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The windows98 can't restart now.
When I push down the power button on the machine box,
I get the first screen showing the info of BIOS, audio driver and pnp, and also a line of text as " the primary master hard driver failed", this is also the screen showing the "Press DEL to enter setup". After that, there is no any other more procession.
My questions is, is the hard disk physically damaged or any other reason. How can I restore the HD?
Thanks for any help!
The probelm isn't obvious from that situation unfortunately. The first thing to do is press DEL to enter setup, then find the option call "HDD-detect" or "IDE device detection" (or something similar to these).
You will be presented with a screen that is probably blue with a red box at the bottom; in a second or two the red box should fill with numbers, if it does your drive is connected - if so press Y (or whatever it says) to agree, then press escape each time it repeats the process, and then "save and exit".
If that doesn't work, the most likely problem is actually a loose cable:
open up the case and make sure that the cables going from the main board to any drives (usually grey or black metal boxes!) are connected fully - it's probably best to pull them off then put them back on (making sure you connect them to the same place).
after that re-try a drive-detect as above
Thank you, si_the_geek.
I have tried in the BIOS program, such as "IDE device detection", There are no error prompted. But the hard drive didn't work. the cable is connected to the hard drive too.
If the problem is in the hard drive, how to fix it?
Thanks!
What's your make and model, and when did you get it (the HDD)?
So did it find a dirve? (did it show any lines of numbers?)Quote:
Originally posted by tommeal
Thank you, si_the_geek.
I have tried in the BIOS program, such as "IDE device detection", There are no error prompted.
Thanks!
Hope you were backing up ...
Sounds to me like your HDD is toast which means you'll have to get a professional to retrieve the data (expensive). Dont open the HDD whatever you do.
Yes, it find the drive, it shows some numbers about the drive's features. but the hard disk can't pass the motherboard's self-test.Quote:
By si_the_geek
So did it find a dirve? (did it show any lines of numbers?)
and there is a noise when the drive is rotating.
in that I think you are stuck with Muddy's suggestion
data recovery isn't cheap - if you've got a back up of all the important stuff then it will be better to just buy a new drive and forget the old one.
you could try the drive in another computer - if it's readable then you can copy the data yourself to a new drive. you'll still need a new drive tho