The absolute worst case was a pc that defied all attempts to resuscitate.
Turns out the motherboard had a "COAST", cache on a stick, module.
Disabling
external cache and removing the COAST module solved everything.  Before I
figured
that out I spent 3 or 4 hours chasing disk errors, and repeatedly running
scandisk.  You know the rest.  With the coast module removed, format
returned all the sectors to good health.  An easy one to fix was a BIOS CMOS
settings that a user had changed to weird settings for memory timing, etc.
That pc would periodically freeze, even the mouse pointer would stop.  After
a time the hard disk collected cross-linked files, bad fat entries, etc.
Running scandisk marked sectors as bad.  Fixing cmos and reformating removed
all the bad sector marks.

If quantum bigfoot drives have a unique propensity for mishap, I am unable
to comment.  I have never owned or installed a quantum bigfoot.
tom turak

-----Original Message-----
Sent: Thursday, July 15, 1999 12:58 PM

Tom --
Could you expand a bit about your experiences with the Thorough Scandisk and
non-disk related problems? I'm especially interested in exactly what you
mean by "non-disk related" problems causing bad sectors to be marked on a
hard drive.

         The PCBUILD web site always needs good submissions.  If
          you would like to contribute to the website, send any
               hardware tech tips or hardware reviews to:
                           [log in to unmask]