[submix8c]

(...sigh...)

ATTACH THE BACKUP and MAYBE (if you LET US HELP YOU) someone will be kind enough to VERIFY the contents.

There are TWO "basic" parts to the First 512-byte sector (MBR) - the Boot Code + the Partition Table

Do yourself a favor - search "starman pcministry mbr" (without quotes) on the Internet and do a little light reading. What you'll find is both some good info on various "versions" of MBR's (depending on which OS "initialized" it) and links on the Partition Table layouts.

"Starman" is a well-respected and (nearly) definitive person/resource for what you insist is the "apparent" cause of your problem.

edit - "...the partitioning tool..." - WHAT partitioning tool? Trust me, those that have been around a while ("not our first rodeo") will immediately recognize it and know how it functions.

This post has been edited by submix8c: 27 March 2012 - 08:08 AM

[Tripredacus]

You only have to worry about a non-standard MBR if your PC is configured with dual boot. If your other partition is just a data partition, you shouldn't worry. The only exception is if there is a recovery/service partition which would technically make the system be a dual-boot anyways.

Swapping drive cables is a simple enough fix to try. I've seen that happen as well, and especially for SATA cables that do not have clips or the soft orange ones.

[tony177]

submix8c, on 27 March 2012 - 08:05 AM, said:

(...sigh...)

ATTACH THE BACKUP and MAYBE (if you LET US HELP YOU) someone will be kind enough to VERIFY the contents.

There are TWO "basic" parts to the First 512-byte sector (MBR) - the Boot Code + the Partition Table

Do yourself a favor - search "starman pcministry mbr" (without quotes) on the Internet and do a little light reading. What you'll find is both some good info on various "versions" of MBR's (depending on which OS "initialized" it) and links on the Partition Table layouts.

"Starman" is a well-respected and (nearly) definitive person/resource for what you insist is the "apparent" cause of your problem.

edit - "...the partitioning tool..." - WHAT partitioning tool? Trust me, those that have been around a while ("not our first rodeo") will immediately recognize it and know how it functions.

That site looks useful so will have a peruse. I infer rather than insist as to what seems to me to be the apparent cause of the problem and explained why. The computer came partitioned so I don't know what tool was used. I've used different patitioning tools on various computers over the years but none on this computer (although I have a couple installed). Also, I shall keep in mind your generous offer (for who can fail to notice upper case shouting) on behalf of that kindly someone who might verify the contents of a backup when I get round to making it.

[tony177]

Tripredacus, on 27 March 2012 - 08:06 AM, said:

You only have to worry about a non-standard MBR if your PC is configured with dual boot. If your other partition is just a data partition, you shouldn't worry. The only exception is if there is a recovery/service partition which would technically make the system be a dual-boot anyways.

Swapping drive cables is a simple enough fix to try. I've seen that happen as well, and especially for SATA cables that do not have clips or the soft orange ones.

The system is not dual boot and the se

[tony177]

Tripredacus, on 27 March 2012 - 08:06 AM, said:

You only have to worry about a non-standard MBR if your PC is configured with dual boot. If your other partition is just a data partition, you shouldn't worry. The only exception is if there is a recovery/service partition which would technically make the system be a dual-boot anyways.

Swapping drive cables is a simple enough fix to try. I've seen that happen as well, and especially for SATA cables that do not have clips or the soft orange ones.

Reply, take 2 - my brain appears to have got out of synch with my fingers first time round....

The computer is not dual boot (seems more like duel boot now) and the second partition is just a logical drive. As I said in a previous post it is my (somewhat tenuous) understanding that MBR can be seen by fixmbr as non-standard if it has been altered by some intrusive software although I've seen in other boards a wide range of responses to that warning message from ignore and proceed without fear to cease and desist immediately - my heart leans towards the former but my head the latter. I've had my finger poised over the go button a few times after seeing that message but discretion always prevailed.

Is your suggestion re swapping cables to the second internal disk (that I put in just after I got the computer about 4 years ago and has been problem-free) to check that the problem is not due to a defect in the physical connection? I haven't had the computer open or moved for many months so I revert to my familiar refrain about my belief that the problem is not due to defective hw although if all other avenues turn out to be dead ends then I will start exploring hw aspects.

[bphlpt]

@tony177, I'm not sure what exactly you are looking for. Best I can tell, you are hoping that someone will say:

"Yes, I had that exact same problem. This ... is what happened to cause it. This ... is why the problem manifested itself in that way. And this ... is what you have to do to fix it. It is guaranteed to work, and here ... are all my references that you can check out proving that I am a recognized expert in this area."

Other than holding out for the remote, though I suppose possible, likelihood of that happening, you don't seem to appreciate anyone's suggestion of what you might try in the meantime. You either explain, sometimes kindly and sometimes not, why their idea won't work, or if you agree their idea has the remotest possibility of working you merely "add your suggestion to the list of various solutions I might try". You don't seem willing to actually try anything. You don't want to make the problem worse, understandable, even though you admit you have backup images of the disks, so it should not be a huge inconvenience to restore things as they are. You say that "it would be ground hog day all over again", but that's not totally true - you could positively check off one idea that didn't work.

You don't even want to take suggestions as benign as swapping cables to the disc drive. Sure it might not, even probably won't help, but what is the harm in trying? ANYTHING (Sorry for shouting) that moves the least little bit such as disk drives, not to mention expansion and contraction due to temperature changes, metal fatigue from being compressed into a given position for four years, corrosion from the least bit of moisture, problems due to faulty manufacturing issues (it happens to the very best of companies), dust if you haven't cleaned out your PC's case in four years, etc has the possibility, no matter how remote, of causing an intermittent connection in any of your cables that will only show up after some period of time.

So I guess if you're not willing to try any of our suggestions then we'll just have to patiently watch and wait, as you will as well, for the expert to stumble upon this thread. Please let us know when you discover what the problem and solution turn out to be so that we can better help the next person who comes along with this problem.

Cheers and Regards

[tony177]

bphlpt, on 27 March 2012 - 10:10 AM, said:

@tony177, I'm not sure what exactly you are looking for. Best I can tell, you are hoping that someone will say:

"Yes, I had that exact same problem. This ... is what happened to cause it. This ... is why the problem manifested itself in that way. And this ... is what you have to do to fix it. It is guaranteed to work, and here ... are all my references that you can check out proving that I am a recognized expert in this area."

Other than holding out for the remote, though I suppose possible, likelihood of that happening, you don't seem to appreciate anyone's suggestion of what you might try in the meantime. You either explain, sometimes kindly and sometimes not, why their idea won't work, or if you agree their idea has the remotest possibility of working you merely "add your suggestion to the list of various solutions I might try". You don't seem willing to actually try anything. You don't want to make the problem worse, understandable, even though you admit you have backup images of the disks, so it should not be a huge inconvenience to restore things as they are. You say that "it would be ground hog day all over again", but that's not totally true - you could positively check off one idea that didn't work.

You don't even want to take suggestions as benign as swapping cables to the disc drive. Sure it might not, even probably won't help, but what is the harm in trying? ANYTHING (Sorry for shouting) that moves the least little bit such as disk drives, not to mention expansion and contraction due to temperature changes, metal fatigue from being compressed into a given position for four years, corrosion from the least bit of moisture, problems due to faulty manufacturing issues (it happens to the very best of companies), dust if you haven't cleaned out your PC's case in four years, etc has the possibility, no matter how remote, of causing an intermittent connection in any of your cables that will only show up after some period of time.

So I guess if you're not willing to try any of our suggestions then we'll just have to patiently watch and wait, as you will as well, for the expert to stumble upon this thread. Please let us know when you discover what the problem and solution turn out to be so that we can better help the next person who comes along with this problem.

Cheers and Regards

This is a most interesting board - some of the posts here make me think this is sort of like I imagine it might be if I visited another planet where the indigenes had the same language but used it in a different way.

Your first sentence is quite correct - you do not know what I am looking for and your second sentence confirms that the best you can tell is wrong. While the fanciful idealized outcome you concoct would be most agreeable should it come to pass it is an outcome beyond my expectation horizon. I don't recall asserting that any of the suggested actions 'won't work' nor do I fail to appreciate them and the spirit in which they are offered. But as I have stated a few times and explained in a little detail once I don't think it is essentially a defective hw problem although of course I realize I could be wrong. So in that context I am presently focusing on non-hw solutions while giving the hw solutions a lower priority but neither disregarding nor dismissing them. I do indeed take a weekly image backup (C-Drive only) although I've never had to use one in anger yet so that would be new territory which I am willing but not especially eager to navigate. I am not sure I follow your remark about my ground hog day comment as restoring a troubled system puts you back where you started since neither hw nor sw would have changed.

Apart from my lack of confidence in the effectiveness of things like swapping cables (and various other internal machinations) I am not motivated to do it at present before exploring sw related solutions since I have a medical problem with a (life-long) bad back and the logistics of getting at the computer to open it up frequently results in severe pain followed by a trip to the osteopath (once I am able to stand upright again) for treatment. Your comments about the various things that can deteriorate over time inside the computer are wholly valid but I still fall back on (or maybe am becoming fixated by) the unlikelihood of this being the problem bearing in mind the tight coupling of a normal boot failure faithfully followed by a CD boot success. Of course if that sequence breaks then it will be rethink time for me.

The guess in your second last sentence is as wrong as the best you could tell in your second. I have already followed some of the suggestions offered here and am likely to so with other suggestions but just not necessarily in the order that you deem appropriate. If I manage to crack it without availing myself of the sort of pseudo-offer of asssistance made by a previous poster on behalf of some unidentified techno-samaritan then I will certainly come back and update the board, unless it turns out to be a hw problem in which case I would be too embarrassed to submit myself to being an object of gloat-fodder. I mean you have to draw the line somewhere.

cheers and regards

[submix8c]

(...sigh again...)

This isn't a debate board (as you apparently seem to think it is). It's a "help each other" forum.

If you insist that "that may not work because so-and-so website said so" (better with bold/italicized? not shouting but insistent?) then you have come to the wrong place. Try what's suggested with proven - free software and/or potential - hardware fixes or don't bother bandying with us.

Point of note - if you check all posts others here have (try "search the board") you'll note that these folks are not "askers of assistance" but rather "helpers". You want helped, then you've got try something then report back, not "argue/debate". BTW, "fixmbr" is not a be-all-end-all-definitive "fixer". Again, the MBR could have been "created/altered" by any number of softwares. You seem to be reluctant to name any of them.

[dencorso]

+1. In other words: we here work by the Scientific Method. We construct hypotheses (not necessarily always explicitly described) and propose experiments in order to validate or disprove them. Then the OP performs the tests suggested and reports back. Then, more refined hypotheses are thought up (not necessarily by the same person) and so on, until we get to understand what actually is happening, and then we move on to solution. Without experiments we simply cannot help.

[Geej]

tony177, on 27 March 2012 - 11:34 AM, said:

Apart from my lack of confidence in the effectiveness of things like swapping cables (and various other internal machinations) I am not motivated to do it at present before exploring sw related solutions since I have a medical problem with a (life-long) bad back and the logistics of getting at the computer to open it up frequently results in severe pain followed by a trip to the osteopath (once I am able to stand upright again) for treatment. Your comments about the various things that can deteriorate over time inside the computer are wholly valid but I still fall back on (or maybe am becoming fixated by) the unlikelihood of this being the problem bearing in mind the tight coupling of a normal boot failure faithfully followed by a CD boot success. Of course if that sequence breaks then it will be rethink time for me.

I think the best option in your case probably is sending your computer to repair shop for checking, including hardware checking due to your medical condition.

My previous motherboard is having booting problem intermitenly. Turn out some capacitor corrodes and leaked. Hard to see the corrosion even opening up the cover. In the end, I sent it to repair shop to check and replaced a new motherboard. That motherboard last me about 4 years before it start giving me problem.

[tony177]

Geej, on 28 March 2012 - 07:29 PM, said:

tony177, on 27 March 2012 - 11:34 AM, said:

Apart from my lack of confidence in the effectiveness of things like swapping cables (and various other internal machinations) I am not motivated to do it at present before exploring sw related solutions since I have a medical problem with a (life-long) bad back and the logistics of getting at the computer to open it up frequently results in severe pain followed by a trip to the osteopath (once I am able to stand upright again) for treatment. Your comments about the various things that can deteriorate over time inside the computer are wholly valid but I still fall back on (or maybe am becoming fixated by) the unlikelihood of this being the problem bearing in mind the tight coupling of a normal boot failure faithfully followed by a CD boot success. Of course if that sequence breaks then it will be rethink time for me.

I think the best option in your case probably is sending your computer to repair shop for checking, including hardware checking due to your medical condition.

My previous motherboard is having booting problem intermitenly. Turn out some capacitor corrodes and leaked. Hard to see the corrosion even opening up the cover. In the end, I sent it to repair shop to check and replaced a new motherboard. That motherboard last me about 4 years before it start giving me problem.

Here is an update for which any comments from this haven of helpers would be welcome. For last two days system booted normally but then today back to boot failure. It seems to me something within my system is changing during normal operation or shutdown so in the spirit of the scientific method I took the following action immediately upon boot failure to explore the nature of the problem:

1) booted with spinrite which could see both disks and the two partitions in primary disk
2) booted with ntfs4dos which could run chksk and displayed a list of disks and partitions but didn't recognize the disks when I tried to navigate to them ('invalid drive specification)
3) booted again with normal windows start up but boot failed
4) booted with Windows CD into repair mode and navigated to all disks but did nothing else
5) booted again with normal windows start up and boot successful

That has been the scenario from the start - intermittent boot failure followed by booting with Windows CD enables subsequent successful normal boot. So, do any of you rodeo regulars interpret that general history supplemented with the specific sequence of actions and outcomes above as being indicative of or consistent with a hw problem? If so what hw problem specifically and if not, any idea what kind of other specific problem might be indicated.

[jaclaz]

tony177, on 30 March 2012 - 06:26 AM, said:

That has been the scenario from the start - intermittent boot failure followed by booting with Windows CD enables subsequent successful normal boot. So, do any of you rodeo regulars interpret that general history supplemented with the specific sequence of actions and outcomes above as being indicative of or consistent with a hw problem? If so what hw problem specifically and if not, any idea what kind of other specific problem might be indicated.

Is the Windows CD "loud" when loading? (i.e. a lot of noise and vibration from the CD drive when it seeks files)?
If yes, it may be still:

jaclaz, on 26 March 2012 - 12:06 PM, said:

tony177, on 26 March 2012 - 11:12 AM, said:

Anyone have any ideas as to what would intermittently cause the computer to behave like this and why the problem would be fixed after booting from the Windows CD in repair mode (does that replace some file(s) on the hard drive?).

I have seen defective hard disk cables/connectors behave like that.

but if you wish, I would throw in - without additional costs - also a cold solder joint anywhere on the motherboard or HD PCB.

dencorso, on 28 March 2012 - 09:13 AM, said:

+1. In other words: we here work by the Scientific Method. We construct hypotheses (not necessarily always explicitly described) and propose experiments in order to validate or disprove them. Then the OP performs the tests suggested and reports back. Then, more refined hypotheses are thought up (not necessarily by the same person) and so on, until we get to understand what actually is happening, and then we move on to solution. Without experiments we simply cannot help.

Naaah.
That's the "normal" approach.
You well know how In some cases - when the post date+time sums up to an even number bigger than 6 - I draw randomly a new thread and in it, instead of posting the usual good advice, I simply throw on the table a few (sometimes wild, sometimes educated) semi-random guesses , and then let the OP choose among them which ones he/she feels better with or is more convenient to him/her.
Other times I simply post real tall stories and see if the newcomer "buys" them .

Once upon a time there was a PC that could not boot from it's internal hard disk.
This happened some times, and some other times the PC booted normally.
The queer thing was that just by inserting in the CD-ROM drive an XP install disc and bootng from it (but not doing any repair - or more generally operation from it) the next time the PC would boot normally.
When the PC doesnt boot it shows however a message "disk read error occurred", but right after a boot CD was just loaded it started booting normally again.
After some time of tests (new tests, not always the same ones) it was found how the vibrations induced to the case by booting from a CD made a false contact somewhere in the hardware "behave" (temporarily).
The actual cause was never found, nor the problem solved, as the PC's owner found it not convenient (due to a bad back medical condition) to actually doing the only logical thing, i.e. to open the case (and while at it cleaning it's internals), and try re-seating cables/cards/RAM etc. and visually inspect the parts before re-assembling...
both the PC and it's owner nonetheless lived happily ever after, with the only issue that the bad back problem became worse and worse each time the user had to bend to insert a boot CD to revive the stoopid PC....

jaclaz

[tony177]

jaclaz, on 30 March 2012 - 07:18 AM, said:

Once upon a time there was a PC that could not boot from it's internal hard disk.
This happened some times, and some other times the PC booted normally.
The queer thing was that just by inserting in the CD-ROM drive an XP install disc and bootng from it (but not doing any repair - or more generally operation from it) the next time the PC would boot normally.
When the PC doesnt boot it shows however a message "disk read error occurred", but right after a boot CD was just loaded it started booting normally again.
After some time of tests (new tests, not always the same ones) it was found how the vibrations induced to the case by booting from a CD made a false contact somewhere in the hardware "behave" (temporarily).
The actual cause was never found, nor the problem solved, as the PC's owner found it not convenient (due to a bad back medical condition) to actually doing the only logical thing, i.e. to open the case (and while at it cleaning it's internals), and try re-seating cables/cards/RAM etc. and visually inspect the parts before re-assembling...
both the PC and it's owner nonetheless lived happily ever after, with the only issue that the bad back problem became worse and worse each time the user had to bend to insert a boot CD to revive the stoopid PC....

jaclaz

There is no strange noise or vibration at all when booting from the Windows CD. Next time the problem occurs and still paying homage to the scientific method, I will immediately boot from a linux cd followed by a normal boot to see if that works. I acknowledge the CD drive may be unleashing some exquisitely tuned unnoticeable vibration that without fail (so far) fixes the furtive hardware fault even though, as I pointed out, prior to booting with the Windows CD the disks were seen by spinrite booting from floppy and by NTFS4DOS from floppy (running chkdsk but not recognizing the disks when I tried to navigate to them - what can this mean?). If a Linux boot actually works I will then try 'booting' with some non-operating system cd to determine if any cd drive activity mends this elusive hardware fault. If that works as well, I shall return here to congratulate and thank you.

But until such time and without insisting I still find the cause of this consistent pattern of behavior hard to credit to defective hardware. However in light of the 'once upon a time' fable, I mean story, even if my scientific method honoring alternative CD tests fail to induce boot I may try giving the pc a personal manly shaking when booting normally and see if that works. But then as the pc wasn't perceptibly shaken during the 2 floppy boots when the disks could be detected prior to cd boot, I'm not sure those vibrations would be good enough to coax boot success.

[submix8c]

Has it EVER (YELLING) occurred to you back up the MBR sector and ATTACH IT? (Sooooo easy to do...) Inspection of it would/may "eliminate" that from the equation.

You had ALSO (yelling again) mentioned a partitioning tool but haven't indicated what it is.

SpinRite - Gibson Research (GRC) - we KNOW of that site and the controversial "ShieldsUp" test (of which I too occasionally use). Have you, by chance, tried alternatives (like the Manufacturer's) or any number of other FREE HDD test softwares (again - SEARCH button is the little "Gear" in the upper right corner of this very screen)?

Seriously, I find it quite impossible that a "random boot error" would occur against the HDD then booting from CD then booting to HDD ("it works!") error-free to be normal by any means. Again, SERIOUSLY (YELLING again) this condition+"fix" is unheard of (read as "impossible") unless something else is wrong.

P.S. "Backing" the MBR in no way alters it AS IT WOULD CURRENTLY EXIST!

1 - (going) Bad Disk
2 - Geometry incorrectly detected(?)
3 - Bad MBR (some kind of RootKit?)
4 - BIOS "randomly" changing Geometry parameters
5 - You have a "super-hidden" partition (could also check that with MBR sector upload)

Process of elimination would really help... Only a Parent says to a child "Because"... We are not children.

[tony177]

submix8c, on 30 March 2012 - 09:12 AM, said:

Has it EVER (YELLING) occurred to you back up the MBR sector and ATTACH IT? (Sooooo easy to do...) Inspection of it would/may "eliminate" that from the equation.

You had ALSO (yelling again) mentioned a partitioning tool but haven't indicated what it is.

SpinRite - Gibson Research (GRC) - we KNOW of that site and the controversial "ShieldsUp" test (of which I too occasionally use). Have you, by chance, tried alternatives (like the Manufacturer's) or any number of other FREE HDD test softwares (again - SEARCH button is the little "Gear" in the upper right corner of this very screen)?

Seriously, I find it quite impossible that a "random boot error" would occur against the HDD then booting from CD then booting to HDD ("it works!") error-free to be normal by any means. Again, SERIOUSLY (YELLING again) this condition+"fix" is unheard of (read as "impossible") unless something else is wrong.

P.S. "Backing" the MBR in no way alters it AS IT WOULD CURRENTLY EXIST!

1 - (going) Bad Disk
2 - Geometry incorrectly detected(?)
3 - Bad MBR (some kind of RootKit?)
4 - BIOS "randomly" changing Geometry parameters
5 - You have a "super-hidden" partition (could also check that with MBR sector upload)

Process of elimination would really help... Only a Parent says to a child "Because"... We are not children.

- Ok, attached is mbr backup I took a couple of days ago.

-I stated a few days ago that the pc came partitioned and hence I don't know what partitioning tool was used

-GRC shields up has nothing to do with spinrite. I have run spinrite (L2 twice and L4 once), chkdsk, the manufacturers' tool (albeit in 'fast' check mode) and a number of disk utilities all of which have given the disk a clean bill of health

- I agree the problem's manifestation and resolution is not normal which uncoincidentally is the very reason I came to a specialist board. Notwithstanding the group-think verdict it must be a hw fault, I am of the opinion (but open to offers) that the root problem is sw in nature with a hw symptom but a sw solution. My guess is some manner of sw corruption sporadically taking place for some unknown reason that somehow gets addressed by booting from Windows CD (pretty straightforward....)

- I am confident the disk is healthy and not going bad

- no idea about its geometry (although I have the paragon alignment tool but never used it)

- I'll run a rootkit scan but would astounded (not to mention crushingly shocked and disappointed) if I were infected

- I can't comment on BIOS but I haven't made any changes to it for years. When I boot to the Windows CD I go into bios to select the CD drive and all the drives are showing in their correct order

- after a previous mention of hidden sector I ran a partitioning tool (not necessarily the one used to partition this computer) and it just showed the usual drives with no hidden partition

Attached File(s)

•  mbrCopy.zip (520bytes)
  Number of downloads: 4

[jaclaz]

submix8c, on 30 March 2012 - 09:12 AM, said:

P.S. "Backing" the MBR in no way alters it AS IT WOULD CURRENTLY EXIST!

Not really.
Just for the record, once you try backing up a "Never run a NT OS" PC MBR through booting a NT based OS or PE, unless some "special" care is taken, the MBR will change (the Disk Signature is added to it).

@tony177
Most probably the issue with your MBR DATA is that you have an Extended partition in the LBA only space marked as 05 (CHS mapped) whilst it should really be 0F (LBA mapped), see:
http://www.win.tue.n...on_types-1.html
this is not a real problem until you run NT based systems only (from 2K onwards) but it may be an issue if using NT 4.0 and some versions of MS-DOS (or more generally DOS).

jaclaz

[submix8c]

jaclaz, on 30 March 2012 - 11:05 AM, said:

Just for the record, once you try backing up a "Never run a NT OS" PC MBR through booting a NT based OS or PE, unless some "special" care is taken, the MBR will change (the Disk Signature is added to it).

Stipulation noted...

edit - sounds like a "partitioning" tool was used...

This post has been edited by submix8c: 30 March 2012 - 02:15 PM

[bphlpt]

jaclaz, on 30 March 2012 - 11:05 AM, said:

Most probably the issue with your MBR DATA is that you have an Extended partition in the LBA only space marked as 05 (CHS mapped) whilst it should really be 0F (LBA mapped), see:
http://www.win.tue.n...on_types-1.html
this is not a real problem until you run NT based systems only (from 2K onwards) but it may be an issue if using NT 4.0 and some versions of MS-DOS (or more generally DOS).

@jaclaz, I'm out of my element here, but because of what you mentioned, could that be somehow temporarily "fixed" by BIOS changes to the boot order? I say this because tony177 implies he makes a BIOS change in order to boot to the Windows CD:

tony177, on 30 March 2012 - 10:09 AM, said:

... When I boot to the Windows CD I go into bios to select the CD drive and all the drives are showing in their correct order ...

and then I assume he makes a BIOS change again to boot back to the HDD. I also assume that no BIOS change was needed to boot to the two floppies he mentioned which could be why trying them didn't "do" anything. But again I'm WAY out of my element here and just grasping at straws. Anyway, would you please point tony177 to a method he could use to correct the issue you noticed to see if that fixes hie problem? Of course, as I'm sure he will say, this doesn't really explain why his system will boot "normally" for several days between hiccups, does it?

Cheers and Regards

[tony177]

bphlpt, on 30 March 2012 - 02:48 PM, said:

@jaclaz, I'm out of my element here, but because of what you mentioned, could that be somehow temporarily "fixed" by BIOS changes to the boot order? I say this because tony177 implies he makes a BIOS change in order to boot to the Windows CD:

tony177, on 30 March 2012 - 10:09 AM, said:

... When I boot to the Windows CD I go into bios to select the CD drive and all the drives are showing in their correct order ...

and then I assume he makes a BIOS change again to boot back to the HDD. I also assume that no BIOS change was needed to boot to the two floppies he mentioned which could be why trying them didn't "do" anything. But again I'm WAY out of my element here and just grasping at straws. Anyway, would you please point tony177 to a method he could use to correct the issue you noticed to see if that fixes hie problem? Of course, as I'm sure he will say, this doesn't really explain why his system will boot "normally" for several days between hiccups, does it?

Just to clarify, I don't make any changes to BIOS at any stage. When booting to the CD drive, I just open BIOS to select the CD Drive from the list and hit enter - no change to it. Both floppy boots accessed the disk to run diags on it (spinrite on one, chkdsk on the other) but the disks are not recognized if I try to navigate to them. Also, my system booted normally (at least once!) each day for about 4 years until this problem appeared a short while ago.

[dencorso]

tony177, on 30 March 2012 - 10:09 AM, said:

Notwithstanding the group-think verdict it must be a hw fault, I am of the opinion (but open to offers) that the root problem is sw in nature with a hw symptom but a sw solution. My guess is some manner of sw corruption sporadically taking place for some unknown reason that somehow gets addressed by booting from Windows CD (pretty straightforward....)

No. There's a serious misunderstanding here. There's no group-think verdict at all.
Some of us hazarded guesses about what might be happening. I didn't hazard any and continue not doing it.
For me, there's still too little info to go on. I'll reserve any guessing on my part for a later time, when I think some guess might be warranted.
That said, and since none of the others seem familiar with SpinRite, I must add SpinRite 6 rocks! It is able to do some types of repair no other tool I know of can do (in particular it can sometimes "revive" floppies no other software can save, for time enough for a good image to be acquired from them).
But SpinRite 6 is only useful for a limited number of conditions, most of them hardware issues. And, of course, it may be used simply to detect and access disks. Are you using SpinRite 6, perchance? All earlier versions of SpinRite are too out-of-date to be useful for disks using Win 95 OSR2 - Win 7 (read this and this).
BTW, in what regards disks and disk hardware, I consider Steve Gibson an authority, but for all other matters, especially security and the internet, his opinions are somewhat controversial and should be taken with the proverbial grain of salt.