PIO to UDMA screw up!

hi, to cut a long story short, i messed up my computer, my primary IDE went into PIO mode, i got adive saying i should uninstall it and reboot so windows can recognize it and send it back into UDMA mode. i did that. except windows wont even boot in now. nothing...not even the windows splash screen. have i done soemthing wrong..ive cheked other sites and sources and that was a normal procedure. but what have i done? im running xp HE sp2. im really really hoping someone will tell me that i wont lose all my work on there!!! really really need the help too. thanks

 

can you go to bios? can you see that the laptop is powered?

 

or totally blackout??? no sign of power whatsoever?

 

As the person who advised to uninstall the primary IDE channel, my conscience is troubled. However, I did test the procedure on my own computer before giving out the advice which is consistent with the workaround advised by Microsoft.

So where next? Don't panic. At the very worst, you can get at your files by taking out the HDD and putting it into an external caddy provided you don't do anything first which will wipe them.

As already asked, does the computer show any signs of life and can you access the BIOS. There is no obvious reason why this won't work, but if the computer seems to have died then disconnect the mains power and take out the battery and leave it for an hour. Assuming that the computer does show signs of life, it should be possible to boot up in safe mode (you need to press F8 at the right moment before Windows start to load). Sometimes, a start in safe mode will clear the device driver problem (safe mode doesn't load device drivers) after which the computer will start normally but also, if you can access safe mode, then you should be able to access the last good configuration.

John

 

Provided that his HD is not dead.... hope not....

 

Make sure your laptop has a charge, you aren't out of battery power or anything. And you can recover your files with a Linux LiveCD, a network connection and another computer as well, which may be more easily available than buying another hard drive and an external caddy.

 

good idea!!!! but that's if his lappy has a sign of life otherwise he has no choice but to buy external enclosure and plug HD to other LAppy.

 

hi, wow, thanks for the reply, i really really appreciate it. sorry for the delay too. i dont have immediate access to the internet. so i have to wait a few houres. as for John Ratsey, i can offer you nothing but thanks. i needed help, and you offered me it. i went through with it so i dont blame you in any way. ok. the comp is NOT completely dead. it starts up, i can access bios. but mine is on F2. the rest are F12 for boot menu and TAB for RAID utility, naah, im not setup on RAID either. ok, i can access the bios. ill tell you what i can see. ok, on the BOOT tab, the LAN REMOTE BOOT is disabled.

on the boot device priority, the order goes: 1.USB KEY 2.USB FDC 3.USB CDROM 4.IDE CD: (name of my drive) 5.USB HDD 6.PCI BEV 7.IDE HDD 8.RAID (name of hardrive)

now...what might the order be? or is that right? ic ant access safe mode. or if THERE ISS a way to access it .

actually you know what...i dont think this is bios. it says at the top PHOENIXBIOS SETUP UTILITY.

ok....i cant seem to access safe mode via F8, it does exactly the same as trying to boot into windows. just...blink at me. i havent done anything. im gonna wait for you guys. thanks for your help, i really appreciate it.

 

The boot order doesn't really matter, as long as the harddrive is on the list somewhere. It's just which devices it should try to boot from first. It'll get to the harddrive sooner or later.

How far do you get when it boots? Do you see the XP loading screen? Or nothing after the bios/POST screen?

 

no, no windows splash screen, i took that off incidently, so i normally jsut see the windows boot sequence (i kinda like it) it just gets past what i THINK is the bios and thats it...it jsut..blinks at me. (a little tab on the top left hand corner, and you cant write or do anything except restart, keep jabbing buttons and after a few seconds it jsut bleeps at me.)

 

ok try to change boot order and make HDD first and see if it works.

and it i will be a good idea if you can first open and backup your files using linux live cd.

 

ok, theres nothing when the boot order is changed...what im worried aobut is that the hardrive is wiped completely, theres only a tiny amount of hardrive run time...apart from that. there seems to be no activity form it.

oooh. ive always wanted that. where can i get it from? the liveCD i mean?
and how would i go on about using it? ive googled it and im really confused, so many options.

 

ok used the livecd from pclinuxos.

download here:

http://www.pclinuxos.com/page.php?7

its 690mb and so its a bit big...

 

brilliant, so how shall i boot up? i guess either from usb or cd? will it matter. as for using linux. i have NO experince in it. infact. its quite ironic, i was about to start learning how to use ubuntu! what might the preocedure require? thanks.

 

pclinuxos gave a very good explanation on how to use their live cd.

http://www.pclinuxonline.com/wiki/PCLinuxOSLiveCD

hope this helps you.

 

just boot from your cd..

 

I see mention of a RAID device in the boot order options. This could be the cause of the problem if the HDD is set up as RAID and Windows has uninstalled the driver in order to clear the IDE channel. Who makes the RAID controller? They should have a driver which you can put onto a bootable floppy / CD / USB device in order to get the system running again. I remember something similar for SATA and Windows 2K.

Also, if you are not using RAID then you can try using F12 to select the HDD as the boot device in case it is getting confused by other devices higher up the list.

Back to the possible RAID problem: Is whatever O/S CD which came with your computer a proper installation CD or a recovery CD which overwrites everything? There are too many of the latter around, but the former should give you a repair option and ask if you need to install a special device driver, whereupon you point to the RAID driver.

Don't loose hope!

John

 

Some more thoughts:

The big question is whether you have a RAID HDD. If you do, first try putting it above IDE in the boot order. The driver should already be on the HDD and if Windows realises that it is booting a RAID drive then it may find the existing driver on the HDD.

A visit to the fujitsu-siemens support site (this is where my Google took me) reveals more about the RAID driver. For example:

Item number: 2331551 Date: 03.01.2007
Description:
I want to reinstall MS Windows® XP Professional Edition. Where do I find the S-ATA driver and how do I integrate this driver?
Solution:

The VIA RAID (Redundant Arrays of Independent Disks) driver for MS Windows® XP Professional Edition is available on the Drivers- & Utilities CD/DVD in the Driver\Raid folder, zipped as CD-LW:\Driver\Raid\1006042_via_1_0.exe. After unzipping all files and folders are stored in the C:\fsc.tmp\1004956_via_5_1_2600_510 folder.

Installation:

* Please copy all files and folders under the following folder C:\fsc.tmp\raid\via_raid_v4_30a_wxp\DrvDisk\i386 onto a floppy disk.
* Boot from the MS Windows® XP Professional-CD.
* Press the [F6] key to integrate the additional driver.
* Insert the driver disk, when Windows is asking for it. After this the driver is implemented correctly.
* Now the hard disk can be partitioned and formatted.

Obviously, you don't want to go down the reformat route, but to repair the existing installation.

Also:

Item number: 23329643 Date: 08.03.2007
Description:
During installation of Microsoft Windows Vista the HDD is not recognized.
Solution:

This is the problem with all original MS Windows XP and Vista CDs or DVDs. The VIA® RAID Controller is not integrated on the CD or DVD.

The driver must be installed manually via usb stick or floppy.

I'm not sure how the alternative suggest of Linux would handle the RAID issue. It would be worth a try out of curiousity.

John

 

hi, thanks for the reply, ive tried a fair few options so far, the boot priority i fiddled around with, and nothing came out fo that. theres absolutely no HDD activity. well, the HDD is SATA and is made by fujitsu, although the RAID utility as far as i can see is controlled by PHOENIX or something like that. ive got 2 cds with me. the usual i imagine. a drivers and utilities disk, which i dotn think i can access in any way through my notebook. however, looking through it ive found the RAID folder. but i dotn really understand the procedure, mainly because i cant find the mentioned folders. ive found one. the first, which is the Driver\Raid\1006042_via_1_0.exe. however, i dont know what to unzip it to? or am i being a real dimwit? at any rate, i dot know id i can use this procedure, im using a public computer. which might cause problems. so far, i think im going to give the livecd a go to see how it works. if not, then i mgiht use someone elses computer to trya dn figure out how my driver and utilities cd works...i can see what i have to donow, ill keep yu informed aswell, if not...then i really dont care about windows as long as i can get my files im more then happy, i really want to change to XP PRO. so this might give me that ecxuse. but i really need my files. thats all. any ideas on how i can do that?

 

ok, ive burned the livecd as a BOOT DISK and tried running it on windows. i get soemthing, but it works like DOS. ok, i get a few ptions but i have tos ay, this thing looks difficult to sue or im REALLY doing soemthing wrong. anyway. i egt a box with current options:
/MLX program is loaded and conventional and xms memory using dpms
/bl=16 lookahead buffer is in conventional memory, size is in kb
/lend=on lend memory to otehr applications - 6646kb is available
/delay=off write delay is disabaled, caching is write through

and underneath that box, it has:

caldera DR-DOS 7.03
copyright etc.
[dr-dos] a:\>

now......i have NO idea what to do...

bugger, i messed up, i wrote the cd as a boot disk, it should be jsut a data image. will inform as i go on. thanks

 

Thanks for the update. I suggest you look at the Fujitsu support site for more suggestions.

john

 

the linux live cd procedure didnt work. i burned the ISO to a cd as a data file....i setp the dvd drive as primary boot and it didnt even boot up..the isk spins for a bit and then slows rigt down...nothing happens..i dont know what to do now...can i ask something? how does the hardrive caddy thing work? im running an SATA drive. thanks.

 

god, i LOVE you guys!!! hahahahaha! it works..it bloody works..and EVEN when i plug in my bloody mp3 player (to use it to backup things) it wooorks!! i cant believe it...i COMPLETELY forgot that i had to mount it as an *iso image..i did..it boots up...and its bloody brilllaint..its so cimple...and so smooth..and thats from a bloody CD!!! i love it...perfect way to see what went wrong..it even recognized my wireless when i was booting up!! genius!! thanks..i really love you guys. ill keep you informed.

 

Good to know that your making some progress

 

Re the Linux bootable CDs, Ubuntu 6.10 works fine on my Q35 (Intel graphics and 1280 x 800 display) but gives a corrupted display on my X60plus (ATI X1700 and 1680 x 1050 display). There were recognisible colours in bands, so I suspect it couldn't handle the resolution.

I have also looked at an XP install CD (ie not the recovery CD bundled with many machines). There is the option to press F6 and install a special driver. What I don't know is whether, if you install Windows on top of an old version, what is wiped and what is retained.

John

 

hi, ok...i havent dont much to my comp yet. too busy with uni work. anyway..heres the deal with the linux liveCD. it works a treat. but it dosnt really go all the way up to 1440 x 900. i dont think it can support it...it only hits 1024 x 768 anyway. thats no issue, its quite ok with me. ive tried tos omehow see if ic an install the drivers needed THROUGH the linux live Cd. but i dont think i can. since it only sees my hardrive as a storage device. anyway. im backing up all i need now. what i really want to attempt is what youre saying now. try and use the installation CD to try install drivers. im quite sure it will overwrite everything. mainly because i tried it at home on my dads computer when it went all wrong with his comp and it didnt work. windows jsut seems to....do as it pleases...soemtimes it leaves EVERYHTING on MY DOCUMENTS untouched..while every application installed is erased. other wimes...all is erased. i mgithtry to attempt it when all my work is backed up. the thing is. i want xp pro THIS TIME...AND I DONT NKOW WHERE I CAN GET A COPY THATS NOT £200! i dont want to go for vista yet. i mgith give ubuntu a chance. but im only going to do that when i get my 2nd hardrive plugged in! again. thank you SO much for your help guys. you really have been life savers!!