On Sunday 18 Apr 2004 3:41 pm, Stephen Kuhn wrote: > On Sun, 2004-04-18 at 23:16, Keith Powell wrote: > > My set-up here, is one computer with several hard drives each in its own > > caddy. Each drive is used for a different purpose. > > > > A couple of days ago, one of them (a Maxtor 40GB) stopped working a > > couple of days ago whilst I was using it,. So I rebooted. It started to > > boot, then stopped with the error message: > > > > Partition Check: > > hda: <4>hda: dma_timer_expiry: dma status ==0x21 > > hda: timeout waiting for DMA > > hda: timeout waiting for DMA > > hda: (__ide_dma_test_irq) called while not waiting > > > > the hard drive activity light was permanently on. > > > > This error message means nothing to me. > > > > I have tried installing two different Linux distros, but neither would > > install. I then found my old Windows98 CD and tried installing that - it > > wouldn't. > > > > I ran the complete Maxtor diagnostic program, but the results were that > > everything was OK. > > > > I have formatted the hard drive, and tried various things with FDISK. The > > drive still can't be used. > > > > Can the hard drive be sorted, or is it only fit to be thrown away? > >
> > Have you tried the HD in another machine? Have you tried with a > different IDE cable? Have you tried with the drive installed upside > down? (not a joke) > > stephen kuhn - owner Hello Stephen. I am afraid that I haven't access to another machine in which to try it. The other drives work in their caddies, so I can't suspect the IDE cable could be faulty just for this one drive - could it? However, you have given me an idea! In case it is a caddy fault, I will try the "faulty" drive in one of the other caddies which I know to be OK. I will also try the drive upside down. If I can get it working again, it will save me about �50 for a new drive. Many thanks for your help Keith
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