John, see answers below:
--- In [email protected], John <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
>
>
> > How can I tell? Would that fact that it won't read a single
solitary
> > floppy be a clue?
> I'd open the computer up and check that the cables are firmly
attached
> to the floppy drive and the motherboard before writing the drive
>off.
DIANE WRITES:
I opened the box up to install the new hard drive and checked the
floppy cables then. Even unattached and reattached them.
> > When I do a Windows disk check, it says it's fine.But it won't
read any disks.
> You've done a disk check on a floppy disk and Windows says it's
fine?
> Yet when you double-click on your floppy disk drive icon you can't
read
> the contents of the disk? (I'm assuming the disks are formatted and
> contain data, of course.)
DIANE WRITES:
I just put the XP Rescue diskette #1 in and clicked on the drive. It
says "Please insert disk in drive A" I have also put a new,
formatted, diskette into the drive just in case on the off chance my
disks were too old. Heck, I almost never use them. When I clicked on
the properties for the A-drive under Hardware, it says Disk Status>
"This disk is working properly."
> > I'm having trouble with my hard drives
> > (and XP) at the moment, and I can't even boot a rescue diskette.
> >
> > Since I'm here, I'll ask you...I'm getting a "Non Systeme Disk
Error",
> > which I read in the help menu means Windows can't find itself
(must be
> > a trickle down from the 60's), and it's probably a hard disk
problem.
> >
>
> It can also mean that your computer is set to boot from the floppy
disk
> drive before the hard drive and that the floppy drive contains a
> non-bootable disk. Just removing the floppy disk fixes that problem.
DIANE WRITES:
Yea, I know about that one. But I've set it to boot from the hard
drive first, cd second, and floppy third. And even though I do, every
time I had to reboot, I had to press F3 and tell it to boot from the
CD. It seems to have ignored what I put in the BIOS.
BTW: Everything WAS working fine. These disk errors just started out
of the blue. No new installations of any kind (hardware or software).
I went to bed one night with the computer on. I woke up the next
morning to the black screen that said "non system disk error. press
ctrl-alt-delete to restart your computer." When I did, it just kept
coming back to the same black screen and message--over and over and
over again. I can only boot with the CD in the drive. There were a few
times that even that wouldn't even work.
I've had errors ranging from "there's a hard disk error with drive-C"
(not exact words) to "missing N....? file" (Windows wouldn't boot--
hence the cd boot) to the "non-system disk error".
>It could also mean that it's trying to boot from a hard drive that
doesn't
> have a properly installed operating system on it - ie, the drive
that
> had Windows 98 on it and on to which you tried to copy Windows XP.
DIANE WRITES:
I had a dual boot, but Windows 98 is gone. It got formatted over when
I tried to install XP in it's place on drive C. Drive D has always
haad my 'working' copy of XP. Then when I started getting these disk
errors and had to boot with the CD, I got the message to 'Repair' or
'Install' XP. After choosing repair several times, and it hasn't fixed
the problem, I thought, "What the heck. Install it on C" But install
kept popping up messages about not having compatible hardware, yadda-
yadda-- even though it's the same hardware that's been on there all
along (I haven't installed anything new)--and it won't boot from C.
When I have the startup boot menu, it says Windows XP Home and Windows
XP Home. If I choose the top one, I get a black screen. If I choose
the bottom one, I get XP booted up. (As long as I have the CD in the
drive).
> > My computer appears to be working fine and then--boom!--black
screen
> > and the disk error. However, along with that, I'm having these
problems (have for about two weeks):
> >
> > 1. Clock is seriously losing time.
> >
>
> Sounds like the cmos battery on your motherboard needs replacing.
DIANE WRITES:
I was afraid that was the problem there. That's one of things I
haven't done before.
> > 2. Floppy drive won't work
> >
>
> If all the cables are properly connected then it too needs
replacing.
>
> > 3. NVIDIA GeForce 2 MX/MX 400 drivers arent' working. (yellow
check
> > mark next to it in Device Manager). I've uninstalled, reinstalled,
> > uninstalled, installed updated drivers, etc. Nothing works. (or if
it
> > does, it doesn't last. The new drivers won't work at all. It let
me
> > 'rollback' to the older drivers once and the checkmark went away.
But
> > now it won't ever rollback.
> >
>
> I really have no idea why the yellow check mark keeps coming back.
> Strange! However, the GeForce 2 cards are pretty old - I think
GeForce 8
> cards are about to be released - so try downloading and installing
> really old nvidia drivers for it, not the latest ones. Uninstall the
old
> drivers before installing, though.
DIANE WRITES:
I installed the older drivers from the original disk that came with
the card. The weird thing is, that when I went into Safe Mode to
install the newest drivers, it seemed to work. While in Safe Mode
there was no check mark by NVIDIA; but back in Normal mode there was.
Soooooo.....I just paid $65 for a new hard drive. If I need a new
graphics card, the most I'm willing to pay right now is the $47 I can
get a PNY Verto GeForce FX5500 for; if I need a new floppy drive (and
how bad do I need one?) that's probably another $25 or so. My XP
installation is shot to hell, soooooo.....is it worth all this expense
or should I chuck the whole darn mess and buy a another desktop or
laptop? Two years ago I installed a new MB, processor, graphics card,
case and power supply. I got a new DVD burner last year. Heck, the
only thing original in this box is the very old HP cd burner. I'm not
a computer person. I'm getting tired of working on this stuff. ;)
> > I have three hard drives and don't even know for sure which one is
> > bad. I only know it's not the new one. ;)
> >
> > That's it. A freakin' nightmare.
> > Can someone please help?
> >
> > TIA,
> > Diane
>
> Best wishes,
>
> John.
Thanks! I need 'em! :)
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