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Maybe over my head?



 
 
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  #1  
Old March 6th 05, 07:17 PM
mjm4u
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Default Maybe over my head?

:x
A friend brought me over her computer last week--told me it just
"stopped"--appears to be an old Gateway 2000--when I turned it on,
got a message stating invalid system disk, remove--of course, there's
no disk inside, so I'm assuming perhaps a hard drive
situation--unplugged the drive so that a Win98 startup floppy would
take over the booting, which it did, but when I tried to run fdisk, I
get a message stating no fixed disks present--rebooted the system with
the same error message, tried running delpart and got "no hard drive
found"--does it sound like she's screwed and needs a new hard drive
to anyone else?

Thanks,
Mike

  #2  
Old March 6th 05, 07:26 PM
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mjm4u wrote:
:x
A friend brought me over her computer last week--told me it just
"stopped"--appears to be an old Gateway 2000--when I turned it on,
got a message stating invalid system disk, remove--of course, there's
no disk inside, so I'm assuming perhaps a hard drive
situation--unplugged the drive so that a Win98 startup floppy would
take over the booting, which it did, but when I tried to run fdisk, I
get a message stating no fixed disks present--rebooted the system

with
the same error message, tried running delpart and got "no hard drive
found"--does it sound like she's screwed and needs a new hard drive
to anyone else?


It sounds like it, but before you do replace it check the hard disk
connectors. Make sure the leads are pushed in properly and haven't
worked loose. You need to make sure you are earthed (touch the case
and have the PSU plugged in, but not switched on) when you do it to
avoid any anti-static discharge problems.

  #3  
Old March 6th 05, 08:36 PM
cowboyz
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Default



mjm4u wrote:
x

A friend brought me over her computer last week--told me it just
"stopped"--appears to be an old Gateway 2000--when I turned it on,
got a message stating invalid system disk, remove--of course, there's
no disk inside, so I'm assuming perhaps a hard drive
situation--unplugged the drive so that a Win98 startup floppy would
take over the booting


Did you plug the drive back in again when you were running Fdisk?


, which it did, but when I tried to run fdisk, I
get a message stating no fixed disks present--rebooted the system with
the same error message, tried running delpart and got "no hard drive
found"--does it sound like she's screwed and needs a new hard drive
to anyone else?

Thanks,
Mike



  #4  
Old March 6th 05, 08:39 PM
SteveH
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Default

"mjm4u" wrote in message
...
:x
A friend brought me over her computer last week--told me it just
"stopped"--appears to be an old Gateway 2000--when I turned it on,
got a message stating invalid system disk, remove--of course, there's
no disk inside, so I'm assuming perhaps a hard drive
situation--unplugged the drive so that a Win98 startup floppy would
take over the booting, which it did, but when I tried to run fdisk, I
get a message stating no fixed disks present--rebooted the system with
the same error message, tried running delpart and got "no hard drive
found"--does it sound like she's screwed and needs a new hard drive
to anyone else?

Thanks,
Mike

Hard drive controller turned off in BIOS?

SteveH


  #5  
Old March 6th 05, 10:05 PM
JAD
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Default

hen I turned it on,
got a message stating invalid system disk, remove--of course, there's
no disk inside, so I'm assuming perhaps a hard drive
situation--

huh? no disk inside.. that would be a hard drive problem alright. there is
none?

"mjm4u" wrote in message
...
:x
A friend brought me over her computer last week--told me it just
"stopped"--appears to be an old Gateway 2000--when I turned it on,
got a message stating invalid system disk, remove--of course, there's
no disk inside, so I'm assuming perhaps a hard drive
situation--unplugged the drive so that a Win98 startup floppy would
take over the booting, which it did, but when I tried to run fdisk, I
get a message stating no fixed disks present--rebooted the system with
the same error message, tried running delpart and got "no hard drive
found"--does it sound like she's screwed and needs a new hard drive
to anyone else?

Thanks,
Mike



  #6  
Old March 7th 05, 12:59 AM
Dave C.
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Default


"mjm4u" wrote in message
...
:x
A friend brought me over her computer last week--told me it just
"stopped"--appears to be an old Gateway 2000--when I turned it on,
got a message stating invalid system disk, remove--of course, there's
no disk inside, so I'm assuming perhaps a hard drive
situation--unplugged the drive so that a Win98 startup floppy would
take over the booting, which it did, but when I tried to run fdisk, I
get a message stating no fixed disks present--rebooted the system with
the same error message, tried running delpart and got "no hard drive
found"--does it sound like she's screwed and needs a new hard drive
to anyone else?

Thanks,
Mike


That's a classic symptom of a dead CMOS battery. When the battery dies, the
CMOS loses the hard drive settings (among other things). Replace CMOS
battery, auto-detect hard drive (hopefully you won't have to manually
program it), save settings, exit, done. -Dave


  #7  
Old March 7th 05, 01:16 AM
mjm4u
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let me see if I can answer all responses--JAD, I meant no floppy disks
in the computer, there is a hard drive in there---Cowboyz---the hard
drive was plugged in when I tried fdisk---Steve--the hard drive
controller is turned on in BIOS, and Guest---all connectors have been
unplugged and reseated

Thanks for the responses--still looking for more

Mike

  #8  
Old March 7th 05, 02:31 AM
doS
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Default

Check the HDD Jumper.......

"mjm4u" wrote in message
...
let me see if I can answer all responses--JAD, I meant no floppy disks
in the computer, there is a hard drive in there---Cowboyz---the hard
drive was plugged in when I tried fdisk---Steve--the hard drive
controller is turned on in BIOS, and Guest---all connectors have been
unplugged and reseated

Thanks for the responses--still looking for more

Mike



  #9  
Old March 7th 05, 05:04 AM
mjm4u
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Dave--wouldn't it lose the time in the BIOS if the battery was dead?

Mike

  #10  
Old March 7th 05, 06:06 AM
Dave C.
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"mjm4u" wrote in message
...
Dave--wouldn't it lose the time in the BIOS if the battery was dead?

Mike


Possibly. Some mainboards have CMOS and real time clock in the same chip,
and the RTC runs off battery. So, a slow clock can be a symptom of a weak
battery. But a clock keeping time doesn't necessarily mean that the CMOS
battery is OK. -Dave


 




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