[stevecraig12]

i wanted to swap out an old 100MB iomega zip drive with a cd burner from my other computer, a philips cdrw 400 series, since then I added a stick of 256MB RAM. since I added both I cant get to my files on my computer, I cant even start my computer. It is an old compaq desktop. I have the hard drive plugged in to the motherboard, because on my other one the same thing happened and I got that fixed, but I dont know if I need a new hard drive in the other one or not. i dont want to buy a $100 hard drive if i dont need one. what can I do to try to fix it?

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Hi. I would suggest reversing the changes you made and see if this fixes it.

[austin_o]

Hi. I would suggest reversing the changes you made and see if this fixes it.

[samiko]

do you hear any beeps when you first start your pc?

[stevecraig12]

no beeps, except for the ones that always were there when the computer started, 2 short beeps. and then it says there was an error with the keyboard and it says an error # 1068 or something like that, and i hit "F1" to boot, and when it comes back it just keeps rebooting, I know I dont have a virus, cause I dont have an internet connection. its a seagate hard drive and I think thats it. I ran their own diagnostic tool on it and it couldnt run 3 scans cause it couldnt find the drive. so im gonna buy a new one and see if that works

[stevecraig12]

i cant reverse the changes, in the hard drive. i cant boot my computer. if you mean physical changes, i've already done that....maybe it was an electrical shock or something....i dont know, but its about done for....

[gerryf]

Steve, I thnk it is more likely that your drive is misconfigured.

The drive has a jumper that allows it to switch from master, slave, and cable select (it might also have a setting for single drive).

It must be set properly or BIOS will not see the drive

[stevecraig12]

i plugged my hard drive into my other computer and it said invalid boot disk A:
and heres another thread with the same thing

http://www.geekstogo...n_A-t43290.html
i wonder...what couldve happened, now that there is someone else with the same problem...note I plugged the hard drive that had a drive connection failure into my other computer and it gave me that exact error...

[gerryf]

invalid bootdisk a: refers to a floppy, not a harddrive.

I cannot recall--did a zip disk read as a:?

Enter your bios and turn off the floppy drive for a moment, and adjust your boot order--but make sure harddrives are configured correctly

[stevecraig12]

i had a zip disk, before it was connected, but i dont want that so I dont use a zip drive, and a: is my floppy drive...and this only happens when I put this hard drive in another computer....in mine it just says, that there are 2 errors, and lists them...and i hit "f1" to boot the computer...but it just keeps restarting....

[gerryf]

steve, you are moving around a little much and the second pc is confusing the issue.

Let's start over.

You have a pc....leave the other pc out of the equation.

install everything in the pc you want in it, boot it, then relate the exact error messages

[stevecraig12]

replying to:gerryf:Steve, I thnk it is more likely that your drive is misconfigured.

The drive has a jumper that allows it to switch from master, slave, and cable select (it might also have a setting for single drive).

It must be set properly or BIOS will not see the drive

how do I know how the cables go from drive to drive...i have the 40-pin connectors down...but the power cables, theres 3 more than I have things to plug into....in my other computer, p2 goes to the hard drive...i did that and yet i still get the same message...and i tried all the power cords in there (that reached) and still this is happening...what do i do next...I used to be sure of what cable goes where but..now im not so sure...and i think its my hard drive...its reallly old... and really small....does it matter if the power cables arent where they were before...when the computer was working...or what, b/c they just give power....

[stevecraig12]

i start the computer...it tells me the motherboard and the keys to hit to enter the setup, then it goes to a black screen with white letters giving me the errors, first it says

"error 1068, or another error #, (im not at home right now, but ill post it later)

(1st) "error 1068 drive connector(ion) failure

(2nd) keyboard error, but i can boot by hitting "f1"
how if theres a keyboard error can it accept a key when i press it...whatever for that..next thing it does is restart and it shows me the motherboard screen again...and goes through it again...and it says invalid system disk, and it tries to access the floppy, at that point I entered the windows 98 startup floppy, but it still cant access the hard drive... and thats how i dont get anywhere...I think its the hard drive, ill rite down the errors and what it says exactly later, but its pretty close to what it really said..

[gerryf]

Thank you for the clarification...they both sound like bios errors, but a more exact message might be helpful. Any beeps?

You're right, it could be a circuitry failure on the drive, so the motherboard is reporting it cannot communicate with the drive

Could also be a motherboard failure of some sort, or perhaps a dead cmos battery (the battery ensures that settings you made for the motherboard are saved even when the pc is off).

The fact that the drive fails to be read in the second machine is interesting as well, but the keyboard error in the first machine sounds like a motherboard failure too

When your machine reboots after the first failure, do you get the keyboard error again, or just that first time?

[stevecraig12]

i replaced the grey 40pin connector cables, and now i dont get the error message of the drive controller failure....it works like normal except for it doesnt detect the hard drive....it starts loading and keeps loading and it has a black screen with a little white line blinking...its like a cursor thats blinking....and thats it....i put another hard drive in and it did work, but now it doesnt....i think i have to buy a new hard drive.....