Can Avast cause loss of drive recognition?

[bevills1]

Today I defragged my Win2k drive and stopped Avast "On Access Protection," closed Zonealarm and other apps first as I normally do. However, I got the Avast "Virus data base has been updated" message while Defrag was running even though I had stopped Avast "On Access Protection." When I started to shut down the system I got error message that a device had been improperly unplugged as if I'd removed a USB device without stopping it, but the dvice indicated was the slave hard drive. Upon restart the slave drive showed a scrambled name in BIOS for slave drive and showed 0 MB, and slave drive wasn't seen at all when Windows started. The system was powered off a few hours after which slave drive was then seen normally in BIOS, and it was seen when Windows started. However, Windows showed first drive of extended partition as unformatted. Windows Explorer was unable to complete format, but format was completed via Disk Management. Could Avast have caused these strange problems, or what else may have been the culprit? Just in case I plan running Defrag from safe mode in the future.

[Nelson37]

Possible, but the "device unplugged" message would argue against that.

My guess would be either a failing drive motor or control board, flaky cable, or problem with power supply or power connector.

Was the slave drive being defragged, or just the Master? Possible overheating issue.

Avast, and/or the update, and/or the update in conjunction with the drfrag going on, could account for all these symptoms, EXCEPT the "device unplugged" message. That indicates a loss of power, or data connection, or drive failure.

Did you snug up the cables, or even touch them, during the cool-down period after which it worked again?

[lordsmurf]

Doubt it. Defrag while writing is more likely.

Built-in MS Defrag sucks too. Buy the good one from Diskeeper, version 2008, for under $50. I'll be doing this very, very soon.

[bevills1]

Just the master was being defragged, but I think Avast wasn't the cause due to subsequent events. This morning I started the system, copied some files and folders from slave to master drive using Explorer, and all icons on desktop disappeared as well as task bar including start menu, shut down, etc when Explorer was closed. The only way to shut down was manually with power switch. Upon restart the slave drive was again missing. A few BIOS settings were changed and system restarted a couple of times with slave drive still not showing. Then another restart try resulted in a blank screen with blinking cursor in upper left corner with no error messages. Boot to floppy and CD worked a few times after which CD boot failed, and now only boot to flolppy and CD via external USB DVD drive is possible. During boot to either shows no drives found during boot sequence and finally no valid CDROM device drivers found. All drives show normally in BIOS, but IDE drives aren't seen during boot to floppy or CD in external DVD drive. I tried changing IDE and power cables to see if that was a problem, but results are same after changing cables. The occurrence during Defrag now appears just coincidence and a symptom of much more serious issues

This progression of failures seems to me to point to failing and finally failed IDE connection on mobo or other mobo failure. Could these kinds of failures be caused by CPU or PSU issues, or is it more likely IDE controller failure? The mobo also has Onbaord SATA-IDE Controller settings in BIOS with options of RAID, SATA and Disabled and is currently set to RAID which I don't use. Would changing this BIOS setting to Disabled effectively change those mobo connections to IDE connections and allow trying connecting IDE drives to those connections?

[Krispy Kritter]

PSU issues can cause all sorts of problems, so yes it is possible.

I would start by disconnecting all of the IDE cables and trying to boot. You should then obviously get an error that no boot drive is present. Shut down and then try only connecting your primary HDD or the CDROM (and adjusting the jumper accordingly). Boot and see what happens. If the drive is recognized, you can then continue to add each drive one at a time until you find the problem drive. If it isn't recognized, you likely have a motherboard or psu issue.

[bevills1]

All drives disconnected and error message given as expected. Primary HDD connected and seen in BIOS, but it gives "Media test failure, check cable. Reboot and select proper boot device" error messages when trying to boot. Boot to Win98 Startup disk shows no drive and no valid CDROM drivers found; it also shows drive C has no valid FAT or FAT32 structure and may need partitioning. Fdisk shows Primary partition with scrambled characters for that partition. Booting to Win2k install CD via external DVD drive gives INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE error message. There's no doubt the partition is corrupt, but there's no way to access it to fix it that I know. Even if I did, I'd fully expect the problem to recur due to bad mobo, PSU or what ever the cause. Does this indicate it is bad mobo, it is bad PSU, or could it still be either?

[lordsmurf]

Bad wire is my first guess. Only costs about $10 to fix.

[genki500]

Try "remove" or "uninstall" under "device manager". Restart computer, maybe the computer will re-install it.

[bevills1]

What kind of bad wire? I've already changed IDE and power cables, and problems persist. Device Manager is not accessible because Windows doesn't boot. Only boot to floppy or CD in external DVD drive is now possible.

[Nelson37]

Damn, that went downhill fast.

OK, so you've tried a completely different IDE cable? Did you set the jumper to standalone on the formerly Master drive? Don't use Cable Select. Stick with the new cable, do NOT re-attach the old cable.

The big possible fallacy in these situations is "try new cable, no change, go back to old cable." Bad, bad, bad. Very likely the drives are crapped because of a bad cable, new cable they are still bad. But using old cable prevents any repair actions. With new cable, at least that possibility has been eliminated. Keep this philosophy always in mind. If it MIGHT be bad, and can be eliminated or exchanged for KNOWN GOOD parts, do it. Cable is so cheap, and suspicion is at all reasonable, I would throw away the old one without hesitation.

Also, sounds like you have at least two IDE connectors. Are the HD still connected to the same motherboard connector? If so, and a secondary is available, try that. I would expect non-bootable at this point, unfortunately that may be evidence of the second connector being bad, or just proof that the drive is badly hosed. Slave drive flaking out OR some controller or cable fault could cause this.

BUT, If only the Primary IDE controller is bad, and IF the secondary works, you should at least be able to clear partition, re-partition, and re-format.

With HD on secondary, and CD on primary connector, try boot from Win2k or later CD and remove partition. Recommend remove partition, re-boot, then re-create and format.

At this point, the two drives are both unreliable as test subjects, but I would be leery of attaching another drive in case the system hoses that, as well. One reason I keep several old scratch drives around, they work but are essentially worthless except for testing.

If you don't have an old drive for testing, and the tests with original drives fail, next step depends on the age of the board and feasability of upgrade. New power supply is such a common fix, also relatively cheap and easy, I almost always try this. However, as stated at this point the drives may be so hosed that their not working doesn't really show anything. If they DO work, then ya got something.

[budz]

Be careful if you buy a new power supply because if your mobo is the problem you could fry the new power supply as well. Take your mobo and power supply to a local computer shop to have them test it for you. Just my 2 cents!

[Nelson37]

While that is theoretically possible, I have never seen it happen, nor heard of it from any tech I have worked with. This covers many hundreds of such PS replacements.

The cost of taking it to a PC shop is greater than the cost of a replacement PS.

[bevills1]

Well it turns out the second IDE cable tried was bad. A third IDE cable was tried, internal CD drive booted to CD with no problem, a Ghost image was restored to C drive, and everything is back to normal. Who'd have thought 2 bad cables would be encountered?

[Nelson37]

Someone who has seen it happen, more than once.

It ain't KNOWN GOOD until it is KNOWN to be GOOD, and if the assembly still fails, the part is still suspect until you test it again elsewhere.