Disk Boot Failure

[Tuffdisc]

I made a major mistake a few days back, i think. I attempted to partition the hard drive when it was working. I tried to install Ubuntu on the second partition. That may have made the situation worse. I need a way for the computer to see the hard drive again so I can format the machine and install either Windows or Ubuntu. I'm leaning towards Windows.

Did you install GRUB when installing Ubuntu?

 

[Alexis]

Did you install GRUB when installing Ubuntu?

I've never heard of that. I don't know if that was part of the installation process. I can't download and install it now since the computer doesn't see the hard drive.

 

[retro]

Okay. After reading through this thread and banging my head into my keyboard over some of the suggestions. Oh, tommy... hitting my keyboard didn't cause my hard drive to crash. If that happened to you, it was purely coincidental.

Now, onto the problem. Please forgive me if I'm talking to you like you're stupid or something, because I'm really not. I just don't know your level of computer hardware knowledge.

It sounds as though your hard drive is failing, or has completely failed already. When the computer boots up, do you see an eMachines logo? Or do you see something like this:

If you see what's on the image, look at the Primary Master and see if there's anything there at all. If there isn't, either the hard drive is toast, or the cable has been disconnected. If you can't see that screen, go into the BIOS, and look around until you find the spot that would list the primary master and slave. I couldn't tell you exactly where it is, since every BIOS is different.

To check if the cable is disconnected, you'll need to open up the case of the computer. You're looking for something that looks like this.

It will have one of these two types of connectors.



Unplug and plug back in both of the connectors from the drive. Then, follow the data cable (the wide flat one if it's like the one on the left, or the smaller thin one if it's like the one on the right), all the way back to the motherboard. Unplug it and plug it back into the same port it was on.

If that doesn't work, then that tells me that there is something wrong with the drive itself. You can further determine this by getting a diagnostic utility from the drive manufacturer. You can find out the manufacturer of the drive by looking at the top of it. Chances are it's a Maxtor, Western Digital, Seagate, or Samsung. You may need to do this from a different computer, as I'm not sure what the capabilities are of a live OS, it's been so long since I've used one. Once you have the utility (it'll generally either go on a floppy disk (if you have one) or onto a bootable CD-ROM. All of the instructions should be there on their website to tell you what to do.

Chances are if you've gotten this far and it isn't working, the drive is toast, and the diagnostic will let you know. If that is indeed the case, then I'd recommend buying a new hard drive... they're honestly not all that expensive these days. If the diagnostic says that there's nothing wrong with the hard drive, then it could be an issue with the cable (you can buy a new one online, or from Best Buy etc), or the motherboard itself. If it's the motherboard, well... you could see if you could get someone to replace it for you, but chances are the costs would be at or around the cost of a whole new computer.

Hope this helps you out some.

 

[retro]

sweet cheeks, the computer is not a windows computer until you load windows on top of whoever's BIOS was provided as embedded (burnt into the motherboard) firmware. microsoft (R) windows (R) desktop operating system (TM) TADA.WAV(rr.com+nyuk-nyuk) is merely 'add-ons' comptiA+++>>/-0.01%safe? xSOFTWARE_PRODUCT* that is generally DEFECTIVE and FAILs often. % NEW PARAGRAPH! (that's to train my IBM ViaVoice OFFICE SUPERbba)

you must REINSTALL WINDOWS often/once a week/once a month/once a year depending on the age and performance ratings of your HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\hardware\msconfig.cfg hahahahahaha file not found. press alt + F4 to CLOSE PROGRAM

without going too overboard with that little ad-libbed messy dos HELP F1+MANUAL COMPOSEdddd!!00+~$billgatesisnotgod parody, welcome to linux land.

i just finally took the plunge and loaded ubuntu 10.10 without windows after the last catastrophic failure.

this one was finally my own fault.

i was getting too happy and i brought my fist down hard on the keyboard, wasting the hdd and cdrw. if you've never done it, bust that puppy open and give it a good blow job. all you'll need is a can or two of air, a small phillips screwdriver and a sable brush. dirt buildup is a major contributor to failures.

Please refrain from giving out computer advice in the future... you're obviously completely clueless and will probably do more harm than good. Telling someone to reinstall Windows once a week or once a month is completely asinine. Additionally, there's no such fucking thing as a performance rating for your "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\hardware\msconfig.cfg" You're talking about a registry key there genius... a registry key that doesn't exist either. The closest thing to it is on Windows XP, "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\MSCONFIG.EXE"

The rest of what you've said is total and complete gibberish, further proving the fact that you have absolutely no knowledge in this area and should simply keep your damn mouth shut.

Oh, and while taking a can of air to your keyboard is often times a good idea, it's not going to fix your fucking computer. If you're talking about taking a can of air to the inside of the computer, that's a good idea... but it's not going to save a hard drive, motherboard, or anything else of the sort. It will help fans, which would lead to better airflow, but dust isn't going to harm the hard drive directly. I suppose if there was such a buildup of dust in the computer that it completely removed any trace of airflow through the machine, and then the hard drive could have its lifespan shortened due to heat... but in my 10+ years in the industry, I've never seen such a thing.

So again, please refrain from attempting to "help" people.

 

[Alexis]

As far as tommy goes, I've known him on thoughts.com. I don't take him seriously. He's full of hot air. I can discern the bad from the good from him. It's not an issue.
I DO still see the E logo from Emachines when I start the computer. I hope that's a good sign. I then see the black screen with Boot Failure. I see the mention of a Master disk, but it's much smaller than the 100 Gig plus that it naturally has.

 

[Tuffdisc]

I've never heard of that. I don't know if that was part of the installation process. I can't download and install it now since the computer doesn't see the hard drive.

Doesn't see a hard drive? Well that is the problem, the hard drive is a total goner or like I said you need to clean the computer from the inside by what you have said so far

 

[Alexis]

Doesn't see a hard drive? Well that is the problem, the hard drive is a total goner or like I said you need to clean the computer from the inside by what you have said so far

I'll do that in a few days, when I sober up. :24:

 

[retro]

If the computer doesn't see the hard drive, then it's toast.

 

[Tuffdisc]

If the computer doesn't see the hard drive, then it's toast.

Most likely, but Alexis can at least try before dumping it

 

[retro]

Most likely, but Alexis can at least try before dumping it

Try what? Blowing the dust out of the computer? That's not going to save a hard drive. Reseating the cables is the only thing that could fix it, if that were the problem.

 

[Alexis]

I'm not giving up. Not just yet. I don't think it's dead. I appreciate all of your suggestions. This puppy ain't dead until I say it is.

 

[retro]

I'm not giving up. Not just yet. I don't think it's dead. I appreciate all of your suggestions. This puppy ain't dead until I say it is.

Well... if the BIOS doesn't see it, and you've replaced and/or reseated the cables, there isn't really anything else it could be.

 

[TommyTooter]

I personally think it's a hardware issue. I think it can be fixed, but I'm not sure. There could be something loose inside, or as Tommy mentioned, I may need to clean up the inside. I don't have any of those cans of air to do it, but hopefully a clean, dry, and lint-free something may help. Since it was brought back a few times, I don't think cleaning it will matter much. I just need the computer to see the hard drive again. I miss my computer. I miss my stuff. Mostly, I miss my music and video clips. Oh, and I miss my pictures, too.

have you tried swapping out the hard drive? it's not uncommon for windows to corrupt the first and last tracks on the disk making it unreadable.

also, whoever popped me with the following can consider themselves to be challenged to a debate on the best methods and procedures for troubleshooting and repairing common software failures in PC's running microsoft software products.

i don't know who posted this. does that person have the courage to comment directly to me?
my only comment is one never attack somebody else's composition style if you can't spell and construct a grammatically correct sentence yourself.

Good God. Keep you idiotic "suggestions" to yourself in the future. Nothing you said was of any value whatsoever, and would only serve to direct someone to cause more damage, or get a headache from trying to understand your idiotic gibberish

 

[Alexis]

If that comment was directed at Retro, I can't speak for him. I don't need another one of your arguments,Tommy. My only interest is getting some helpful suggestions, which have already been provided. I thank all who have contributed and hope to receive more.

 

[retro]

I'll take full credit for that, and I stand completely behind what I said.

As far as spelling an constructing a grammatically correct sentence goes; it's more than a little difficult to compose anything in the small scrolling window you get for rep. I will say that nothing I said was spelled incorrectly. Well, I did leave the "r" off of "your", which simply made it "you", which was spelled properly. but grammatically incorrect.

On the other hand, your post was full of total and complete nonsense.

the computer is not a windows computer until you load windows on top of whoever's BIOS was provided as embedded (burnt into the motherboard) firmware

Hey genius... you don't load windows on top of a BIOS. Windows is installed onto the hard drive. It is the first bit of code that the computer uses when it boots up, it checks the processor, memory, and disk drives and determines if there is anything wrong with the computer itself. It will search for a boot device based on the priority that is set. Once it finds a bootable device, it will load depending on what is installed; whether it be Windows, Linux, or a bootable disk/CD.

you must REINSTALL WINDOWS often/once a week/once a month/once a year depending on the age and performance ratings of your HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\hardware\msconfig.cfg hahahahahaha file not found. press alt + F4 to CLOSE PROGRAM

I've addressed this already, but I'll do so again.

Telling someone to reinstall Windows once a week or once a month is totally and completely idiotic. It conveys the fact that you have absolutely no clue what you are talking about. Furthermore, there is no such thing as a performance rating for a registry key. Even if there was, there isn't a performance rating for a registry key that doesn't even exist. MSCONFIG controls the boot parameters of windows, the services that startup, and the autoexec.bat (in OS versions that have it). There's no performance ratings associated with it, and anyone with a clue would be aware of this fact.

without going too overboard with that little ad-libbed messy dos HELP F1+MANUAL COMPOSEdddd!!00+~$billgatesisnotgod parody, welcome to linux land.

Gibberish

i just finally took the plunge and loaded ubuntu 10.10 without windows after the last catastrophic failure.

this one was finally my own fault.

i was getting too happy and i brought my fist down hard on the keyboard, wasting the hdd and cdrw. if you've never done it, bust that puppy open and give it a good blow job. all you'll need is a can or two of air, a small phillips screwdriver and a sable brush. dirt buildup is a major contributor to failures.

Good for you, Ubuntu is a fairly decent Linux distribution. The good part about it is that it's fairly easy to use, which is a great thing for obviously novice computer users such as yourself.

Guess what genius, smashing your keyboard isn't going to cause damage to your hard drive or optical drive directly. Only if those were propping up your keyboard could I see this causing an issue. As far as using compressed air goes, it's a great thing for fans, keyboards, and even optical drives in some cases. However, it's not going to do a damn thing to help revive a dead hard drive. the components within the hard drive are sealed, and there is no way for dust to enter the inner components of the drive. Unless of course you've unscrewed the thing, in which case whoever did that is a complete idiot with no knowledge of computers at all.

also, whoever popped me with the following can consider themselves to be challenged to a debate on the best methods and procedures for troubleshooting and repairing common software failures in PC's running microsoft software products.

:24:

Sorry tommy, but agreeing to your "challenge" would be totally and completely unfair to you.

 

[retro]

But, let's refrain from hijacking Alexis' thread further. If you feel it necessary, start another thread where we can "debate". :24:

 

[TommyTooter]

Re-install windows? A bit extreme and time consuming, not only to re-install Windows, but all the software and settings. This is only needed in extreme conditions, and disk boot failure maybe not when it is needed. It could be the mobo messing up the BIOS settings some times (like I experienced), it could just mean a loose cable to the hard drive

So, Alexis, until you find the root core of the problem, re-installing Windows is not the answer

tuffdisc, that was parody and it was ad-libbed. when i saw what alexis was dealing with, i couldn't resist taking a shot at microsoft.

my actual opinion is that her disk was blown and needed to be replaced. if it can run ubuntu, then the windows was blown and indeed needed to be re-installed. i've never been able to bring the windows system back from a boot error like that. i just reformat the drive and reload it, instead of wasting a lot of time and bandwidth commiserating with people about what to do next.

i also recommend that people who have older machines, bust them open and get the built up crud out of them because it leads to corrosion that will eventually destroy the main board.

 

[TommyTooter]

I'll take full credit for that, and I stand completely behind what I said.

As far as spelling an constructing a grammatically correct sentence goes; it's more than a little difficult to compose anything in the small scrolling window you get for rep. I will say that nothing I said was spelled incorrectly. Well, I did leave the "r" off of "your", which simply made it "you", which was spelled properly. but grammatically incorrect.

On the other hand, your post was full of total and complete nonsense.



Hey genius... you don't load windows on top of a BIOS. Windows is installed onto the hard drive. It is the first bit of code that the computer uses when it boots up, it checks the processor, memory, and disk drives and determines if there is anything wrong with the computer itself. It will search for a boot device based on the priority that is set. Once it finds a bootable device, it will load depending on what is installed; whether it be Windows, Linux, or a bootable disk/CD.



I've addressed this already, but I'll do so again.

Telling someone to reinstall Windows once a week or once a month is totally and completely idiotic. It conveys the fact that you have absolutely no clue what you are talking about. Furthermore, there is no such thing as a performance rating for a registry key. Even if there was, there isn't a performance rating for a registry key that doesn't even exist. MSCONFIG controls the boot parameters of windows, the services that startup, and the autoexec.bat (in OS versions that have it). There's no performance ratings associated with it, and anyone with a clue would be aware of this fact.



Gibberish



Good for you, Ubuntu is a fairly decent Linux distribution. The good part about it is that it's fairly easy to use, which is a great thing for obviously novice computer users such as yourself.

Guess what genius, smashing your keyboard isn't going to cause damage to your hard drive or optical drive directly. Only if those were propping up your keyboard could I see this causing an issue. As far as using compressed air goes, it's a great thing for fans, keyboards, and even optical drives in some cases. However, it's not going to do a damn thing to help revive a dead hard drive. the components within the hard drive are sealed, and there is no way for dust to enter the inner components of the drive. Unless of course you've unscrewed the thing, in which case whoever did that is a complete idiot with no knowledge of computers at all.



:24:

Sorry tommy, but agreeing to your "challenge" would be totally and completely unfair to you.

you really are a fool. you didn't recognize that as parody? and it was ad-libbed in the moment and i don't write code or like to mess with defective software so much as you seem to. i'm not a computer geek like you seem to be. they're just tools to me. microsoft products suck. i was only saying so in a silly way. i'm reasonably certain that alexis knew i was kidding about that.

ok, i stand corrected on the semantics of where that garbage from microsoft you love so much has to go. nothing goes 'on top' of the BIOS -- it goes in the hard drive which i knew but didn't state to your royal hineynesses satisfaction.

of course smashing the keyboard of a desk top isn't going to do anything to anything but the keyboard but this is a laptop. the cd and hdd are toast. would you like me to send them to you for your expert analysis?

as for the air, i gave my reasoning to tuffdisc who was much more gentlemanly here than you. it's a standard preventative maintenance procedure to protect exposed circuit boards from corrosion. but you seem to be a software guy, so i can understand if you don't know these simple little things.

if you think you would really like to debate me, go round up a moderator and three judges and we can go from there. until then you're just a hysterical young man with an ax to grind. \

 

[Zorak]

rofl

parody

 

[Dana]

Your HD is fucked. trashed. Kaput. Gone Bye bye. Adios.