AlanHo Posted August 1, 2006 Report Share Posted August 1, 2006 I spent most of yesterday wrestling with a grumpy computer.The problem started with it booting up only as far as the desktop wallpaper appearing on screen - it would then freeze for about 15 minutes before moving on in the boot sequence. Once booted - everything was unbelievably slow. For example opening Outlook or Word took at least 5 minutes after clicking on the desktop icon. After closing a programme - if you tried to open another within 5 minutes or so - the computer locked up and had to be restarted from the reset button.I tried to restore to an earlier time when all was OK - but the Restore programme refused to open (I waited 15 minutes before giving it up - even though I could see the relevant exe file in task manager processes as running).I ran Crap Cleaner, Windows Defender, AdAware, Ewido, Spybot. Reg Scrub, PC Guard and actioned the few problems reported but the computer still misbehaved.I tried to restore from Acronis but it would not open the file on my back-up external USB2 hard drive - which is when I discovered it was not being found by either Acronis or Windows. I unplugged the errant external drive and the computer booted much quicker - however although it is not as slow - it is still hanging from time to time.I was frustrated but not desperate because all my documents and settings are backed up onto a second internal hard drive and the external drive. I have original CD copies of Windows XP SP2 and all my programmes so I knew I could reconstitute the machine from scratch by formatting and reinstalling Windows and my programmes.I have only ever once installed Windows - and that was on a previous computer which I vaguely recall was not without trauma. I bought this computer from a small computer builder about 18 months ago who happens to be on holiday at present so I am unable to fall back onto him for help.The computer has an Athlon 64 3000 cpu 929 pin.Windows XP home SP2 fully up to dateAsus AV8B motherboard1st HDD - 120 Mb ATA 133 hard drive with C: and D: partitions2nd HDD - 120 Mb ATA 133 hard drive with E: and F: partitionsR: DVD ROMW: DVD BurnerA: Floppy drive and multi card readerG: Maxtor 120 MB USB2 hard driveH: Maxtor 120 Mb USB2 hard drive (now disconnected)The problem is that when I boot the computer from the CD with the Windows XP disc - all goes fine until it gives me the choices of installing windows or repair using the recovery console. When I press enter to continue to install XP it shows three hard drives to chose from - worded as follows :-Drive G: which is my external hard driveUnknown disk - (there is no disk in this drive)Unknown disk - (there is no disc in this drive)Hence I am not able to install windows into the C: drive because it has not been identified as such - I imagine it is one of the discs shown as "Unknown"Thus stimied I decided to visit the BIOS - a strange and unfamiliar place to me.I just looked - didn't change anything and could not decide whether all was well or not. The most pertinent settings seemed to be :-Primary IDE Master - Not detectedPrimary IDE slave - Not detectedSecondary IDE Master - DVD RAMSecondary IDE slave - DVD ROMBoot device priority1st boot device - DVD RAM2nd boot device - VIA VT6420 1st HDD3rd boot device - 1s floppy device(There are no further choices to select from)Operating mode Onboard IDE**************Despite being "not detected" the computer is booting up with Windows and all programmes and data are accessible.Please note that the 1st internal hard drive is partitioned C: for the OS and programmes and D: for "My Documents"The 2nd hard drive is partitioned E: for "My Documents" back ups (which are duplicated on the external hard drive) and F: for video editing.The first external drive G: is for back ups as stated aboveThe second external hard drive seems faulty and is now disconnected.What do I need to do so that I can reformat drive C and reinstall windows?. Answers in simple language please. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted August 1, 2006 Report Share Posted August 1, 2006 When you tried Acronis, did you boot the machine from the Acronis Recovery Disk? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan2273 Posted August 1, 2006 Report Share Posted August 1, 2006 Alan, when you first boot your computer you get the BIOS information page (the white writing on a black background) if you press the Pause/Break key it will hold the page so you can see if it is seeing the drives on IDE1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanHo Posted August 1, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 1, 2006 When you tried Acronis, did you boot the machine from the Acronis Recovery Disk?Yes - it opened the Acronis menu page and when I selected restore image (or whatever it says) it could not find the file - the drive did not show up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanHo Posted August 1, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 1, 2006 Alan, when you first boot your computer you get the BIOS information page (the white writing on a black background) if you press the Pause/Break key it will hold the page so you can see if it is seeing the drives on IDE1.The first screen is an Asus AV8 splash screen.The next screen says :-VIA Technologies Inc VIA VT8237 Serial ATA RAID BIOS setting Utility V 2.01Scan devices, Please wait...... Press Key into user window Serial Ch0 Master : Maxtor 6Y120MO Serial Ch1 Master : Maxtor 6Y120MOThe next screen says :-FastTrak 378 ™ BIOS version 1.00.0.37No drive attached to FastTrak controller. The BIOS is not installedNext screen :-Windows blue welcome screen - the computer then boots normally into Windows XP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted August 1, 2006 Report Share Posted August 1, 2006 Odd! Provided you have CD as the first boot device the Acronis Recovery Disk should load, first of all, essential drivers (USB) for it to continue. It should then think about it for a short while and give you options of what to do.Let me make sure we a referring to the same thing. The Acronis Recovery Disk is the one you make yourself when you first use Acronis. It identifies all the drives and things it might need when called upon to use it and prepares for them to be operational.However, as you are not getting either of the primary drives detected, I'm thinking there is something else wrong. Have you checked that the IDE cable is thoroughly pushed home on the drives and (more specifically) on the motherboard? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan2273 Posted August 1, 2006 Report Share Posted August 1, 2006 Alan you have me confused, you list in your first post as having 2 ATA hard drives but your splash screen report says you have 2 SATA drives.I asked the question as in your first post it showed no detection on master or slave for IDE1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanHo Posted August 1, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 1, 2006 CablesI don't know what an IDE cable is - I have made sure that the cables connected to the hard drives are pushed home on the back of each drive and in the motherboard. However - I would have thought that the drives would not be accessible by Windows and other programs if the cables were not correctly connected.I have just run a utility called System Info which states both the hard drives areMaxtor 6Y120MO 122 Mb Interface SCSI ATABelarc advisor says Maxtor 6 Y120M0 SCSI Disk Device (122.94 GB) -- drive 1Maxtor 6 Y120M0 SCSI Disk Device (122.94 GB) -- drive 0AIDA32 statesATA Physical information Manufacturer Maxtor Capacity 120 Mb Speed 7200 rpm Buffer to host data rate 150 Mb/sI have no idea whether they are SATA, ATA or what - I honestly don't know the difference.I do recall being asked by the builder if I wanted the drives mounted as a RAID array for security where the info is the same on each drive. I said no - I wanted them to be separate drives used for different purposes. He also recommended I paid extra for SCSI drives - whatever that may mean - to get faster speed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan2273 Posted August 1, 2006 Report Share Posted August 1, 2006 My apologies Alan I have never used a SCSi drive, so I cannot help you.Perhaps pops has more knowledge on the subject of SCSi drives and there problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted August 1, 2006 Report Share Posted August 1, 2006 As far as I knew SCSI drives were obsolete for anything but specialist systems and, what little knowledge I had of them has disappeared in the mists of ageing.My knowledge of SATA drives is similarly lacking and I apologise for not noticing you had SATA and not IDE hard drives - this is, of course why you got the "Not Detected" message. Windows doesn't recognise SATA on its own and specific drivers have to be installed separately - which is a total unknown to me, sorry.I'm sure there will be someone who knows about this, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan2273 Posted August 1, 2006 Report Share Posted August 1, 2006 Alan I have just photgraphed the bios information page on my brothers computer and it shows his two SATA drives.It is an ASUS mobo but the A8N version.Unfortunately he is on holiday till saturday, so I hope there is someone with experience enough to answer your problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted August 1, 2006 Report Share Posted August 1, 2006 You can normally tell if a drive is SATA by the cable - SATA are usually thin and red. I believe the model of your 2 6Y120M0 drives is - Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 120GB SATA, 7200RPM, 8MB Buffer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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