It is not at all unusual that your Windows system run scandisk after an improper shutdown--or a failed shutdown. That's a good thing, not a bad thing. Sometimes, this also means that you get booted into safe mode. Again, it's not a bad thing. And, it doesn't mean you have a hardware problem. It just means you're running an inferior OS. On Sun, 24 Jun 2001, Kenny Hitt wrote: > Hi, currently it boots every time, and fdisk has no problem with the FAT > partition. Of course it sees the sizes of my Linux partition, but it doesn't > know there type. > Guess I'll have to wait until it fails again. I have a DOS and ASAP floppy > sitting here for the next time. The drive doesn't make any unusual noises, > that's why I thought it might be a problem with the mother board. I'm hoping > it is just the drive, but I thought I'd try to find out for sure. > my hardware experience is with desktops instead of laptops. > > Thanks for your help. > Kenny > > On Sat, Jun 23, 2001 at 07:34:25PM -0500, Gregory Nowak wrote: > > Hi Kenny, > > > > Ok, that's more to work with. > > Your first problem seems to be pretty common > > (at least in my experience). > > Regarding your second and more serious problem, > > if the hard drive doesn't make any unusal noises > > I'd say it's your controller or bios. > > By unusal noises, I mean something like > > grinding sounds, or the spindel spinning up half way, > > dying, and doing a full spin up again. > > If you don't get any of thoes noises, then most likely, > > it's not the hd. > > One question that comes to mind is > > if you've tried running fdisk from DOS? > > Yes, I know you can't access your c: drive, but > > I wanna see what fdisk has to say just the same. > > > > If you're feeling couragious, > > and if you have someone sighted that > > can help you setup your bios again after it's been cleared, > > then let me know, and I'll give you a debug/gdb script to run. > > This script is better then loading setup defaults from cmos. > > It's the equivalent of opening up your machine, > > and yousing the cmos clearing jumper. > > I once had a problem simular to yours on an > > old 586 gateway machine. > > Since I didn't remember where the jumper on that board was > > for clearing the cmos, the script did the trick > > by clearing the cmos, and thus fixing my problem. > > Let me know if you want that script, and I'll dig it up. > > Greg > > > > > > On Sat, Jun 23, 2001 at 05:47:04PM -0500, Kenny Hitt wrote: > > > Ok, here goes. > > > First, up until June 12, the laptop was a Windows only system. I always ran > > > software speech, so I didn't have any feedback until the system reached the > > > desktop. > > > The computer has two problems which might or might not be related. Both > > > problems are intermitent. They occurr about every month to two months. > > > One problem, is sometimes the system will crash during a Windows shutdown. > > > The system will start shutting down, but hang just before it powers off. > > > When this happens, and I go ahead and press the off button, Windows will > > > run scandisk the next time I boot. The system usually boots with > > > no problem. That problem seems to occure after I've installed or uninstalled > > > software in Windows, so I've always thought it is a Windows problem. > > > > > > Second problem: > > > When you power on the system, you hear the drive power up, BIOS prompts me > > > for my password, and you hear the drive start to access. However, the access > > > stops responding imediately, and won't boot. When this happened in late > > > April, I just left it until a friend came by to read the screen. The message > > > on the screen said that Windows was booting in safe mode. It hung just after > > > it printed that message. If I power it off, and back on four or five times, > > > it will finally boot and the problem won't happen again for a month or two. > > > When it happened yesterday, I had a DOS floppy, so I booted up with it. > > > Unfortunately, I've been brain dead lately, so I didn't have a floppy with > > > ASAP. For the last two weeks, when I needed to boot to DOS, I've just run ASAP > > > from the Windows partition on drive C:. When it failed this time, I booted with the DOS floppy, and tried to switch to drive C:. The system just beeped at > > > me after I type the c: command. Once again, powering it off and back on > > > finally got it to boot. I now have a ASAP floppy for the next time! > > > > > > Kenny > > > > > > On Fri, Jun 22, 2001 at 04:35:01PM -0500, Gregory Nowak wrote: > > > > Backup and wait a minute. > > > > What kind of a problem are > > > > you specifically referring to. > > > > Tell us exactly what happens and > > > > in what sircumstances if any particular ones. > > > > Greg > > > > > > > > > > > > On Fri, Jun 22, 2001 at 04:24:48PM -0500, Kenny Hitt wrote: > > > > > Hi, my laptop is having intermitent hardware failure. When I used windows, > > > > > I thought it could be a bad driver. Now that I have Linux installed, I know > > > > > for sure it is hardware. Specifically, my hard drive. My question is: > > > > > since I always hear the drive power up, is it more likely to be the controler, > > > > > or could it just be the hard drive. > > > > > > > > > > When it happened this morning, I didn't have a DOS floppy with ASAP to varify > > > > > what message it displayed. I've got one now for the next time it happens. > > > > > > > > > > One other thing, after trying to boot 4 or 5 times, it came up with no > > > > > problem. This behavior is consistant any time it happens. > > > > > > > > > > Kenny > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > > > Speakup mailing list > > > > > Speakup at braille.uwo.ca > > > > > http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > > Speakup mailing list > > > > Speakup at braille.uwo.ca > > > > http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > Speakup mailing list > > > Speakup at braille.uwo.ca > > > http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Speakup mailing list > > Speakup at braille.uwo.ca > > http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup > > > _______________________________________________ > Speakup mailing list > Speakup at braille.uwo.ca > http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup > -- Janina Sajka, Director Technology Research and Development Governmental Relations Group American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) Email: janina at afb.net Phone: (202) 408-8175 Chair, Accessibility SIG Open Electronic Book Forum (OEBF) http://www.openebook.org Will electronic books surpass print books? Read our white paper, Surpassing Gutenberg, at http://www.afb.org/ebook.html Download a free sample Digital Talking Book edition of Martin Luther King Jr's inspiring "I Have A Dream" speech at http://www.afb.org/mlkweb.asp Learn how to make accessible software at http://www.afb.org/technology/accessapp.html
