Hello,
I've got an Hitachi Deskstar 164GB IDE drive which I've somehow managed to upset while attempting to swap distros.
I'm guessing its lost the MBR as I can't get a PC to see it except in the BIOS.
The BIOS tells me that the primary master has 164GB, Cylinders 65535, Head 16, Precomp 0, Landing zone 65534 and Sector 255. (my understanding of that info is very limited).

The PC won't boot direct from the hdd and a live Knoppix disc can't see it. Trying fdisk -l produces no list. (Naturally, I can't install another distro on it either).

All the posts I've seen relating to this problem, or similar, seem to be Dual Boot problems. I don't use Windows so it can't be that.

I don't think the drive is dead but maybe I have killed it. I'd be very grateful if someone could help me with some rescue ideas before I chuck it away.

If gparted don't see partition while trying to install some linux distro means you have big problems??
try googling for how to make new MBR then or how to make partition table, or low level disk format.

here's something:
http://linuxhelp.blogspot.com/2005/1...-and-boot.html

Thanks yooy,
It's true that gparted can't see the drive and if I try grub-install /dev/hda I'm told that there is no /dev/hda or that it's not a block device. Oh dear, the prognosis is not good.

You see nothing from "fdisk -l" ? You doing it from root ?.
What about dmesg ?.

Hi syg00,
nothing from fdisk -l and yes from root. Not familiar with dmesg is it display messages? I'll try it.

I run 3 pcs all with the same data so back-up is not a problem. This drive is a spare.

Could you give a factual account of what "attempting to swap distros" means? What did you do exactly?

'Morning unSpawn,
Nothing fancy, as I said, this is a spare drive. I had (I think) Freespire on it and I was attempting to install Debian. It was fitted into a Dell Optiplex for the job and after apparently installing the thing wouldn't boot. I've used the Debian disc before so I don't think there is anything wrong with it.
To reply to syg00, I've tried dmesg and I get a huge list but nothing that I can see that refers to the drive.
I've also tried hdparm -i and get the message that hda does not exist - I think it's dead.

What's the Optiplex type? Can you swap IDE cables? Can you attach the drive to another machine? Would you be willing to try resetting the BIOS to factory defaults?

Hello again unSpawn,
It's a GX260 P4 and the drive is now in another PC (a homebrew with a GA-7N400 Pro2 motherboard and an Athlon CPU). I'm using the IDE cable that normally connects to the PCs drive as I did in the Optiplex. I'll try re-setting the BIOS.

At least check BIOS options like Fastboot (off), HDD Priority (HDD), Primary Drive n and Secondary Drive n— Settings (Auto), be aware which cable plug you use for the drive and which IDE slot you insert the cable into. Also see http://support.dell.com/support/edoc...at.htm#1101564. Does the BIOS diagnostic output detect the drive when you boot? Does it show any errors? And after resetting to BIOS defaults? Attached to your GA-7N400, does the drive show up in the BIOS diagnostic output?

Good evening unSpawn,
Thanks for all your input, I appreciate your time. I re-set the BIOS but to no avail, the drive is visible on the POST screen and in the BIOS but not when I try to do anything with it -it's probably a paperweight.
I've got to put it to one side now anyway, I've got a farm and a business to run, I'll probably take the pcb off one day and see if there is a damaged solder joint on the back of the IDE connections (shifting drives about the way I do is hard on the pins). The drive isn't important, I have others, almost all my hardware comes free or cheap from Windows users who find their PC running slow and buy another, ignoring my suggestion to download CCleaner and get rid of all the baggage.
At least I know that the IDE cable on the GA-7N400 box is good, I'm using the PC to send this with good old Zenwalk.
Regards, Starkadder.