depressing DMA 66 hard drive crash, anyone?

[bongo]

I have a maxtor 13gig udma66 mode4 hd and Abit BE6-2 with hotpoint66 vers 1.20. I also have a second Seagate drive EIDE udma 33.

I turned on my computer this weekend and the Maxtor drive did want to boot. I put in an emergency startup disk, but when I finally got to the dos prompt screen, I could not accecc the Maxtor main drive (usually drive "C"), and only accessed my Seagate as drive C (usually drive "D"). This was bad.

I opened up the computer box and switched the hard drive cables connected to the motherboard to force the Maxtor 66dma to boot up as a dma33 (disconnecting the Seagate hd). I hoped that the problem may have been the Hotpoint 66 controller, but when I booted up, I received a dos error message "HARD DISK FAILURE".

I also noticed that when I booted up, in the dos screen it gava a list of peripherals attached. It showed something called ACPI with no number attached - looking kind of lost (please forgive my vague description as I am not that much of a computer expert). This was unique in that all the other peripherals had a number attached (Ie., Display adapter assigned #9).

So what I did was install Win98 onto the 2nd Hardrive and am now using that. But a few problems remain:

1) I seriously need to access the data in my Maxtor harddrive, but it is not showing up in the Windows My computer directory. However, when I look up system properties, it shows the Maxtor there in the disk drives section, but it has no letter assigned nor does it allow me to enter a letter.

2) In the system properties also, it shows a yellow question mark next to the "PCI input controller"? What device is that in reference to?

Is this a massive harware failure or a virus? Either way I really need the data back, any opinions would be really appreciated.

thank you


------------------
"The path of excess leads to the temple of knowledge"

ABit BE6 II UDMA 66 w/ PentiumIII 500mhz
Matrox G400 DH 32 meg MAX
Maxtor 13gig UDMA66 7200 Seagate 9gig UDMA33 7200
SBlaster Live Mp3+ (with gold connectors and robot voice
Aureal Vortex SuperQuad2500
19" PF790 Viewsonic (superb flat screen)
19" Samsung 950p (amazing quality for the price)
ACK 580 crdless k/b and mouse
Panasonic 7585 CD RW 32x8x4
Pioneer DVD 114 10x40x
USR V90 ISA everything modem
one big case fan and standard retail CPU/HS cooling from Intel



[This message has been edited by bongo (edited 17 April 2000).]

[Brian R.]

I would call Maxtor and get their opinion. For the data, there are specialized data recovery companies just for that purpose. I think they remove the platters and install them in a working HD.

Good luck

[Mark F]

Yes, and they are very expencive from what I hear.

Mark F.

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OH NO, my retractable cup holder swallowed a DVD...
and burped out a movie

[Greebe]

ie fetal mortality as it's called. Yes, even in electronics

[Jorden]

Bongo: First off go to the Maxtor homepages and look for a setup-tool or diskwizard program. Most diskmanufacterers have these kinds of disk-managing software on their site, either free for download, or for a small fee.

What you could try is set the drive's parameters by hand, meaning going into the BIOS and set the drive's specs (cylinders, heads and sectors and LBA mode) by hand. Save that and reboot. If your hdd doesn't spin up, or isn't detected, do try to find the disk-managing tool.
http://www.maxtor.com/library/main.html

I think what you need is the HDDUtil.exe

Let us know what happens!

Jorden.

[bongo]

thanks for the help guys! but ultimately I needed the data back fast so I took it to a computer place that does data recovery and they resurrected the drive for $50. (cheap in my opinion)

But they also said that 75% of the drives that they have in for servicing with similar hardware failures like mine, were maxtor drives

take care all

[Brian R.]

Bongo, you're not going to use that drive again are you?

[Gurm]

Ahh, the joys of MAXTOR.

Yet another useful anecdote in my campaign against the shoddiest drive manufacturer on the face of the planet.

- Gurm

[bongo]

I talked to Maxtor about the problem and they agreed that it was a hardware failure. So they said they would ship me out a new one in a few days. I just don't know if I want to use it or sell it privately, and buy maybe a fujitsu or WD. (maxtor makes IBM drives). ANyone think Quantum drives are good?

Nonetheless I am really unhappy with the Maxtor, except for the service, the experience was crappy. The tech guy also said to me that the failure may have been initiated because when the computer was assembled, the hard drive had the mobo/drive cabl;e reversed.

Can you believe, the max tech guy actually asked my what was the color of the ide cable that stuck in the back of the drive. I said blue, and I swear to god, the tech guy said "oh no". Apparently the ide cable is blue at one end and black at the other end, and both ends fit perfectly either into the mobo or hd BUT, it is ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL that the blue end go into the mobo and the black end into the drive. If not, apparently ( I am paraphrasing ) the Maxtor drive will reverse it buffer back into it self and create a permanent disk failure. Nice huh?

If it is so CRITICAL that the identical cable ends be at specfic devices, why didn't Maxtor engineer a fooolproof design. Like one ide end having more pins than the other end. Or maybe a honkin' big warning sticker on the drive?


I am just lucky that my local computer shop had savvy tech guys who could retrieve my data out of the fried maxtor drive.

my 2 cents (or $50 to save my data).

------------------
"The path of excess leads to the temple of knowledge"

ABit BE6 II UDMA 66 w/ PentiumIII 500mhz
Matrox G400 DH 32 meg MAX
Maxtor 13gig UDMA66 7200 Seagate 9gig UDMA33 7200
SBlaster Live Mp3+ (with gold connectors and robot voice
Aureal Vortex SuperQuad2500
19" PF790 Viewsonic (superb flat screen)
19" Samsung 950p (amazing quality for the price)
ACK 580 crdless k/b and mouse
Panasonic 7585 CD RW 32x8x4
Pioneer DVD 114 10x40x
USR V90 ISA everything modem
one big case fan and standard retail CPU/HS cooling from Intel



[This message has been edited by bongo (edited 20 April 2000).]

[Gurm]

Bongo:

MAXTOR ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY DOES NOT MAKE IBM DRIVES.

IBM Makes IBM drives. And Western Digital drives.

- Gurm

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Listen up, you primitive screwheads! See this? This is my BOOMSTICK! Etc. etc.

[Jorden]

Shivering when the name Quantum comes up... and I didn't even plug the cable in wrong, it just refused to boot in whatever PC I put it in... no Quantums for this boy anymore

I just hope Jason has a Post-It hanging on top of his Scottish monitor, which says It's MAXTOR... M.A.X.T.O.R. !!! Not Matrox

Jord.

[This message has been edited by Jorden (edited 20 April 2000).]

[bongo]

Gurm,

so you're saying IBM makes Maxtor drives?

[impact]

Just take a look at an IBM and WD drive. They are almost identical, except for the company stickers, of course...

[Brian R.]

IBM does not make Maxtor drives.