At 11:14 PM 8/7/99 , Julie Shanks wrote:
>I need to test a 2GB hard drive to see if the problem I'm having is with
>it, or not. I would like to add it into my current machine (Celeron 333
>with Win 98 and Epox mobo). What I want to find out is - will this hard
>drive boot all the way into the Windows (95) desktop as it has in the past,
>but no longer will (wallpaper comes up, but explorer won't load). If it
>doesn't, then there is a problem with this drive, and presumably not the
>rest of the machine from which it originates.
>
>What procedure do I use to boot from this HD? Also, would it be
>simpler for diagnostic purposes to switch out the drives, or just add the
>second as an additional (master?) drive to this computer?
I do not believe you are on the right track in diagnosing this problem
with the system. You did not mention the brand of the hard drive
which leads me to wonder if it might be a drive with a firmware issue,
the symptom(s) you mention are not atypical of a bad hard drive.
When a computer will post and then continue to boot clearly past
loading the video driver and into the final phases, you probably
are experiencing a driver or IRQ conflict, a software issue within
Windows. These questions come to mind:
1) Will it boot into Windows in Safe Mode?
2) If so, have you checked your device manager for driver & IRQ
conflicts?
I believe you have an issue in your operating system. It maybe such
a thing you will need to reload Windows if you cannot boot into safe
mode. If a simple reload of Windows still locks, my next step would
be to delete the registry, including the backup copies, then reload. If
the issue continues, then remove all the cards, except for the video
card... then reload. This issue, on the face of the symptoms you
present, is typical of drivers and/or IRQ conflicts in Windows...
possibly a situation where you have a third party application attempting
to load at boot conflicting with Windows... a Windows software issue.
Bob Wright
The NOSPIN Group, Inc
http://nospin.com - http://nospin.org
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