A mess of problems

[technel]

Hello,

I will try to keep this as short as I possibly can. I was going to sell my computer, so I used DBAN to wipe it. I installed a fresh copy of Windows XP onto the drive. I installed SP2 (on the primary hard drive, the one that was wiped), etc, and it worked fine. Then, I removed my slave hard drive (30 gb). However, when I boot up, it says "Disk boot failure, insert system disk and press enter." I tried inserting my WinXP disk and it takes a long time to "Examine" the disk with the install feature, but then it finishes and starts formatting, which fails. I tried "FIXMBR" on the repair console, but it didn't help.

So, to recap: Wiped primary hard drive, installed XP on prim., worked fine, removed SLAVE hard drive (primary in tact), and all of the sudden the hard drive does not work properly.

I talked to a few knowledgable people and they suggested that DBAN did something to the drive, but it doesn't really make sense because I successfully installed WinXP on the primary after wiping, and it only stopped working after removing the slave. I have verified with a Linux live CD that the entire primary drive is in fact formatted in NTFS and contains a Windows XP partition.

Any ideas? Please help!

 

[dajhorn]

Do these things:

1. Ensure all four disk slots in the BIOS setup program are set to "auto".

2. Ensure that the disk is jumpered to "master", and not "slave" or "cable select".

3. Ensure that the disk is at the end of the cable, not the middle.

4. Run the diagnostic program from the disk manufacturer.

Past that, read the forum posting rules and provide more information about the hardware in the computer.

 

[technel]

Thank you for the quick response!

1. Ensure all four disk slots in the BIOS setup program are set to "auto".

Checked BIOS, all drives are set to "AUTO."

2. Ensure that the disk is jumpered to "master", and not "slave" or "cable select".

I have checked this a million times in trying to figure out the problem, 100% sure it is set to the THIRD set of pins down (master).

3. Ensure that the disk is at the end of the cable, not the middle.

Oh, really? I was under the impression that it should be on the one in the middle (closest to the motherboard). I am going to change it and see if that has any effect, I will post an update.

4. Run the diagnostic program from the disk manufacturer.

IIRC, it was an OEM disk that did not come with diagnostic software. According to the Windows CD however, a check on the drive said that it "appeared" to be working.

Past that, read the forum posting rules and provide more information about the hardware in the computer.

My apologies (and thanks for responding without requiring that I post this information up front, I appreciate it)! Using dban-1.06 on a CD-R, it is a custom-built computer with an ASUS AV8X-X motherboard, Athlon 2500+, 512 mb DDR RAM, Radeon 9800 Pro 128 mb, and a Western Digital 160gb HD 7200 RPM.


Thanks!

 

[technel]

On second look, the hard drive is connected at the end of the IDE cable, not in the middle (it is connected to the one farthest from the motherboard).

Any ideas? Would it hurt to just try it in the middle?

 

[dajhorn]

The ATA specification requires that a single device be at the end of the cable, but most recent equipment will run well regardless. If the disks are jumpered to "cable select", then the disk at the end of the cable will be the master.

If you have a Western Digital disk, then run the Data Lifeguard tools on this computer. This will work even if the disk is stickered OEM.

The DBAN log file will contain specific manufacturer information, even if the disk is not clearly marked.

 

[technel]

Well, I spent some more time on it and I figured out the problem -- all I had to do was remove the jumper from the hard drive. I really appreciate the support and the awesome program that you have made available for free (and open-source)!

Thanks again!