Originally Posted by jephree

Your drive appears to be OK to me. I just wonder why a Format won't solve the error

Seagate lists these diagnostic errors but I do not see the one you posted exactly:

http://www.seagate.com/support/ts/at..._seatools.html

Well where does that leave me? You didn't say if it could be my installation of windows. Does it matter that the system I tested it on the other day is windows 2000 and not xp??? I just tried the drive again in my computer & windows booted up but creashed when I tried to copy anything to the drive. I hardly got anything on it at all. As for the diagnostics I didn't get any error codes at all. Just that it failed the file structure test. I also don't see why the formats didn't work. The format utility from seagate worked for a while. Could my installation of windows be messing up the filing structure of that drive? I suppose if that were true then I would be experiencing the same problem on the other drive. What do you think that I should do?

I found another page on that error:

http://www.seagate.com/support/npf/d...structure.html

I also see that others claim that the error is due to the NTFS file system on that drive but again I am confused if it is a blank formatted drive.

Seagate offers this on-line diagnostic that supports NTFS and can be run thru Windows:

SeaTools Online

http://www.seagate.com/support/seatools/index.html

Just to clarify: this drive in question is a slave drive?

Also it is suggested to run check disk on it:

To do this right click it under My Computer > Properties > Tools > Error Checking

Also from right clicking under My Computer you can try Formatting from XP.

Also check the details in Disk Management: Start/Run/ diskmgmt.msc for that drive.

Originally Posted by jephree

I found another page on that error:

http://www.seagate.com/support/npf/d...structure.html

I also see that others claim that the error is due to the NTFS file system on that drive but again I am confused if it is a blank formatted drive.

Seagate offers this on-line diagnostic that supports NTFS and can be run thru Windows:

SeaTools Online

http://www.seagate.com/support/seatools/index.html

Just to clarify: this drive in question is a slave drive?

Also it is suggested to run check disk on it:

To do this right click it under My Computer > Properties > Tools > Error Checking

Also from right clicking under My Computer you can try Formatting from XP.

Also check the details in Disk Management: Start/Run/ diskmgmt.msc for that drive.

Well the drive is no longer blank. If you remember I have been able to put stuff on it. However the last time was 2 days ago using another system. I was also able to do so after the last reformat using my however I wasn't able to do so for long. I CANNOT run a diagnostic under windows on my computer because the drive causes windows to crash sometimes during bootup but definatly if I try to use it at all. I can't do either of the windows test however I can use same computer that I used 2 days to test it but that won't do me anygood because I need to get it working on my computer. Besides if you recall I already ran the windows diagnostic tests on it using that computer & it didn't show any errors at all. I'll try the windows seagate test on it using the other system but I don't see what good it'll do me.

As for the settings this drive is an ATA drive, the only one I have & hence it is set as the primary master. My main drive is a SATA drive. So should I try setting it as the primary slave? Do you think that it could be my installation of windows?

I try to answer a lot of posts here and sometimes lose the details of long threads. Sorry

Thanks for refreshing the memory.

Anyway I don't recall the SATA drive previously but that might be an issue.

Can we refresh the status of the computer?

If the SATA drive AND the ATA drive are installed: can you boot into XP on the SATA?

If yes: then your problem is as soon as you try to open the ATA drive XP crashes? Is this correct? Or is the following still the situation? No boot?

Ok so I reinstalled Windows XP Pro SP2 about a week ago & after a few days the computer started crashing. I immediatly knew that it was my secondary drive becuase this would happen, at first, when I tried to access that drive. Pretty soon thereafter Windows would even be able to totally boot before it would crash.

I would check your BIOS Setup settings. Check the Boot Menu with both drives installed. Where it says Hard Drives expand the list and see if both drives are listed. If so make sure that the SATA drive is the drive chosen to boot.


If your version of XP on the SATA works fine without the ATA drive installed then I would suspect the BIOS. I have had this issue when mixing SATA and ATA drives (especially if both drives either had or have Operating Systems installed).

Originally Posted by jephree

I try to answer a lot of posts here and sometimes lose the details of long threads. Sorry

Thanks for refreshing the memory.

Anyway I don't recall the SATA drive previously but that might be an issue.

Can we refresh the status of the computer?

If the SATA drive AND the ATA drive are installed: can you boot into XP on the SATA?

If yes: then your problem is as soon as you try to open the ATA drive XP crashes? Is this correct? Or is the following still the situation? No boot?



I would check your BIOS Setup settings. Check the Boot Menu with both drives installed. Where it says Hard Drives expand the list and see if both drives are listed. If so make sure that the SATA drive is the drive chosen to boot.


If your version of XP on the SATA works fine without the ATA drive installed then I would suspect the BIOS. I have had this issue when mixing SATA and ATA drives (especially if both drives either had or have Operating Systems installed).

I understand about you being busy with posts & I appreciate it. My BIOS settings are correct. The SATA drive is the one from which it is set to read first, after the CD-ROM. The secondary drive isn't a system drive at all. Weither or not windows boots up with the drive installed in unpredictable...sometimes it does & soemtimes it crashes during boot up. You are correct in that if it does succesfully boot up I can't access the drive in anyway with out windows crashing. I get the BSOD & the machine_check_exception message. Windows boots up & runs just fine without the drive plugged into the system so it doesn't depend on it for boot up & I don't have an OS on this drive at all. I'm starting to whink that I should just give up & return it to the manufacturer. I only a little more than a month to get this straightened out before I leave to go back to school. Now based on what I've said what do you think I should do? What would you do? I know that the drive is still under warrenty & if we have to keep going on & on with this then I won't have time to do the warrenty before school starts & I may not even have time now.

See what happens when you put the ATA as Primary slave. (adjust jumpers if necessary)

As to the edit: If you are referring to returning the drive under warranty I would say yes: do it!

I assume that you are not referring to the whole computer which otherwise appears to be OK?

Originally Posted by jephree

See what happens when you put the ATA as Primary slave. (adjust jumpers if necessary)

As to the edit: If you are referring to returning the drive under warranty I would say yes: do it!

I assume that you are not referring to the whole computer which otherwise appears to be OK?

Yes I'm referring to the drive. I think that the rest of the computer is fine. This drive is <1 year old & has a 5 year warrenty. So I'll do that & hope that I have enough time before school starts. Should I have told you about the warranty earlier? I was hoping that I could avoid it. First I'll change the settings to primary slave & see if that works & let you know.

Changing the drive to slave didn't work.