🚀 go-pugleaf

rbairos@napier.uwaterloo.ca (Rob Bairos) writes:

>Hi, two nights ago my CMOS battery failed.  I managed to reset all
>my power-up settings except for my hard drive.  I guessed what it 
>could have been and scarred 5 megs worth of my drive.  I called the
>people where I bought the computer and got most of the settings 
>again, (cylinders, heads, etc).  There were two setttings that I
>don't know what to do with (WPcom and LZone).  I have access to my
>hard drive again, (except those 5 Meg!!) but my computer isn't acting
>the same.  My utility software doesn't recognize the drive as a 
>physical device, just a logical device driven thing.  Before 
>this accident, the utility software could perform all sorts of 
>speed calibration tests.  

>My question is:  is there any software which can *safely* determine
>the characteristics of my hard drive, (heads, cylinders, etc) without
>having to rely on my BIOS-settings, (which may be wrong).  I have my
>drive on type 47 (User defined), since no other type matched all
>the specifications I received over the phone.  Would this cause the
>physical/logical descrepancy my utility software is having??
>Any diagnostic software that *can* do the job?

>Very troubled,
>Rob Bairos

>  
I don't know of any software that can detect the hard-disk
configuration but a decent preventative alternative is this.

On our site we have VET anti viral software.  When
it is installed on a PC, it also saves the CMOS setup
to the customized floppy disk it makes for every PC.

When the CMOS gets corrupted or the battery dies,
you run an exe program to reload the CMOS setup.

This is pretty user friendly and also users
don't have to know anything in-depth about CMOS to
get their system working again.

(Just my 3 cents worth.)


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