🚀 go-pugleaf

High Life <jason[remove this]@basstech.com.au> wrote in message
news:SSlV5.11532$GW5.74809@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
> Rod Speed <rod_speed@yahoo.com> wrote
>> High Life <jason[remove this]@basstech.com.au> wrote

>>> I just brought a replacement HDD (IBM 5GB) for a laptop (KTX880)
>>> and tried to install it but the its having trouble recognising the drive.
>>> Are there any special procedures for installing laptop HDD?

>>> I get varying degrees of success with no real pattern, once the BIOS
>>> recognised the drive as a 5GB (which it is) but would not recognise the
>>> drive when I rebooted, other times when I boot - the sytem specs screen
>>> show the drive as anything from 'None' to 8MB to 19MB!? But if I manage
>>> to boot to a floppy (which I can only manage occasionally),

>> That last suggests the laptop has a major problem and its that
>> thats producing these other effects with the hard drive too.

>> I'd concentrate on fixing that and you'll likely find that
>> the hard drive recognition problem goes away too.

> Actually when the drive isnt installed, it boots to a DOS prompt
> using a win98 boot disk with no trouble. Just sometimes when
> the drive is installed it is almost seems like it skips the boot
> sequence and comes up with 'no operating system found'.

Thats normal if you havent actually installed an OS on it yet.

> I did notice when I first got the drive that it had a 'rattle' in it,
> I thought this was strange but seeing as though it was new
> I presumed it was normal, could the new drive be faulty?

'rattles' are a problem, it can just be the drive recalibrating.
That doesnt last long tho if it is just recalibrating.

'rattles' can also be the drive having no success reading
the platter and its recalibrating and retrying continually.

That can make the drive not appear to be present,
the drive doesnt respond to the bios interrogation
at boot time if it cant manage to start up properly.

The different is how long it 'rattles' for.

>> Looks like the laptop has a substantial hardware problem.
>> What happens if you put the 1.3GB drive back ?

> The old drive is faulty so I cant reinstall it to test the rest of the system.

Thats a bit of a worry tho, its possible its actually the
laptop thats faulty and not the hard drive at all. Its a
real worry that it doesnt reliably boot a bootable floppy.

Corse the last could be unrelated, just a dud floppy drive too.

> I may take the new drive to a mate and get him
> to whack it on another working machine to test it.

Yeah, thats the best test to do now.

When you say rattle some drives have a rattle (the label on my old IBM
(which coincidentally broke down completely (a 3gb) ) says that it should
have a rattle.) However this rattle should not occur during usage, if you
hear graunching and other weird noises during operation of the drive then it
is definitely busted! You should chuck it out i reckon if it has got to this
stage. Mine had bad sectors and seemed to get worse each time i tried
scandisk...
Regards

Rod Speed <rod_speed@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:3a2614ba@news.iprimus.com.au...
>
> High Life <jason[remove this]@basstech.com.au> wrote in message
> news:SSlV5.11532$GW5.74809@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
> > Rod Speed <rod_speed@yahoo.com> wrote
> >> High Life <jason[remove this]@basstech.com.au> wrote
>
> >>> I just brought a replacement HDD (IBM 5GB) for a laptop (KTX880)
> >>> and tried to install it but the its having trouble recognising the
drive.
> >>> Are there any special procedures for installing laptop HDD?
>
> >>> I get varying degrees of success with no real pattern, once the BIOS
> >>> recognised the drive as a 5GB (which it is) but would not recognise
the
> >>> drive when I rebooted, other times when I boot - the sytem specs
screen
> >>> show the drive as anything from 'None' to 8MB to 19MB!? But if I
manage
> >>> to boot to a floppy (which I can only manage occasionally),
>
> >> That last suggests the laptop has a major problem and its that
> >> thats producing these other effects with the hard drive too.
>
> >> I'd concentrate on fixing that and you'll likely find that
> >> the hard drive recognition problem goes away too.
>
> > Actually when the drive isnt installed, it boots to a DOS prompt
> > using a win98 boot disk with no trouble. Just sometimes when
> > the drive is installed it is almost seems like it skips the boot
> > sequence and comes up with 'no operating system found'.
>
> Thats normal if you havent actually installed an OS on it yet.
>
> > I did notice when I first got the drive that it had a 'rattle' in it,
> > I thought this was strange but seeing as though it was new
> > I presumed it was normal, could the new drive be faulty?
>
> 'rattles' are a problem, it can just be the drive recalibrating.
> That doesnt last long tho if it is just recalibrating.
>
> 'rattles' can also be the drive having no success reading
> the platter and its recalibrating and retrying continually.
>
> That can make the drive not appear to be present,
> the drive doesnt respond to the bios interrogation
> at boot time if it cant manage to start up properly.
>
> The different is how long it 'rattles' for.
>
> >> Looks like the laptop has a substantial hardware problem.
> >> What happens if you put the 1.3GB drive back ?
>
> > The old drive is faulty so I cant reinstall it to test the rest of the
system.
>
> Thats a bit of a worry tho, its possible its actually the
> laptop thats faulty and not the hard drive at all. Its a
> real worry that it doesnt reliably boot a bootable floppy.
>
> Corse the last could be unrelated, just a dud floppy drive too.
>
> > I may take the new drive to a mate and get him
> > to whack it on another working machine to test it.
>
> Yeah, thats the best test to do now.
>
>
>

High Life <jason[remove this]@basstech.com.au> wrote in message
news:0UjV5.11425$GW5.73610@news-server.bigpond.net.au...

> I just brought a replacement HDD (IBM 5GB) for a laptop (KTX880)
> and tried to install it but the its having trouble recognising the drive.
> Are there any special procedures for installing laptop HDD?

> I get varying degrees of success with no real pattern, once the BIOS
> recognised the drive as a 5GB (which it is) but would not recognise the
> drive when I rebooted, other times when I boot - the sytem specs screen
> show the drive as anything from 'None' to 8MB to 19MB!? But if I manage
> to boot to a floppy (which I can only manage occasionally),

That last suggests the laptop has a major problem and its that
thats producing these other effects with the hard drive too.

I'd concentrate on fixing that and you'll likely find that
the hard drive recognition problem goes away too.

> FDISK will not find any drives no matter what the BIOS thinks.

> The old drive was a 1.3GB drive, could the BIOS version be the problem?

Shouldnt produce those very erratic results even if it was a problem.

> If this is the case is there anything I can do as KTX
> have gone out of business and I dont think I'll be able
> to find a BIOS upgrade anywhere for this machine.

You'll likely find that a drive overlay will work even if the bios does need updating.

> What else could be causing this erratic HDD recognition?

Looks like the laptop has a substantial hardware problem.
What happens if you put the 1.3GB drive back ?

Rod Speed <rod_speed@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:3a25dcd4@news.iprimus.com.au...

>
> That last suggests the laptop has a major problem and its that
> thats producing these other effects with the hard drive too.
>
> I'd concentrate on fixing that and you'll likely find that
> the hard drive recognition problem goes away too.

Actually when the drive isnt installed, it boots to a DOS prompt using a
win98 boot disk with no trouble. Just sometimes when the drive is installed
it is almost seems like it skips the boot sequence and comes up with 'no
operating system found'.

I did notice when I first got the drive that it had a 'rattle' in it, I
thought this was strange but seeing as though it was new I presumed it was
normal, could the new drive be faulty?

> Looks like the laptop has a substantial hardware problem.
> What happens if you put the 1.3GB drive back ?

The old drive is faulty so I cant reinstall it to test the rest of the
system. I may take the new drive to a mate and get him to whack it on
another working machine to test it.

Jase

Beecroft <pbeecroft@btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:906fl4$o6c$1@uranium.btinternet.com...
> When you say rattle some drives have a rattle (the label on my old IBM
> (which coincidentally broke down completely (a 3gb) ) says that it should
> have a rattle.) However this rattle should not occur during usage, if you
> hear graunching and other weird noises during operation of the drive then
it
> is definitely busted!

...yeah its just a rattle when I jiggle it before its installed, when
installed I hear it power up ok and is sounds normal.

Jase

Ah that sounds ok then, a lot of IBMs have a rattle (something inside i
found out when i took mine to bits and it just fell out :-) They look nice
on the inside!)
Regards

High Life <jason[remove this]@basstech.com.au> wrote in message
news:jdFV5.98$xW4.740@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
>
> Beecroft <pbeecroft@btinternet.com> wrote in message
> news:906fl4$o6c$1@uranium.btinternet.com...
> > When you say rattle some drives have a rattle (the label on my old IBM
> > (which coincidentally broke down completely (a 3gb) ) says that it
should
> > have a rattle.) However this rattle should not occur during usage, if
you
> > hear graunching and other weird noises during operation of the drive
then
> it
> > is definitely busted!
>
> ...yeah its just a rattle when I jiggle it before its installed, when
> installed I hear it power up ok and is sounds normal.
>
> Jase
>
>

On Thu, 30 Nov 2000 21:05:53 -0000, "Beecroft"
<pbeecroft@btinternet.com> wrote:

>is definitely busted! You should chuck it out i reckon if it has got to this
>stage. Mine had bad sectors and seemed to get worse each time i tried
>scandisk...

The reason for this is platter damage. Each time the heads fly over
the hole in the surface they make it grow a little larger, hence more
bad blocks. As you say, this is the end of the road for any hard disk
and it is just a question of time with the prospect of losing data at
odd moments until you change it.