Is there anyway that I can reformat my disk either with Norton
> or using the HDD low level format in the BIOS? I have a feeling this hard
> drive is not dead but could have been hit with a virus? Strange
> characters show up with the boot up messages for hdb drive. I do not care
> about saving files at this point. I just want to be able to use my
> computer again and do a fresh install of LM8 again. Any advice will be
> greatly appreciated. Thank you. Sincerely, Marcia
>
I suspect that Civileme and the others are correct and this drive is
toasted, but a couple of thoughts come to me to check possibly. Regarding a
possible virus, it's possible if it was dual booting windoze, but unlikely
if running only MD 8.0. I find that to cause failure to the point your
describing even in windoze it would be unlikely. I have however saw the
bios spit out some weird machine language before when running systems that
are overclocked too far. Are you sure your bios is set right for the
processor your running etc. If the onboard clock has not been keeping time
correctly this is a hint towards a failing battery. If your battery died or
is weak on the motherboard your bios would lose all the settings upon
shutdown and a normal boot after would not be likely. The latter was
probably a long shot though. The low format utilities are not found in your
bios, or at least I've never seen such a thing. I would suggest
downloading the utilities offered by the hard drive manufacturer on line.
The ones I've used are quite helpful and offer the proper low level format
for your drive if necessary. They normally offer to help you make a
bootable disk to boot on your floppy drive. The low level format is
sometimes called the "write test"(specifically maxtor), but remember this
wipes your drive completely clean and requires a fdisk and normal format
afterwards. Sorry I don't know the Linux equivalents. I have had drives
testing bad after a low level format test out ok. Depending on why the
drive got messed up it might be actually damaged and even though temporarily
running right will not last for long. If this happened because of a local
power outtage though I'd say the odds are in your favor of a complete
permanent recovery. But worst case scenario...new hard drives are a better,
cheaper buy then I've ever seen before!
Tazmun
