Hard Drive died. Can it be fixed?

[jollyjohn]

G’day all.
I need your help if you could.
My Maxtor 6E040l0 HD just died, When I try to boot there is a message (….failed to load operating system) or something like that. It happened restoring the drive image when partitioning the drive, with Acronis. that I did something wrong, pressed the “Back” key a few times to re do it. Could not reboot the machine.
I’m back on deck with a new WD 80 GB,

I would like to know if it would be possible to reformat the drive and how to do it. I’d kike to have it as a spare drive with the OS ready on it.

I have two HDs on the machine. One with the OS and software, the other to store data and, shortcuts of the main folders on the desktop.
Thank you for any help
Regards
John

[VenGeanCe]

well if ya got a bootable cd of ur OS u can reinstall ur OS
just go 2 ur BIOS setup and in that enable ur 1st boot option from CD that can fix it up

[redwudz]

I'm going to assume XP here. A computer profile would be helpful

Have you tried to see if it shows up in Disk Management (Local)? Probably won't, that would be too easy.

Next step is to DL or get a W98 boot floppy. They sometimes work when the XP OS CD won't. I would put the drive in as the boot drive temporarily (Usually C) Go into BIOS and set to boot from floppy. If you can get it to come up in DOS from the boot floppy, there is hope. Just FDISK and format in FAT32. If this works, you can reformat as NTFS when you put it back in it's proper place in the computer.

If no luck here, you might get somewhere with diagnostic software from Maxtor; Maxblast or similar.

If none of this works, and the drive is under warranty, just RMA it for a replacement.

I have managed to mess up a couple of HDs over the years to the point they were totally useless. I rarely had any luck fixing them. Don't waste too much time with it and good luck.

[jollyjohn]

Thanks guys. I value your help.
Regards
John

[VenGeanCe]

@red if he takes his hdd 2 his pal he can format it from there also i mean is it possible?

[INFRATOM]

Looks like you are more worried about the hard drive than your data. Well if you care about HD looks like you just screwed the partition table , you can always reformat HD, fdisk or start installing windows xp it has all the option during install. Or try to repair the partition table . There is a fdisk command or maybe partition magic boot disk may have that utility

[redwudz]

VenGeanCe: Yes, as long as the OS recognizes that there is a drive, and it is only the partition that is damaged, you can just repartition and format it within the computer or with another computer.

But if the OS can't format it or partition it, or even detect it, that's where it gets difficult. Sometimes using a W98 boot disk can fix it, then you just format as normal. I guess the file structure of the disk gets damaged. Sometimes if you stop the OS when it is partitioning or even formatting, it can really mess up the drive.

[lumis]

i'm thinking the hard drive is fine.. he's not getting a bios error message, just a "failed to load o/s" message, which isnt that big of a deal.

if i didnt have any data i gave a crap about on it, i would have just formatted it.. or popped in my win xp cd, deleted all partitons, formatted & installed.

windows should see the drive in disk management, and get it working pretty easily.

[budz]

if you really want to find out if the hard drive is failing download the MAXTOR utility that will test the drive out. make sure the hard drive is attached to the motherboard ide and not a ide controller card. here's the download for the MAXTOR UTILITY: http://www.maxtor.com/portal/site/Maxtor/menuitem.3c67e325e0a6b1f6294198b091346068/?ch...&downloadID=22

could it be his HARD DRIVE is not set in the BIOS to boot first which is why he got the FAILED TO LOAD OS message? i've had that happen to me where the hard drive was not set in the BIOS to boot up first.

[jollyjohn]

G'day and thanks for all the help.
I think the drive is as DEAD as it can be. I have Intalled it as a slave, just to test it. My Computer and Windows Explorer could not find it. It spins but the software that runs it is not there enymore, I think. I was lucky, anyhow, I only had the OS and Software on it. Ikeep all my data in the slave drive, so I only had to install the HD image and I was back on deck.(After $95.22 ADfor a new WD 80MB)
budz. I'll try your site as well.
Thank you all
John

[jollyjohn]

if you really want to find out if the hard drive is failing download the MAXTOR utility that will test the drive out. make sure the hard drive is attached to the motherboard ide and not a ide controller card. here's the download for the MAXTOR UTILITY: http://www.maxtor.com/portal/site/Maxtor/menuitem.3c67e325e0a6b1f6294198b091346068/?ch...&downloadID=22

could it be his HARD DRIVE is not set in the BIOS to boot first which is why he got the FAILED TO LOAD OS message? i've had that happen to me where the hard drive was not set in the BIOS to boot up first.

G’day
I have downloaded the “powermax.exe” tool and the instructions ot use it, made the boot floppy. I disconnected all HDs and installed the damaged Maxtor. I connected the jumper on every possible way. Powermax detected the drive every time. It prompted me to press F3 to continue. When I did it went to the Dos A:\> prompt. I’m not embarrassed to say I don’t know what to do next. The instructions are different to what happens on screen.
When I normally boot the drive as a master the message is “Error Loading Operating System”
I am not desperate to recover any data from the drive. There is none there only the OS and the programs for what I have a drive image that update every one or two weeks (I learned the hard way, and still learning), but this is a challenge and I have taken it personally.
Any help will be appreciated
John

[budz]

make sure your BIOS is set to boot to the FLOPPY DRIVE first. it sounds like the BIOS is set to boot to the HARD DRIVE FIRST. boot up your pc then hit the DELETE KEY to get into your BIOS. set the BIOS to boot to the FLOPPY DRIVE first instead of your HARD DRIVE.

Set that HARD DRIVE jumper to master and connect it to your PRIMARY IDE then use the powermax tool that you have on a floppy disc and run the test again.

[jollyjohn]

make sure your BIOS is set to boot to the FLOPPY DRIVE first. it sounds like the BIOS is set to boot to the HARD DRIVE FIRST. boot up your pc then hit the DELETE KEY to get into your BIOS. set the BIOS to boot to the FLOPPY DRIVE first instead of your HARD DRIVE.

Set that HARD DRIVE jumper to master and connect it to your PRIMARY IDE then use the powermax tool that you have on a floppy disc and run the test again.

G'day. Here we go again. I'm very gratelull for the help you have given me alreaky but I don't want to leave this thread open.
The BIOS is set to boot floppy first choice.
The Maxtor HD is set as Master.
It boots to the powermax floppy and it is detected by powerxax as Master. It instrucs me to press F3. When I do a Dos window opens with: A:\> and I dont know what to type there mext, because it does not give me any more instrucctions.
As I said before, I'm not desperare to recover the drive, but, on the same token. I would really like to beat the bitch.
I'm learning from this and maybe others can learn too.
Regards
John

[SLK001]

Sounds like you damaged your drive's partition. The partition is a drive "mapping". Without the "map", the computer doesn't know what to do with it.

Your software that you booted from A: should have a "health" test for you drive. Since the program has no problem finding it, it sounds like the electronics is functioning okay.

[jollyjohn]

I forgot to say that the drive spins ok and even worms up to working temperature.
The program does not show any parameters for the defferent tests as the instruction file. I downloaded separately, said. When I change the jumper to slave it is also detected by Powermax as well as the two optical drives.
I typed ? on the Dos prompt to see the available commands. I tryed them all one by one. Nothing.
Maybe it's gone. Dead. Buggered for ever and ever.
John

[SLK001]

Typing "?" at the DOS prompt is only going to show you available DOS commands - which, should be NONE, because your DOS shell is very limited. Your "F3" key seems to be the EXIT button. Try hitting the "F1" key, instead.

Once loaded, the commands should be at the bottom of the screen. I don't have a Maxtor drive, so I CAN'T HOLD YOUR HAND AND WALK YOU THROUGH THIS.


P.S. Where is Sysney, Australia?

[jollyjohn]

Yes mate. Australia
Thankyou again. I will try over the weekend. It is 1:29 AM now. too late to make noise.
John

[jimmalenko]

Maybe the manual might help ?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but you're not even getting to the point where it asks you to select the type of test you want to run ? Type DIR at the A:\> prompt. There should be an EXE, COM or BAT file that actually runs the powermax software. It sounds to me like the boot floppy is doing it's job and booting off the A Drive, and you just need to initialise the powermax software.


BTW, what OS are you running ? You never answered. As mentioned by redwudz, if XP, put your XP CD into your CD drive and set the CD as your first boot option. You should be able to remove all existing partitions during the install. If another OS, get a boot floppy (google), boot off it, then fdisk and remove all partitions, then recreate partitions and install OS as normal.

[jollyjohn]

Thankyou jimmalenko for answering.
You are correct I am not even getting to the tests in powermax. All I'm getting is: A:\>. I do have the manual hard copy, but i am not getting any of the stuff described in it.
the OS is XP Pro Corporate. No SP1 no SP2.
I will try to boot with the XP CD again. I think I already tryed that and the H D wasnt recognized. It kept asking me to press any key to continue. I'll try again because I don't remember.
Thankyou for your help. I was about to give up but you post gave me new hopes.
John

[jollyjohn]

Hi there
Here is some info about the computer. I'm sorry I meglected it before.
capture.jpg
capture2.jpg
caprure3.jpg
I hope this helps some more.
John

[Bjs]

Go to the manufacture's website and download the tools for setting up new hard drives .

One of them will give you information regarding how to setup those jumpers correctly , dont take the word of those printouts stuck on the top of them , western digital drives printout is total wrong , and maxtor wouldnt be far behind them .

Sounds like the drives controler isnt fully doing its job , just like a couple of western digitals here .

Try setting the jumper to cs and not master or slave , and try the tools out again , as I bet its the controler gone on holiday permanently .

Setting them to cs should bring that drive back online , maybe for years , or maybe long enough to recover data only .

[jollyjohn]

G'day all.
Success at last.
Finally I got it going. I had to do a bit of careful reading of the posts you sent me and grasp that valuable knowledge and not panic. I set the BIOS to boot from CD first choice. The first time I missed to press any key to boot from CD and it gave me the message “error loading Operating System”. I wasn’t quick enough. I turned it off and restarted. This time I was ready to press any key, and the way it went. The XP formatted the .HD and re installed the OS. I removed the CD from the drive and booted a few times to be sure. It went like a beauty every time.
The Maxtor tool did not help. I tried the Autoexec.bat and pwrmaxen.exe on the dos prompt, nothing happened.
Never mind. I feel good about the whole thing.
I would like to thank all and every one that had the patience to help me. As you can see I’m not an expert, but thanks to your sharing your knowledge I feel like an expert.
Good on you guys.
Regards
John