SurClaro Flight Simulator Resources

tropicalfish · Joined: 04 Oct 2005 Posts: 866

Umm, why look for a new one when you can fix it yourself?

Save some money.

(Well, maybe I am Asian that way)

Okay.

When you say it does not detect the hard drive, what does that mean?

Do you get any No Operating System Detected notices, or when you go to your BIOS settings, you see no hard drives in the list, or what.

Of course system restore or antivirus scans will NOT work if your hard drive is not detected.

Please explain in full detail if you want some help.

Haun · Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2008 9:03 pm Post subject:

Go with an alienware. and i think he means that when he gos to My Computer there is no Local Disk (C:) link.

I had the same problem with a virus. I think thats where the virus ref. comes from. If you think its registries, look for a registry repair program.

tropicalfish · Joined: 04 Oct 2005 Posts: 866

He said BIOS.

You can't really access BIOS settings when inside Windows.

And if Windows doesn't detect your C drive, it's more or less a registry corruption.

mel wilson · Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2008 10:48 pm Post subject:

Haun wrote: Go with an alienware. and i think he means that when he gos to My Computer there is no Local Disk (C:) link.

I had the same problem with a virus. I think thats where the virus ref. comes from. If you think its registries, look for a registry repair program.

Haun......... Suggest you back out of this one, and let T-Fish deal with it, your only confusing the situation.

Mel.

capt.PropwashKCHS · Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2008 11:24 pm Post subject:

ok guys, here we go.... (granted i can not take a screenshot while system is in bootup - wish i could though) but ill try to paint you a mental / visual picture.

Black screen with grey letters at the top left::
NO BOOTABLE DRIVE INSTALLED - PRESS ESC TO RETRY

F2 FOR BIOS AT START UP
HARDDRIVE - no drive detected

F12 i can get to diagnostics...
run diagnostics, Harddrive DST SHORT TEST: FAIL (lights blink 1, 4) each time the lights blink [processor, caps lock, numlock, scroll lock TOGETHER] the is a corresponding short beep sound. BEEP..... BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP.

i turn it off, on about 5-6 times F12'ing each time then turn it off again... count to 10, then turn it back on and F12 / Diagnostic 1 more time... HARDDRIVE DST SHORT TEST = PASS!! (yay!! it will boot up this time!!)

once it finishes the complete system test { display, HDD, sound, mouse etc etc etc } it pops up with a grey screen with black letters..

THE DEVICE IN THE MODULAR BAY COULD NOT BE IDENTIFIED, PLEASE MAKE SURE THAT IT IS PUSHED IN ALL THE WAY AND SEATED CORRECTLY.... blah blah blah... PRESS ESC TO RETRY, PRESS "C" TO CANCEL AND CONTINUE. sooooooo, i press ESC and this same screen keeps poping up. (I check the HDD and its firmly pushed in and bolted in place.. check the memory, nope its in place and cover is secure.. check every other connection to the computer - LAN, MOUSE, EXTERNAL HDD, POWER all are fine.... so i hit C instead and low and behold Windows loads up.

I go and check System Info - everythings fine. MY COMPUTER... everythings fine. .... everything everywhere is fine. Antivirus scan.. nothing found. RUN CCLEANER> finds 256+/- MB of crap so i get rid of it (mainly cookies, internet temporary files etc).. run registry cleaner for unused registry files that do not go to anything anymore like programs that were deleted...) everything is where it should be.

I dont know why all of a sudden Bios has started acting all catawhompus on me, but im about to smack BIOS where it hurts.... (right in between its Taiwan and Japan.... meaning its CHINA! :lol: )

well.... theres my picture... if it does it again, ill try to grab my digital camera and take some pics of it, so you can really see what i am talking about.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SYSTEM RESTORE::

system boots up all the way and everything appears to be running smoothly and properly.... I try UNINSTALLING Windows XP SP3.. from regular and safe mode... no go.

go to START, PROGRAMS, ACCESSORIES, SYSTEM TOOLS, SYSTEM RESTORE.... try to run it.. it says that sets a restore point, and checks the registry.... reboots the system then a pop up comes up and it SHOULD say "your system has been restored to a previous date/time" yada yada yada. ... NOPE!!!! "your systems can NOT be restored to a previous date / time." ... it does not matter what day / time that i select from the dates given to when i want to restore it, it will not restore. ......... my only guess is that there is something messed up in the SYSTEM32 file somewhere that controls things such as this. .. then again, looking in MY COMPUTER > C:\ > WINDOWS there is not even a SYSTEM32 file at all.

Should there be?

tropicalfish · Joined: 04 Oct 2005 Posts: 866

Windows XP SP3 has nothing to with this, as the problem is occurring before Windows actually boots up.

If you have registry issues because of SP3, however, you will need to check the Symantec website.

Have you done ANY changes to your BIOS settings?

When you turn it on, listen closely and see if you can hear the hard drive spooling up. (may be harder as laptop HDD's tend to be quieter)

I doubt that it is a physical connection issue, but that is a possibility.

I recommend that you go ahead and back up your data though.

capt.PropwashKCHS · Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 4:45 am Post subject:

wether or not the HDD, bios, mobo, "computer" decides to act properly i cant really hear the HDD spool, but 1 thing that i have noticed is that the cooling fan that use to come on durring boot, and periodically durring use has NOT turned in like 2 months straight. :?: i dont know. if it has, i dont hear it. as far as the fan goes, looks like i might need a cooling pad ( http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=6211752&st=cooloing+pad&lp=2&type=product&cp=1&id=1074788100200 ) to help with a possible heat issue - even though the keyboard and where you rest your wrists never get hot. ... i dont know.

bios, the only changes that i can really make in bios is "auto start at specified time" , Boot Password, and 1 or 2 other things that are NOT related to system componets (HDD, video, audio, mobo) those are NOT changeable. but no to, have i changed anything in bios... the last thing i did was download and install XP SP3.

I know in desktops that you can have a Master / Slave HDD and set it up as such, but i guess with the new advent of the external HDD that it would / could be a "slave", to bad you can not set it up as such in a laptop. In that... DOES ANYONE HAVE A EXTRA NEVER BEEN USED COPY OF WIN XP YOU MIGHT BE WILLING TO SELL?? Being that XP is no longer being sold, if i could get my hands on an extra copy, I could try to get another external drive and load XP on it... although i dont believe that it would become a bootable drive / disk..... might be worth looking in to with your help TFISH, RD, and maybe GS

As far as data backup.. FS9 AND X are both on my E:xternal drive, as well as 4-5 other games, ALL of my pictures and music are now stored on the E:xternal drive as all. I do care, but i could care less if the C: exploded and crashed..... At least i have my sons pics from when he was born 15 months ago saved to the External, and truthfully im going to Walmart after work tomorrow for more CD/R's so that i can put them on CD's and then into my fireproof lockbox they go. .... I have to have something to show his girlfriends when he gets 16-18 LOL :lol:

tropicalfish · Joined: 04 Oct 2005 Posts: 866

I'm thinking the internal harddrive or controller is faulty...

It would be better to get a new computer than to fix the current one IMO.

capt.PropwashKCHS · Posted: Wed Sep 03, 2008 1:10 am Post subject:

If the internal harddrive is starting to show signs of it going out... then maybe i can try to dodge a bullet by just getting a new harddrive and installing it. but as you say, if it is the controller that is starting to go out, then i am practicaly up $#!T creek without a paddle. ergo... looking for a new laptop. I guess i need to call around and see what / how much the cheapest Universal Harddrive i can find is.

i still want my alienware laptop.... http://www.alienware.com/products/area-51-m17x-notebook.aspx?SysCode=PC-LT-AREA51M17X&SubCode=SKU-DEFAULT

Specs i want in it::

VIDEO: Dual 512MB NVIDIA® GeForce® Go 8800M GTX – SLI Enabled

Display: 17" WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 LCD with Clearview Technology – Black
Includes AlienFX® Illuminated Keyboard – Exclusive Design! (color blue)

Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Extreme X9000 2.8GHz (6MB Cache 800MHz FSB) /// Windows Vista® Ultimate with Service Pack 1

Media:
Internal Digital/Analog (ATSC) MiniCard TV Tuner with Express Card Media Center Remote Control

HDD: (raid 0) 1TB (500GB x 2) 5,400RPM (8MB Cache)
500GB 5,400RPM (8MB Cache) Smart Bay

Optical drive:: 8x Dual Layer Burner (DVD±RW, CD-RW) w/ LightScribe Technology

TOTAL PRICE, LESS SHIPPING & HANDLING::::

8O $5,629.00 as low as $169/mo.* 8O

EDIT::::: i just hope this hopped up laptop on steroids is as good as RD's superrig. :twisted:

tropicalfish · Joined: 04 Oct 2005 Posts: 866

I am not sure about the controller though.
Because I can't tell, because you said that it sometimes works, it is up to your judgment as to what you want to do.

Oh, and C2E is overkill!

viche12345 · Joined: 01 Apr 2005 Posts: 841 Location: San Diego, CA, USA

tropicalfish wrote:
Oh, and C2E is overkill!

Yeah I second that. You could achieve similar performance by simply overclocking an average C2D. But really, I wouldn't try overclocking a laptop....

capt.PropwashKCHS · Posted: Wed Sep 03, 2008 9:20 pm Post subject:

then there you go.... dont overclock a C2d, when you can just go ahead and buy the C2e and bet the same performance, and know that you will have faster speeds off the bat anyways

tropicalfish · Joined: 04 Oct 2005 Posts: 866

Get a laptop with a C2Q?

The main reason you shouldn't overclock a laptop is heat.