[Nottingham] Computer woes

[Alex Walker]

On Thursday 05 June 2003 09:55, Duncan John Fyfe wrote:
> On Thu, 5 Jun 2003, Alex Walker wrote:
> > So what I'm asking is - does anyone know of methods to get data off a
> > dead HD?
> There are companies which offer such services but from those I know who've
> looked they tend to be very expensive.

Yeah, that is what I feared

> Might something you have done (other than breathe) brought this about ?
> (Kernel upgrade , change of ide cable ...)

Nothing in software changed, the only thing that happened is I unplugged a 
different hard disk on a different IDE cable to put a housemate's in and copy 
on to the now-dead disk.  It worked to start with - I got it to boot, but 
then the errors started piling in and the system hung.

> I presume you are using an 80 wire cable.

Yep

> What have you got on hdc ?

A CD Drive, but changing what IDE cable it's on... putting it on one alone... 
setting it as master or slave... all have no effect, you get the same error 
messages, just with hda/hdb/hdc instead of hdd

> Are you overclocking ?

No

> From what little I understand this problem can come about for a few of
> reasons: Either the disk is dying - but you may be able to salvage some of
> your data before t dies. or the DMA controller is having trouble.

The DMA controller on the motherboard is fine I think, since the other 2 hard 
disks in this machine work perfectly... indeed I am booted to Linux on one of 
them right now.

> Things to try ...
> 1. Either remove all references to hdd partitions from fstab etc or boot
> from a rescue floppy/cd.  You want disk access under manual control.

Booting from CD has the same result - it dies in the initial boot-up phase 
before you can get to any command prompt or anything vaguely useful.  The 
errors come pretty soon after it detects the hard disks...  Unfortunately 
this means I can't try most of the other things you suggest, cos they require 
the system to be bootable!

> 4. Try a new cable.

Have done in effect by trying it on both cables in the machine.  

> 5. Try it in an older machine (again slower disk access)

Not a bad idea... will have to find one first.  

> 6. Pray to $DEITY

Yeah, should probably have started there... maybe woulda saved me a load of 
hassle.

Alex

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