Tuesday, 13 October 2015

BASIC HDD Checks

If the HDD configuration information is correct and you suspect a hard disk drive problem, the first task is to determine how extensive the HDD problem is place a clean boot disk in the A: Drive and try to boot the system. Then, execute a DOS DIR command to access the C:Drive if the system can see the contents of the drive, the boot files have been lost or corrupted, but the architecture of the disk is intact.

Modify the DOS DIR command with an /AH or /AS switch to look in the root directory for the system files and the COMMAND.COM file. It is common to receive a Disk Boot Failure message onscreen, if this type of situation occurs. The No (or Missing) ROM BASIC interpreter message may also be produced by this condition

If the clean boot disk has a copy of the FDISK program on it, attempt to restore the drives master boot record by typing the following:

A>FDISK /MBR

Providing that the hard disk can be accessed with DIR command, type and enter the following command at the DOS prompt

SYS C:

This command copies the IO.SYS, MSDOS.SYS, and COMMAND.COM system files from the DOS disk to the hard disk drive. Turn off the system, remove the DOS disk from the A: drive,and try to reboot the system from the hard drive.

If the system boots up properly, check to see that the operating system commands are functioning properly. Also, check to see that all installed software programs function properly. Recheck the installation instructions  of any program that does not function properly. Reinstall the software program if necessary.

Actually, three conditions produce a Bad or Missing COMMAND.COM error message. These conditions include the following:

* The first condition occurs when the COMMAND.COM file cannot be found on the hard drive, and no bootable disk is present in the A:drive

* The COMMAND.COM file is not located int he hard drives root directory. This message is likely when installing a brand new hard drive or a new DOS version.

* The message also occurs if the user inadvertently erases the COMMAND.COM file from the root directory of the hard drive.

If the system cannot see the drive after booting to the floppy disk drive, an Invalid Drive message or an Invalid Drive Specification message should be returned in response to any attempt to access the drive. Under these conditions, you must examine the complete HDD system. Use the FDISK utility to partition the drive. Next, use the FORMAT/S command to make the disk bootable. Any data that was on the drive will be lost in the formatting process, But it was already gone because the system could not see the drive.

Attempt to run a diagnostic software program, if possible, Try to use a diagnostic programs HDD Tests, and perform the equivalent of the All Tests function.

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