MrsKoz2

First - thanks to the mods in advance as I've been reading the threads on part of my current problem (and with a prev problem; I lost my prev registration) and have found your help to others invaluable to my problem so didn't need to repost.

Second - here is what happened to my current machine: a few-years old emachines. This will be long, but I don't want to leave anything out if possible so you are able to see where I am.

PC suddenly up & stopped working. I was using it - left for 20-30 mins - came back to the sound of a "cricket on LSD" and knew my MB was having problems: no display besides (i think, it's been about 10 days) a memory dump completed, so I went to restart and it became DOA. No power, no lights, nada.

Checked power supply thinking fan not working = CPU overheated (the thermal seal disappeared between the CPU and heatsink/fan setup). I did "backrig" the main ATX power supply (250W) to test it - which made the CPU fan spin merrily UNTIL I undid the wiring and put it back and smoke poured out of the main power supply/fan. Obviously unplugged it right away.

So I bought a NEW CPU and a NEW motherboard, after speaking to emachines to make sure this was possible. The tech said yes - but have a pro do it and you have to buy the exact same MB and CPU. But he didn't have the specifications for unknown reasons.

So I bought the following new:

Antec 350W SmartPower 2.0 ATX power supply
GIGABYTE Intel 865G (GA-8I865GME-775-RH) motherboard
Intel Celeron D 351 LGA775 3.2 GHz processor

Installed them all - everything turns on - except once past the BIOS screen (which DID recognize the HDD), I end up in the screen where it tells you Windows didn't load correctly, and to choose your startup option.

I tried all of them. Safemode, safemode with cmd prompt, last known good config, and normal. No matter what I tried it would restart until I was stuck in a restart loop. Even when I didn't choose anything while trying to look up the problem on other PC it would restart. I researched the problem and it said I had to update my BIOS on the HDD for the new MB, but.... you can't do that if you can't boot from a CD (for the MB install) that says you have no room to backup the files on the HD (120GB with PLENTY of room avail) first.

I booted from the XP CD and ran recovery console. It said the drive had one or more unrecoverable problems. even running chkdsk /r was a problem - it would get up to 65% or so then inexplicably drop back to 50% and get stuck.

And trying another fix I've seen on the forum (act like you are running a new install and then it will give you an "R" for repair option) didn't work, because no "R" appeared - it acted like it was a brand new disk with nothing on it.

Well lucky me had an extra never-used (too busy+lazy, plus scared to ruin it HAH!) hard drive stored away: Seagate 200GB Ultra ATA/100 (ST3200822A).

I installed that one as master with bad drive as slave, and they were both recognized in BIOS. Ran Seagate's DiskUtility install on new HDD, then ran XP install CD on new HDD. Got into a working OS and opened my computer only to find that when I clicked on the (bad) drive icon that DID show up, I could not access it. I've since disconnected it because everytime I had to restart due to XP service packs (trying to get large disk support working), it would try to run CHKDSK AGAIN on the bad drive over & over - with no success ("2nd NTFS boot sector is unwriteable).


So I've spoken to a local data recovery company ($239), but will first try one (or more) of the at-home data recovery programs: Stellar Phoenix and GetDataBack (runtime).

FINALLY: Here's my question:

HOW did my HDD become corrupt/unreadable from an overheating CPU/MB/fan?

Or is this as someone else wrote on an emachines group forum: caused by my installing a different MB on the PC and the old HDD still having the old MB settings/files so my old HDD acts insane & just stops working, BUT all the files are there still? Now that the old HDD is set up as slave, and I still can't access anything on it normally, I'm unsure if using one of the data recovery programs will harm the HDD because - after all, I don't know what happened to begin with to cause the "corruption".

I hope you've been able to follow all this and understand what I am dealing with so can possibly advise me on my next logical step. It makes so little sense to me at this point, I'm not optimistic.

Thank you in advance.

Mrs Koz

dai

when you fit a new m/board all the references on the h/d are to the old one
it is like me telling you you are going to london and then dropping you into the middle of tokyo
try a repair install
boot from the xpcd and choose install
ignore the first repair option and continue with install
when windows finds the previous installtion
then do the repair
as soon as you are up and running,run the new m/b setup disk

MrsKoz2

Hi, thanks for the quick reply!

I did try that method - skipping the first repair option on the XP disk and trying for the 2nd, but the "repair" method never showed because the first installation of XP wasn't detected. I was only given the option to install as new.

dai

this usually happens when you have installed a sp and it is not on the original disk
to get around it you have to slipstream sp2 into the original disk and then run the repair with the slipstreamed disk
http://www.techsupportforum.com/hard...ng-win-cd.html

linderman

at this point I would play it safe and go to the "troubled" hard drive manufacturer's website and download their diagnostic utility run that in the bootable DOS form not the windozs version

fun the extended or full test


post your findings

what happened when you ran getdataback?

there are all drive drive makers in "My favorite Links" in my signature / then look in Diagnostics

MrsKoz2

I was just working on that on the NEW HDD right now to get around the 138GB (or similar) size limitation by XP.

I followed ALL the instructions that I found here:
http://www.techsupportforum.com/hard...ng-win-cd.html

and
I am receiving this message now in the middle of the Windows Setup (past the initial setup screens... into the reboot setup "setup will complete in approximately 39 minutes" (or similar):

Here is the error in part (it repeats in a big pop-up):

"INSTALLATION FAILED: D:\i386\ASMS
ERROR MSG: DATA ERROR (CYCLIC REDUNDANCY CHECK)"

I've burned two different ISO cd's (Nero 7 premium) for this process using 2 different DL's for the SP2 file in case the 1st was a bad DL, but no go: same message both times at different times during the setup process. (After the 1st failed attempt, I did reformat/repartition the C drive using the Seagate Disk Utilities so it would be a 'clean' start...)...

I'm currently watching a 3rd ISO/CD with the slipstreamed XP + SP2 give it a whirl...

dai

try burning it at a slower speed

MrsKoz2

Hi linderman,

Thank you for your response! :)

I haven't actually run the data recovery progs yet - I am trying to get my Seagate 200GB HDD working properly (recognizing ALL 200GB using the technique I mentioned in post #6 above) before I try to recover any of the data from the 'broken' Western Digital 120GB.

Looking at your list of diagnostic tools by vendor, is this the version you would recommend I use (Western Digital):

"Data Lifeguard Diagnostic v5.04f for DOS (Floppy) (December 2005)"

and do I DL this to my current (new) HDD or to a CD-ROM or even my flash drive for best results?

I won't be able to DX the bad HDD until I re-connect it as a slave HDD, and if I connect it (alone) as master, the pc won't respond at all... (see initial post).

Thank you again !

MrsKoz2

You guys are like mind-readers.

I dropped the speed down to 16x, and switched to disk-at-once instead of track-at-once.

It actually "failed" completing the burn, but I checked the size from explorer and opened the cd to look around - it was the right 'size', so I gave it a try (tired of tossing all these CD-Rs), and got the error message about the CRC again -

tried this (complete luck) - took the ISO cd out - stuck in the HD utility disk again preparing for yet another reformat... changed mind - stuck ISO cd back in again, and wow! it went all the way through - and I made it all the way through the installation to an actual Windows Desktop:

HOWEVER - Now that I slipstreamed the XP+SP2 onto the HDD, the HDD still only recognizes 127GB of the 200GB (and yes, in the control panel it does say that SP2 is installed)...

MrsKoz2

After slipstreaming XP+SP2 onto the new HDD, it still would not recognize more than 127GB so ran the Seagate Disk Utility CD again - and fixed it that way. I now have a new partition (F:) with the rest of my HDD accessible.

That problem solved, still working on the (corrupt) WD 120Gb and trying to determine why it happened...

linderman

MRS Koz2:


very impressive patience and trouble shooting logic ! well done!

yes use the data lifeguard you found

I am fairly sure that when you download the file; you will then mouse click the file it should ask you to insert a blank floppy disk to floppy drive

then it will make a bootable floppy disk boot from that disk and make sure you choose extended test before quitting!


please post results

MrsKoz2

Thanks! I know you guys are working with loads of other people, so I am always trying to figure things out as well with limited trial/error so as not to break anything (further!) even after I post the problems I'm dealing with.

And... Okay - I ran the WD Data Lifeguard tools, but had to run the windows version as my floppy cable no longer reaches the connection on the new MB (I tried to CD version, but it burns an ISO that wants to make a floppy version too). I can always just un-mount the floppy, connect it and run the DOS version anyway, but I went ahead and ran the DLDIAG tests to get an idea of what I was facing.

Here are the results from the WIN tests for DLDIAG:

SMART STATUS = PASS

Test Option: QUICK TEST
Model Number: WDC WD1200AB-22DYA0
Unit Serial Number: WD-WCAEK1083306
Firmware Number: 15.05R15
Capacity: 120.03 GB
SMART Status: PASS
Test Result: PASS
Test Time: 20:09:14, December 01, 2006


Test Option: EXTENDED TEST
Model Number: WDC WD1200AB-22DYA0
Unit Serial Number: WD-WCAEK1083306
Firmware Number: 15.05R15
Capacity: 120.03 GB
SMART Status: PASS
Test Result: PASS
Test Time: 20:56:13, December 01, 2006
-------

But in the list of available drives to select/test, the WD drive (E:) didn't show anything other than the drive letter and PASS. The other HDD showed the drive letters (C: & F:), total space/freespace sizes, and file system (NTFS).

Do I go ahead and make a floppy and run the DOS program after un-mounting the floppy drive so it can reach the MB connection?

Or do I assume since the WIN version of the DLDIAG tests didn't find any problems that the DOS version won't either?

linderman

if its not a huge pain for you I would run the DOS version

linderman

do you have data on that drive thats needs to be recovered ??

linderman

how does disk managment show that drive (healthy, unallocated, does it show all partitions its suppose to have, does DM show the entire size of the drive



if you wonder how to get into & navigate in DM

http://www.techsupportforum.com/hard...anagement.html


at this point I think you have a trashed partition

scan with this it wont fix until you pay but it may give more clues

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4129.html

linderman

if you dont mind taking the long way home





you could download and burn the .ISO image of Ultimate Boot CD


in that CD there is a tool called Active @ partition recovery

use that on the trouble drive

unplug the power from your other boot drive just to be sure you dont accidentally zap that one while "messing" with the partition recovery tools

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

MrsKoz2

Well I tried to do this, but I'd have to actually remove the entire MB to get the floppy drive out so the cable reaches to the MB connection (the memory modules are in the way... all the other cables & the heatsink/fan for the CPU could be disconnected). No thanks!

----

I opened Disk Management; here's what it lists for the WD HDD:

E: Partition, Basic, (NO file system listed at all), Healthy (Active), 111.79GB capacity, 111.79GB freespace, %free = 100%, Fault tolerance = no, and overhead = 0%. Online.

I know there are/were files there - I had used about nearly 40-45% of the drive before the MB/CPU/Power problem occurred and resulted in my dead HDD.

So would you recommend giving the Active @ Partition Recovery utility a try before running GetDataBack data recovery or vice versa? In other words, I don't know if I'm supposed to just try and recover the data, or fix the partition first? (which I've read can destroy files as well - even though SOME data recovery progs claim to be able to recover files even after repartitioning and reformatting)...

linderman

I would try the getdataback first it has a free scanner if you can see your files then you can recover them after you pay the license fee