> Date: Mon, 22 Mar 1999 16:28:33 +0800
> From: Neo Sze Wee <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Subject: What wrong with my 486 DX hard drive?
> Every time when I switch on the power, I will have to wait for a minute or
> two as DOS boot, then it will tell me there is a HDD failure or something to
> that effect and I have to press F1. When I pressed F1, MS DOS would continue
> the boot and everything is ok. THis has been happening every time I switch
> on the power and for quite sometimes. Thank you.
All PC's over about 2 or 3 years may have CMOS batteries that are
getting weak. This is happening to some of the first Pentiums and all
486 machines fall into this category. The CMOS battery maintains a
small charge, when the PC is powered off, to retain the CMOS settings
which define what kind of HardDrive you have amoung other things.
Without that charge the CMOS settings revert to factory defaults which
may or may not be compatible with the hardware installed in the PC.
What to watch for:
1. If your onboard clock is loosing time.
2. "Failure to read Drive C:"
3. Boot ups that need to have F1 to continue, just like above.
If the PC reports the date to be something in 1980, this is confirmed,
because the onboard clock has reverted to default.
What to do:
1. Install a replacement CMOS battery.
2. Go into CMOS setup and restore the settings you need to operate
normally. Set your system time, make sure the proper floppy and
harddrives are installed, etc.
You can do this yourself or have a technician do it for you.
It is also possible that your harddrive or harddrive controller are
going bad, but the CMOS battery is most likely, since everything is ok
after F1, and the battery is the cheapest fix; so try it first.
End
Peace
Dale Hoogeveen Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Home site: http://www.net-info.com/~dutch
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