Hello friends,

I hope I can get help from this, I tried to format my computer and reinstall, after format and copied files, the computer restart and turn back to the black screen, there are message saying "Primary master drive fail. Hardware monitor found an error, enter power setup menu for details. I read your post starting from 28-07-2004...., I did most the stuff you have taught in there, the computer still had the same problems. Message still there. I tried so many time to reinstall, it came back the same, "after format and copied files, the computer restart and turn back to the black screen". I really don't know what to do, I hope anyone can help me this.
thank you!!!

Are you running a Clean Install of XP?

When you say formatting: Are you letting XP format or are you doing something yourself?

The message you quote would be from the BIOS. Are you familiar with entering the BIOS Setup?

What post are you referring to? 28-07-2004? Can you link?

Do you know the manufacturer of your hard drive? You might want to run the diagnostic. Major brands listed here:

http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287

Also if you know the Motherboard's make & model?

This would appear to be a hardware issue.

What problems prompted you to reinstall XP?

Originally Posted by jephree

Are you running a Clean Install of XP?

When you say formatting: Are you letting XP format or are you doing something yourself?

The message you quote would be from the BIOS. Are you familiar with entering the BIOS Setup?

What post are you referring to? 28-07-2004? Can you link?

Do you know the manufacturer of your hard drive? You might want to run the diagnostic. Major brands listed here:

http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287

Also if you know the Motherboard's make & model?

This would appear to be a hardware issue.

What problems prompted you to reinstall XP?

Thank you for your reply and your info.
I let XP format it.
I kinna familiar with BIOS, eventhough not as an expert.
this is the link of 28-07-2004
http://www.d-a-l.com/help/showthread.php?t=931
I was trying to connect the cord from computer to the TV, I unpluged the cord, somehow, the power cut made the computer down, won't boot, so I reformat it. I am not new to reinstall the computer, I did it many time. It format, copied files, after copied files, it poped up message saying computer will reboot in 10 sec (as usual), it reboot, then turn back to black screen instead of go on to the further window, If my hard drive dead, why it let me installed a part of it? Do you have any idea? Thank you!

The main clue at this point is your error quote:

Primary master drive fail. Hardware monitor found an error, enter power setup menu for details.

If you enter the BIOS Setup power menu do you see any option that might be relevant?

Again if you know the hard drive manufacturer you can run a diagnostic on it.

Originally Posted by jephree

The main clue at this point is your error quote:

Primary master drive fail. Hardware monitor found an error, enter power setup menu for details.

If you enter the BIOS Setup power menu do you see any option that might be relevant?

Again if you know the hard drive manufacturer you can run a diagnostic on it.

Thank you for your respond.
Can you tell me how to run a diagnostic?

You need to know who made your hard drive. If your BIOS POST still functions at startup you should see what drives are detected. Maxtor? Western Digital (WD)? Fujitsu? etc.

Then find the diagnostic on this site:

http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287

You will download the file & create a bootable floppy disk that will test the drive.

Originally Posted by jephree

You need to know who made your hard drive. If your BIOS POST still functions at startup you should see what drives are detected. Maxtor? Western Digital (WD)? Fujitsu? etc.

Then find the diagnostic on this site:

http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287

You will download the file & create a bootable floppy disk that will test the drive.

Thank you for your respond.
My harddrive is Maxtor. I went in the site and download PowerMax v4.21, but I don't have a clue how to do with it. I copied the file to the floppy and put it to the problem computer, it just won't work. Can you please tell me step by step? Thank you so much!

PowerMax

http://www.maxtor.com/portal/site/Ma...&downloadID=22

Step-by-Step Instructions - Downloading PowerMax

NOTE: The PowerMax download is a self-extracting file.


After downloading to your Windows desktop, insert a clean formatted floppy diskette into your A:\ drive.
Double-click on the PowerMax diskette creator icon.
When the Maxtor pop-up screen displays, click on the "Create Floppy" option.

The files will extract on to the floppy diskette, creating a bootable version of the PowerMax utility. Do not download PowerMax directly to a floppy. PowerMax extracts from a Win32 environment only and will not extract from 16-bit DOS mode.

You do not want to use the PowerMax format options. You want to run these two tests:

1. Basic Quick (90 Second) Test
2. Advanced Test (Full Scan Test)

There are no data issues with these tests.

Originally Posted by jephree

PowerMax

http://www.maxtor.com/portal/site/Ma...&downloadID=22


You do not want to use the PowerMax format options. You want to run these two tests:

1. Basic Quick (90 Second) Test
2. Advanced Test (Full Scan Test)

There are no data issues with these tests.

I followed all the steps, after I put the floppy in, start the computer, it popped up the message saying can not load DOS. What did I miss?

The message suggests that it is trying to boot a partition that is
formatted as a bootable DOS one (with SYS) but one of the needed files
(IO.SYS and MSDOS.SYS - probably MSDOS.SYS) is missing, so the boot
cannot complete.

Reinsert the floppy under XP & under My Computer right click A: & choose Format...
Choose Quick Format (erase data) then try again to load PowerMax on this floppy.

Just to verify you did not download PowerMax directly to a floppy? You downloaded to your desktop & chose the "Create Floppy" option?