At 11:57 AM 3/21/98 -0800, Reba Davis wrote:
>Please let me know how to solve a computer problem that displays the
>message "invalid drive".  The computer will boot up with a diskette in
>Drive A, but each time one types "c:" to go to the c drive, the "invalid
>drive" message appears.
>
>Prior to the above problem occurring, the computer was booting up to
>Drive C okay.


This can be caused by more than one condition.  Here are the things
to check:

1)  Is the drive ribbon cable connected securely to the drive & the controller,
     with the pin #1 assignment properly addressed on both ends?

2)  Is the power cable securely attached to the hard drive?

The quickest way to check this is to open the BIOS and see if the CMOS
settings will allow the system to auto-detect the drive.  If it does, then
disregard the two idea above.

3) Is the partion on the drive recognized by the system?

After you have booted from a floppy, use FDISK on the floppy to examine
the partition.  If the partition is recognized by FDISK then the partition
should be fine.  This maybe a matter of a virus corrupting the partition...
(remember that a virus attack on a computer is extremely rare... happens
to less than 1% of computer owners).  Either way, if you are to this point,
I would believe you have either a corrupted partition or the drive needs
to be formatted again.   If FDISK cannot find the drive, you need to
re-examine items #1 & #2 above.

This also could be a matter of the drive gone bad or the ribbon, (data),
cable gone bad if you are back to items #1 & #2.

I hope this helps

   Bob