[cinne]

I posted yesterday about having a problem with IE 6.0. This morning when I turned on the pc I got the message hal.dll missing or corrupt. I went to my laptop and copied the file to my desktop. Worked for about 5 minutes and got the same message again. I tried to format using my xp cd and do a clean install but I have an "unkown device". This message also appears in the bios as well. Xp will not load at all. I have tried to format thru the C prompt. It still can not find my primary drive. This is my work computer and everything I do is online. Any help will be greatly appreciated as this problem started with IE and has morphed into something ugly.

PS. before my computer totally freaked on me I was able to do a HJT and save it, but I cannot retrieve yet.

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Sounding like a dead/dying hard drive to me. Do you happen to know what kind it is? Maxtor, Seagate, Western Digital, etc..?

-=jonnyrotten=-

[-=jonnyrotten=-]

Sounding like a dead/dying hard drive to me. Do you happen to know what kind it is? Maxtor, Seagate, Western Digital, etc..?

-=jonnyrotten=-

[cinne]

Sounding like a dead/dying hard drive to me.  Do you happen to know what kind it is?  Maxtor, Seagate, Western Digital, etc..?

-=jonnyrotten=-

Hi jonnyrotten, sorry it took me awhile to reply back, weekend and all! It's a Western digital sata 10,000 rpm. I went to their website and learned that xp treats a sata like a scsi. So, that said, I will email them and see if they can send me the drivers on disk. Thanks anyway.

[-=jonnyrotten=-]

Also try this: Here is a link to download a file directly from Western Digital. This is a diagnostic utility that you boot from on a floppy and then choose the test you want to run and determine the condition of the drive.

Download:
http://support.wdc.c...lgDiagv504c.exe

Link to page:
http://support.wdc.c...p?cxml=n&swid=2

# Download the DlgDiagv504c.exe.
# Run the DlgDiagv504c.exe file.
# You will see a Diskette Creator icon on your desktop.
# Double-click on the icon, follow the prompts and create your diagnostic diskette.
# You can now boot to this diskette. Make sure that your boot order in your Bios is set to boot from the floppy drive first.
# You will see the following options:

    * SELECT DRIVE - Always choose this option first, as it determines which drive you will be working on.
    * QUICK TEST - This option tests your drive quickly for any major physical problems. (Please note: Although this option is safe and does not alter the data on your hard drive, Western Digital recommends that you have a current backup of your data).
    * EXTENDED TEST - This option checks your drive thoroughly and it can repair any correctable errors. (Please note: Although this option is safe and does not alter the data on your hard drive, some data loss may occur, depending on the errors found and the errors corrected. Western Digital recommends that you have a current backup of your data).
    * WRITE ZEROS TO DRIVE - The Write Zeros option, wipes any and all data off your drive. This option used when your data is no longer usable or recoverable. If you no longer need any data from your drive and would like to start over, run this option to set your drive to an as new condition. NOTE: Please make sure that you have selected the correct drive to perform this function on as once ran, no data will be recoverable.
    * VIEW TEST RESULTS - You can see the results of the test you just performed
    * PRINT TEST RESULTS - Test results can be printed with this option. USB printers are not supported
    * LOG FILE OPEN/CLOSE - You can access the log file which is generated automatically
    * ENTER AND PRINT RMA INFORMATION - Information pertaining to each drive tested can be customized and printed with this option.
    * HELP - Brief descriptions of each option in addition to explanations of error codes are available in this option.
    * QUIT - Reboot your system once you have completed the selected tasks

# Select the task you wish to perform.

-=jonnyrotten=-

[cinne]

Morning jonnyrotten, thanks for that information. I did get the drivers and tried formatting again. Still did not work. Download the boot disk you sent me and it said "no drive found" and gave an error code, so now I have to wait for WD to open since they are two hours behind me. Thanks for all your help

[-=jonnyrotten=-]

Is it still under warranty? I hope so. I wish you the best of luck.

-=jonnyrotten=-

[cinne]

Yes it is under warranty and your first diagnosis was correct. It is dead, dead, dead! So they are sending me a new one. Thanks again for all your help.

[-=jonnyrotten=-]

You welcome.

Well sorry to hear about the hard drive, but I am glad to hear that you're getting a new one.

-=jonnyrotten=-

[nixx]

it will still read tho, hook it up to secondary master so you can get important info off it (same thing happened to me

[-=jonnyrotten=-]

it will still read tho, hook it up to secondary master so you can get important info off it (same thing happened to me

Most of the time yes that is true.

I just had one the other day that I could not get any data from because I couldn't read the drive with anything I tried. It was just too far gone.

-=jonnyrotten=-

[cinne]

according to the tech he said I should not need the drivers for this, that it should be like a regular IDE. So, what is this about a secondary master? You all lost me!

[-=jonnyrotten=-]

What we were talking about is that if you have another computer that is already running a primary hard drive with windows on it you can open it up and if it has SATA connectors on the motherboard you should be able to plug the hard drive into it and boot into windows. Then if you go to My Computer you should see the sata drive you just plugged in and pull any files you need off of it. Now the hardest part in this situation is finding a computer with sata plugin on it. Nowdays they are making most motherboards sata compatible though. It may not be too hard to find a friend with a computer that you can plug into. Also you might try to find an external enclosure that will allow you place an internal drive in it and plug into another pc with it via usb cable, but I have not seen any for sata drives. I actually have one for a normal ata drive with IDE cable, and I wouldn't doubt you could find one for a sata. They look like an external hard drive, but you open it up and place an internal drive in the case therefore making it external. Very very handy to retrieve files from dying hard drives.

-=jonnyrotten=-