Disks recognized, then hangs

svar · 08-09-2006, 03:58 AM

This is an installation that was working fine.
I just logged out(shutdown), then a few hours later tried to boot and after recognizing correctly all HDs, it just hangs there.

The disks are(in order)
DVD
HD1
HD2
HD3

This is a hacked-up installation, I had 2 linux systems
on, but since the original first disk crashed, I
had to replace a few things and boot with a CD(SUSE 9.3)
This was working fine for many months, until a few days ago.
So the question is what do I check? obviously
something is wrong with the HW or maybe something just got disconnected?

stress_junkie · 08-16-2006, 10:29 AM

Do you mean that the motherboard BIOS can see all of the drives but you never see a lilo or grub boot menu? If that's the case then maybe the motherboard is set to boot from the wrong drive. Usually a motherboard BIOS will give a message such as "non system disk, press enter to continue" but if the boot sector on the selected disk has something, but not the right thing, then it might get past the BIOS boot error message and then stop.

Try booting a live CD of any distribution. Gain access to the root account and see if the hard drives really are ok hardware wise. You could use the hwinfo utility like this

hwinfo | less

Code:

  <6>Floppy drive(s): fd0 is 1.44M
  <6>FDC 0 is a post-1991 82077
  <4>RAMDISK driver initialized: 16 RAM disks of 64000K size 1024 blocksize
  <6>loop: loaded (max 8 devices)
  <6>Uniform Multi-Platform E-IDE driver Revision: 7.00alpha2
  <6>ide: Assuming 33MHz system bus speed for PIO modes; override with idebus=xx
  <6>VP_IDE: IDE controller at PCI slot 0000:00:11.1
  <4>ACPI: PCI interrupt 0000:00:11.1[A]: no GSI
  <6>VP_IDE: chipset revision 6
  <6>VP_IDE: not 100%% native mode: will probe irqs later
  <6>VP_IDE: VIA vt8235 (rev 00) IDE UDMA133 controller on pci0000:00:11.1
  <6>    ide0: BM-DMA at 0xfc00-0xfc07, BIOS settings: hda:DMA, hdb:DMA
  <6>    ide1: BM-DMA at 0xfc08-0xfc0f, BIOS settings: hdc:DMA, hdd:DMA
  <7>Probing IDE interface ide0...
  <4>hda: Maxtor 6Y080P0, ATA DISK drive
  <4>hdb: Maxtor 6Y080P0, ATA DISK drive
  <4>ide0 at 0x1f0-0x1f7,0x3f6 on irq 14
  <7>Probing IDE interface ide1...
  <4>hdc: SONY DVD RW DRU-500A, ATAPI CD/DVD-ROM drive
  <4>hdd: Seagate STT20000A, ATAPI TAPE drive
  <4>ide1 at 0x170-0x177,0x376 on irq 15

That would at least tell you if your hardware is the problem or if it is something to do with the boot software.

svar · 08-16-2006, 11:19 AM

The point is that I cannot boot from a CD/DVD.
I never get the "verifying DMI pool data" message. When I turn on the power, the LED in the CD/DVD-ROM blinks, but
after the disks are recognized I get no further message(e.g. DMI)
, the LED in the CD does not blink and it just sits there. Note:

1) This was an installation that has been working that way for over a year. (Before that my first disk had crashed, destroying LILO), so I was booting from a CD and that was working daily. I did not change anything: I booted, logged in normally, finished and shutdown the PC. Then a few hours later I tried to open it again and got it to hang ever since. I mean I did not mess with cables, BIOS settings, HW or anything else
2)I tried different CDs, Knoppix, Suse9/10, Kubuntu, same result:
It never sees the CD
3) I also replaced my DVD-ROM with a CD-ROM. Same effect: it just hangs, which means it is not the DVD-ROM HW.

(also supported by the fact that the LED blinks when powered, but not after recognizing the disks)

So, now what? It looks like MB, but how can I make sure?

onebuck · 08-16-2006, 12:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by svar

The point is that I cannot boot from a CD/DVD.
I never get the "verifying DMI pool data" message. When I turn on the power, the LED in the CD/DVD-ROM blinks, but
after the disks are recognized I get no further message(e.g. DMI)
, the LED in the CD does not blink and it just sits there. Note:

1) This was an installation that has been working that way for over a year. (Before that my first disk had crashed, destroying LILO), so I was booting from a CD and that was working daily. I did not change anything: I booted, logged in normally, finished and shutdown the PC. Then a few hours later I tried to open it again and got it to hang ever since. I mean I did not mess with cables, BIOS settings, HW or anything else
2)I tried different CDs, Knoppix, Suse9/10, Kubuntu, same result:
It never sees the CD
3) I also replaced my DVD-ROM with a CD-ROM. Same effect: it just hangs, which means it is not the DVD-ROM HW.

(also supported by the fact that the LED blinks when powered, but not after recognizing the disks)

So, now what? It looks like MB, but how can I make sure?

Hi,

My first test would be if you can get into your BIOS.

Do you get a banner message from the BIOS?

If you can get into the bios, check the boot order. How old is the CMOS battery?

You state the LED blinks on the cd/dvd-ROM, what about your HD LED or even floppy? Do you see a boot search order?

svar · 08-17-2006, 12:21 AM

Thanks for the reply.
I can fool around with the BIOS ok, change boot orders and whatever, sure.
Banner message form BIOS you mean something like Medallion BIOS version 6? Sure
Boot order: 1 is CD/DVD-ROM, second not sure(my PC is not working, so I'm working from another one), either floppy or one of the HDs; does it matter? What is certain is boot order is CD/DVD first

How old is the CMOS battery: Has never been changed, sinc ethe MB is an ASUS CUV4x, I assume about 6 years old.... Where to I see that?

Well, after the disks are recognized, nothing seems to blink

Does that help?

onebuck · 08-18-2006, 11:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by svar

Thanks for the reply.
I can fool around with the BIOS ok, change boot orders and whatever, sure.
Banner message form BIOS you mean something like Medallion BIOS version 6? Sure
Boot order: 1 is CD/DVD-ROM, second not sure(my PC is not working, so I'm working from another one), either floppy or one of the HDs; does it matter? What is certain is boot order is CD/DVD first

How old is the CMOS battery: Has never been changed, sinc ethe MB is an ASUS CUV4x, I assume about 6 years old.... Where to I see that?

Well, after the disks are recognized, nothing seems to blink

Does that help?

Hi,

By chance have you opened the case? If not, you should. I mean that some simple maintenance may help here.

First, disconnect the power from the unit. Then once you get the case open, what is the cleanness of the inside? Just blow the area out using a good clean air source, ie; dust off, can air or a good clean compressed air source.

Then check each cable for positive connection. You could remove each connector and clean the connector and the card edge using alcohol or commercial pcb cleaners. You should use lint free cloth or 20# typing paper cut in one inch wide strips. Always wipe in one direction and dispose of the strips of paper after each use.

With a system that old, maintenance should be performed based on the environment the machine is in.

The problem could be something as simple as this or it could be cables. If you can get into the BIOS then the MB is functioning for the I/O. You could generate a boot floppy for this machine on another machine. Change the boot order to;

Code:

floppy-> HD ->CD/DVD

Even if you don't create a boot floppy change the boot order. This will test the I/O of the MB.

If change the boot order then you could create a sbootmgr disk to see if the problem is the I/O. BTW, what type of IDE, integrated on the MB or card? If a card then try cleaning the card edge of the interface. If integrated you could disable the function and get a ide controller card and put in place.

Another thought would be to get tomrtbt and see if it will boot from floppy. A lot of tools available on this distro.