On 28 Mar 99, at 11:12, Shakeel Ruttee wrote:

> While I am booting my PC, i get the following message "Boot disk
> failure" and i have to switch on and off  the PC many times before it
> will boot normally. Moreover, there is a spinning sound of the Hard
> Disk and the hard disk light remains on.  What is strange, while I am
> getting this problem the BIOS cant detect neither the primary hard
> disk and the secondary hard disk. Is that a problem with the IDE port
> connector or is it a symptom of an imminent hard disk crash?

  Basically, it sounds like the IDE controller is having trouble.
There may not be any mechanical problem with the drive, but a
malfunctioning controller *could* corrupt data on the drive, which in
turn might or might not lead to a crash.
  The controller might not be the real problem.  I've had trouble
accessing the boot hard drive when the machine's power supply is
overloaded; even at $50 for a UL-certified one, replacing the power
supply may be the least expensive way to try to fix the problem.


David G

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