Topic: Help with Hard Drives (Solved)

[p-jones]

Have you checked the COMPAQ web site for any BIOS updates ?

[cc_skavenger]

just because xp ran on the box, does not mean that you do not have a memory issue.  run a memory test.  you need to rule out all possibilities.  

That being said, it sounds like you are running into the 137gb ide controller issue.  this can sometimes be fixed with a bios update.  if not, you can use a newer hard drive controller that does not have this issue.

HTH

[imcintyre]

Okay a large double double to the memory check suggestors.
Lots of memory problems when I ran Memtest on boot up.

I did check for Bios updates for the HP and most seemed related to various forms of MS Operating systems.

I will procure some new memory and try that. I tried to boot with the memory in a Dell PC but it just beeps at me which should be confirmation that the memory is not okay.

Is there any way to check to see if the problems is deeper than the memory?

[pfloor]

You can try memory from another machine.  This would be my first step.  In the past, I have had memory errors and it turned out to be the controller on the MB and not th memory itself.  You don't need much, just 256M to test the box and make sure the MB is OK.

If it fails with known working good memory, then you probably have a bad MB.

One more thing.  I have had a bad video card make a memory test fail.  It was an onboard video card that shared memory.  I disabled it and installed a PCI card with its own memory and the system memory was fine.  So I alway pull EVERYTHING of the MB (including the hard drives) and start with a RAW board for my memory tests.  If it passes then I start adding things back until I produce a failure.

If you add everything back and it passes then your problem might have been a card or cable not seated correctly.

[imcintyre]

I got memory that passes the Memtest and tried to install but got error regarding disk. I did a successful install with a 13 Gb hard drive.

I tried the disk in a external drive case with one of my Windows machines and it appears as though my brand new disk (the only thing about this operation that is new) is somehow dead. I know this because I bought two of the same and the first one I formatted donated it to a worthy cause prior to getting started. Tabarnak!, no wonder it was half off!

I am somewhat emarrassed , it's always the simple stuff.

Thanks for your help, I know have a functioning test server, the big disk project is temporarily on the back burner.