]

Well I pulled out both the HDD and CDD and tested them in a different computer. The CDD works fine but the HDD isn't recognised. I've since pulled it apart to see how it works etc on the inside and so now even if it was good it's too late now. LOL. Thanks for your help.

[delete]

next time keep this 1 ready too :) :
http://ubcd.sourceforge.net/
http://ubcd.sourceforge.net/download.html

Very nice, lotsa handy utils

[Paul Komski]

Delete I agree that UBCD is a great utility - as are EBCD (http://ebcd.pcministry.com/download_en.html) and BartPE (http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/) HOWEVER none of them are of any use if you cannot, as in this thread, access your CDROM!!

[delete]

Delete I agree that UBCD is a great utility - as are EBCD (http://ebcd.pcministry.com/download_en.html) and BartPE (http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/) HOWEVER none of them are of any use if you cannot, as in this thread, access your CDROM!!

lol, true :)

[Meggsy]

Well I've partly fixed the problem. The HDD and CDD are now recognised (I replaced the HDD). When I go to install Windows I do the scan disk etc but then when I just get to the Setup screen it comes up with GPF's User.exe at 0001:40B6 and W98SETUP.BIN 002:0563... I've read it could be due to RAM. I swapped the stick into the other slot but still the same problem. Could the broken HDD have also caused the RAM to go too??

[Meggsy]

I just tried to put Windows 95 on it and it has a SUWIN GPF COMCTL31.DLL at 003:00FC

[Meggsy]

I've also tried to put Windows XP Home and I get the 'bsod' 000000A5 error, I tried again and it says that asc.sys is corrupt.

[Paul Komski]

GPFs can be hardware or software based and I guess you have read http://support.microsoft.com/kb/82710/EN-US/ or similar

You could check out your RAM with a memory tester; a couple outlined at http://www.overclockers.com/tips79/

[Meggsy]

Thanks, last night after I posted I went to the sites delete mentioned as the CDD is now working. I ran a memory tester and it had like 19000 errors. I'll get a new stick of ram today and pulg it in.

[Meggsy]

I've worked out that the Secondary IDE slot on the motherboard is gone. That is why the CDD woudn't work originally. Perharps when the HDD went it took the RAM and second IDE slot out also?? Now I've hooked up the new HDD and CDD so that the HDD is primary master and CDD is primary slave. I have an 80GB HDD in it which is more than enough for the user since they don't play games or video editing etc.

So, when a HDD goes could there be a chain reaction taking out the RAM and second IDE slot?

[Fruss Tray Ted]

A chain reaction? Perhaps. But just what the source was that it originated from is also anyone's guess.

A harddrive, RAM, motherboard, CDROMS, none of those have their own power and are reliant on the Power Supply entirely. Any of those components can fail including the PS in a way such as an electrical 'short', that they send the wrong current to any of the other peripherals.

Other factors we may not know about are things such as, was a dial-up modem struck by an electrical storm? Bad /improper shutdowns? Hot swapping components, etc?

It sounds like an older pc if I'm reading this right, if you are trying Windows 95 in it. Tell us more about it please... (specs)

If the secondary ide cable is not working, be sure the controller is enabled in BIOS. But my guess is the mobo is on it's last legs or the battery on it is dying. Does their pc recognize the whole 80 gig drive?

[Meggsy]

Well I just went and purchased some RAM... now everything seems to be working fine. It was an old PC but the guy had it rebuilt. I'm installing windows 98SE right now (what it had originally, I just gave XP and 95 a try to see if they'd work). But it's about 600Mhz, had 128 PC133 RAM, now it has 256 PC133 and an 80GB HDD, was only 10GB.

[Meggsy]

It shows the full 80GB but only 128MB RAM.... it should show 256MB...