OT: PC boot up

"Danny" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Richard wrote:
>> "Danny" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>> news:[email protected]...
>>
>>>Richard wrote:
>>>
>>>>When I start my pc (win xp home edition) I get a message saying disk
>>>>boot failure. I reformatted the drive and reinstalled xp and it still
>>>>does the same.
>>>>What is strange though is that if I press the reset button on the front
>>>>it boots up fine and xp runs ok.
>>>>Any ideas?
>>>>Thanks
>>>>Richard
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>As others have commented. Drives often take longer to spin up to speed
>>>and complete their self checks as they get older. Often too long for the
>>>usual PC startup diagnostics to have completed and be ready to boot. In
>>>the long term, I'd surmise that your drive is getting old and probably
>>>unreliable, in the short term i'd turn on full memory check or another
>>>BIOS feature that will extend the pc's startup. The drive may then be
>>>ready when it's time to boot. Alernativel, don't turn it off (I haven't
>>>turned my machines off for years).
>>>
>>>--
>>>Regards, Danny
>>
>>
>> How do I extend the pc's start up time? I have tried two drives, a Maxtor
>> and a Samsung, both less than 6 months old and they both do the same
>> thing.
>>
>> Richard
>
> If you get the same with 2 newish drives, I may be wrong. Check the BIOS
> to make sure the boot sequence doesn't include other devices (as already
> mentioned) - things like floppy/CD etc. Find this in the BIOS.
>
> To lengthen the PC startup process, go into the BIOS and enable something
> like full memory check (there is usually a quick/full option). To enter
> the BIOS press the magical key (del or whatever is prompted on the screen
> during initialisation, before windows starts to load). To not change BIOS
> settings you are unsure about if you've never played with BIOS before...
>
> --
> Regards, Danny
>
> http://www.gaggia-espresso.com (a purely hobby site)
> http://www.malabargold.co.uk (UK/EU ordering for Malabar Gold blend)

Checked BIOS, boot other device is disabled, boot sequence at the mo is 1.
HD, 2. CD.
One thing I have noticed when it wont boot up is it says ' IDE Channel 0
Master [Iaxtkr 6Y080H0]
When it will boot up it says IDE Channel 0 Master [Maxtor 6Y080L0]

So it seems that when it wont boot the motherboard isnt recognising the hard
drive? Does that make sense?


Richard

> Checked BIOS, boot other device is disabled, boot sequence at the mo is 1.
> HD, 2. CD.
> One thing I have noticed when it wont boot up is it says ' IDE Channel 0
> Master [Iaxtkr 6Y080H0]
> When it will boot up it says IDE Channel 0 Master [Maxtor 6Y080L0]
>
> So it seems that when it wont boot the motherboard isnt recognising the hard
> drive? Does that make sense?

Does sound like a motherboard fault to me if you have tried two
different HDD's and they both do exactly the same thing, especially
with the odd boot message you are getting.

Might be a very long shot, as I've never had (or heard of) a faulty
one, but have you tried a different IDE lead? Like I said, a very
long shot, but worth a go before spending any money!

You could also try swapping the boot sequence so that CD is first
and HDD is second - it won't do any harm and might give your HDD
time to spin up if that is actually the problem, tho I somehow
doubt it, you can never rule anything out with computers! I'm
rather fond of saying that for something which works entirely on
logic, computers are remarkably illogical sometimes!!

I can't remember if you said now, but is this a problem that has
just appeared overnight for no reason, or has the PC always been
like this?

Matt

This is a problem that has suddenly happened. Was working fine until this.
Also something else Ive just found is that the second IDE channel isnt
working at all. Looks as the the motherboard is u/s.
I have got a spare cable somewhere so I will try that first tho.

Richard


"Matthew Maddock" <[email protected]> wrote in
message news:[email protected]...
>> Checked BIOS, boot other device is disabled, boot sequence at the mo is
>> 1. HD, 2. CD.
>> One thing I have noticed when it wont boot up is it says ' IDE Channel 0
>> Master [Iaxtkr 6Y080H0]
>> When it will boot up it says IDE Channel 0 Master [Maxtor 6Y080L0]
>>
>> So it seems that when it wont boot the motherboard isnt recognising the
>> hard drive? Does that make sense?
>
> Does sound like a motherboard fault to me if you have tried two
> different HDD's and they both do exactly the same thing, especially
> with the odd boot message you are getting.
>
> Might be a very long shot, as I've never had (or heard of) a faulty
> one, but have you tried a different IDE lead? Like I said, a very
> long shot, but worth a go before spending any money!
>
> You could also try swapping the boot sequence so that CD is first
> and HDD is second - it won't do any harm and might give your HDD
> time to spin up if that is actually the problem, tho I somehow
> doubt it, you can never rule anything out with computers! I'm
> rather fond of saying that for something which works entirely on
> logic, computers are remarkably illogical sometimes!!
>
> I can't remember if you said now, but is this a problem that has
> just appeared overnight for no reason, or has the PC always been
> like this?
>
> Matt

Richard wrote:
> This is a problem that has suddenly happened. Was working fine until
> this. Also something else Ive just found is that the second IDE
> channel isnt working at all. Looks as the the motherboard is u/s.
> I have got a spare cable somewhere so I will try that first tho.
>
> Richard

Some BIOSs have the option of enabling IDE channels independently. Since you've
apparently only 2 IDE devices its quite likely the 2nd channel is not enabled in
the BIOS.


--
"He who says it cannot be done would be well advised not to interrupt
her doing it."

If the answer is offensive maybe the question was inappropriate

The fiend of my fiend is my enema!

On Sunday, in article <[email protected]>
[email protected] "Matthew Maddock"
wrote:

> > Checked BIOS, boot other device is disabled, boot sequence at the mo is 1.
> > HD, 2. CD.
> > One thing I have noticed when it wont boot up is it says ' IDE Channel 0
> > Master [Iaxtkr 6Y080H0]
> > When it will boot up it says IDE Channel 0 Master [Maxtor 6Y080L0]
> >
> > So it seems that when it wont boot the motherboard isnt recognising the hard
> > drive? Does that make sense?
>
> Does sound like a motherboard fault to me if you have tried two
> different HDD's and they both do exactly the same thing, especially
> with the odd boot message you are getting.
>
> Might be a very long shot, as I've never had (or heard of) a faulty
> one, but have you tried a different IDE lead? Like I said, a very
> long shot, but worth a go before spending any money!

Not a long shot at all. I've had it happen, though it's more likely if a
machine gets disturbed. And if you've tried two drives, don't forget to
check the motherboard end of the cable is fully home.

--
David G. Bell -- SF Fan, Filker, and Punslinger.

"I am Number Two," said Penfold. "You are Number Six."

Ummm...

Some varied advice there...

From what you said last time the mobo is having trouble identifying the
drive... you have a DiamondMax Plus 9 200GB drive... these are avaliable in
either SATA or ATA133 versions... I'd only bother checking the cable if
your's is the ATA133, but do make sure that if you swap the cable for
another one that one end of the cable has a blue plastic connector... cause
if it doesn't it won't be able to transfer data at the full 133... it will
only manage 100 which will cause problems.

Other than that I'd start trying out maxtor's drive utilities... download
them from www.maxtor.com

As for slowing down the bootup time... I seriously doubt that will make any
difference, but there should be a setting in the BIOS to delay the HDD
start-up time, you could try that.

Mike.



""David G. Bell"" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Sunday, in article <[email protected]>
> [email protected] "Matthew Maddock"
> wrote:
>
>> > Checked BIOS, boot other device is disabled, boot sequence at the mo is
>> > 1.
>> > HD, 2. CD.
>> > One thing I have noticed when it wont boot up is it says ' IDE Channel
>> > 0
>> > Master [Iaxtkr 6Y080H0]
>> > When it will boot up it says IDE Channel 0 Master [Maxtor 6Y080L0]
>> >
>> > So it seems that when it wont boot the motherboard isnt recognising the
>> > hard
>> > drive? Does that make sense?
>>
>> Does sound like a motherboard fault to me if you have tried two
>> different HDD's and they both do exactly the same thing, especially
>> with the odd boot message you are getting.
>>
>> Might be a very long shot, as I've never had (or heard of) a faulty
>> one, but have you tried a different IDE lead? Like I said, a very
>> long shot, but worth a go before spending any money!
>
> Not a long shot at all. I've had it happen, though it's more likely if a
> machine gets disturbed. And if you've tried two drives, don't forget to
> check the motherboard end of the cable is fully home.
>
> --
> David G. Bell -- SF Fan, Filker, and Punslinger.
>
> "I am Number Two," said Penfold. "You are Number Six."