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Hey people,
I would like to know how I can fix a problem with my HDD or software. I have a 30GB HDD on a 400MHz x86 Processor. Recently I had Windows installed on it (we all know how insecure it is). Well... I had my anti-virus software disabled because I did not configure it (msconfig) to start at boot time. I forgot to re-enable it, heh. I opened up the file mIRC.exe (I was going to install mIRC client) and all-of-a-sudden, my computer restarted. Weird I thought to myself and the next thing on my screen were 2 lines.
Non-System disk or disk error
replace and strike any key when ready
I did not know what to do. So I took my Windows XP Professional Disk out and it did not want to work. So I asked my friend and he recommened me to use linux because it is much more reliable. I agreed. So I downloaded Slackware 9.0 from my friends system. I put it in and it booted up fine.
Then I put the command in " cfdisk ". It gave me this output.
FATAL ERROR: Cannot open disk drive
Press any key to exit cfdisk
Even more upset with this huge problem... I asked my friend again that it didn't want to install and it gave me the "FATAL ERROR..." He said the partition was corrupt so I use the " dd " command.
root@slackware:/# dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda
dd: /dev/hda: No such device or address
It did not work.. my friend told me it should work
Now I am depending on you Linux Geniuses to help me out please I am very desperate and any help with be very helpful. Thank you all you wonderful people .
I'm not sure if this suggestion will help but you could try the Knoppix bootable CD its a full Linux Distro that runs from CD and it may help to diagnose any HDD problems
Thank you all soo much. I do have the Knoppix CD and I will try it today. Yes, the BIOS does recognize my system at boot time. So I guess it did crash. Thank you all =)
Hello again,
I am not too sure about my BIOS. I think it is from the CD-ROM because I had put in a Slackware and also a WinXP disc in the CDROM and they came up on the screen. Meaning the instructions but both of them kept saying CANNOT READ DISK DRIVE. By the way.. today I tried the Slackware CD again. I looked closely and lots of stuff came up... It said something like:
Drive Status {Not Ready} 0x50
Drive Error {Not Ready} 0x50
Drive Status {Not Ready} 0x50
Drive Error {Not Ready} 0x50
Drive Status {Not Ready} 0x50
Drive Error {Not Ready} 0x50
I believe it was something similar to that.
Thank you for all your help =)
Sincerely,
Abid Kazmi
Hey,
Hehe, anything accepted. I'm just here for help =).
Well... I don't want to do specific things. I just need to get my computer up anyway possible. The file corrupted everything I guess... so I was thinking of cleaning up everything.
I did try your help Ciccio, I put in:
root@slackware:/# dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda1
dd: /dev/hda1: No space left on device
I am sorry, I meant I tried to MOUNT it not format it. I did try to format it by doing dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda. Is that the proper way of formating?
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