MS-DOS Compatability mode / Unable to write to D:

[Clotho]

I've been working on this for about a month now. I've done a lot of reading and tried various methods. I'm not really sure if this is a software problem or not. The following is a compilation of my own problem log. I'm sorry if it seems a little choppy. I just hope it makes sense, I will greatly appreciate any help or suggestions.

I was coping music to my storage drive. When I came back to my computer a
few minutes later I had a "Blue Screen" message stating it was unable to
write to drive D. Since then I've had a number of problems. Slow
boot,Hangs, Freeze ups, and now my storage drive (Formerly the D drive) does not show up at all. Before this I had IDE "C" drive, IDE "D", CD-ROM (E drive) and DVD-ROM (F drive). Now everything shows but the D drive.

I checked in the system info. It shows my secondary IDE ok, but the master
IDE showed the error code. I looked in the BIOS both drives show 'Enabled'.
I noticed a few things though. 1)The Master shows 78177792 sectors and
40027MB max capacity while the Slave shows 4156128 sectors and 21279MB max
cap. Both are 40 Gig HD's. 2) When I boot it sits on the HP Invent screen 1
or 2 minutes before It starts. 3) After it is up and running the
performance is very slow (it has a P3 935Mhz processor with 512MB memory).
4)System restore no longer works, It shows no restore dates available. (Restore now shows dates since the incident) In
HP system info it is still showing both drives, but nothing else will read
the slave.

Name Primary IDE controller (dual fifo)
Manufacturer (Standard hard disk drivers)
Status Error
Driver c:\windows\system\vmm32.vxd (, 1,019.88 KB (1,044,352 bytes),
Not Available)

Name Secondary IDE controller (dual fifo)
Manufacturer (Standard hard disk drivers)
Status OK
Driver c:\windows\system\vmm32.vxd (, 1,019.88 KB (1,044,352 bytes),
Not Available)

The Device Manager does show it. I checked the properties and the Slave
Device status reads "This device is working properly". However, the Primary
shows the yellow (!). Device status for the primary reads "This device is
either not present, not working properly, or does not have all the drivers
installed. (Code 10)" ... "Try upgrading the device drivers for this
device".

I also noticed a RED X on an item under 'DISK DRIVES' listed as 'GENERIC
IDE DISK TYP01'. The device status for this reads "This device is not
working properly because a device it depends on, Primary IDE controller
(dual fifo), has been dynamically disabled."

These two instances tied together I guess? I checked the performance tab.
There are two listings.

1) Compatibility mode paging reduces overall system performance.
Windows Millennium Edition was unable to identify a real-mode driver or
memory-resident program loaded in your Config.sys or Autoexec.bat file. You
will see another message that lists the name of the driver or program
causing the problem.
Because Windows Millennium Edition could not identify the driver or
program, it has switched to MS-DOS compatibility mode to ensure the program
will run. However, this decreases overall performance. To improve
performance, remove the program or driver causing the problem, or contact
its manufacturer for an upgraded version.

2) Drive X is using an MS-DOS compatibility mode file system.
This problem often occurs on more than one drive. Usually it is caused by a
driver listed in the Config.sys file that Windows Millennium Edition does
not recognize and that is related to the message Compatibility mode paging
reduces overall system performance. If you see both messages, see the Help
for the Compatibility mode paging reduces overall system performance
message first.
If you only see the message Drive X is using an MS-DOS compatibility mode
file system on one drive, that drive is using an MS-DOS compatibility
(real-mode) driver, which might reduce that drive's performance. Contact
your hardware manufacturer to see if an updated driver is available for
your drive. If not, the drive's performance might be less than optimal, but
you can still use it.
the slave drive does not show in "fdisk /status".

When I try to run a DOS based recovery program or even run the drive overlay disk that came with the slave (Maxtor) I get this error code or one like it:

INT13h error code 01h in parameter AH.

I have checked the IOS registry for 'NOIDE' with no luck.

Could it be a memory resident virus? If so my anti-virus is not picking it up. I'm using Norton System Works I recently installed (after the problem started).

My OS is Windows ME. The only other thing I can think of is to change the IDE cable. I don't think it is a physical problem with the HDD or maybe that's just wishful thinking.

I have since disconnected the slave drive and that cleared up the compatibility mode, but I'm still not convinced it is a physical error. There was no prior sign to indicate it was going. Only 3 things I can think of to narrow it down 1) change the ribbon 2) hook up to the CD-ROM controller or 3) change the power supply. I read one of the other threads 'intermittent "unable to write to C:" and scrambled data problems'. The solution to this problem was to replace the HDD ribbon cable. This is very similar to my problem or maybe I'm grasping at straws. Many of my programs won't work correctly now and my ATI card is also not performing as it should.

Sorry for the book, but I thought it would be best to get as much down as possible. Any thoughts or ideas would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

 

[Enkrypted]

After reading your post, the first thing I would do is test the drive. Hook it up to the secondary IDE controller and see how everything repsonds to that.

If it works ok, then it would narrow it done to a few things.
First I would suspect the second connector on your IDE cable could be defective. I would also clear the BIOS and start with a clean one<just reset the jumper to clear if your MB has one>. I would also recommend switching the power suplly connection to the drive.

If that doesn't work, I would recommend reporting that error message you received <INT13h error code 01h in parameter AH> to Maxtors technical support and see if it is indeed a defective drive.

I did come across this link when doing research for your problem:

http://members.tripod.com/~Vitaly_Filatov/ng/asm/asm_011.6.html

A last attempt issue would be to flash the BIOS to the latest revision and see if it reads everything correctly. However, before flashing any BIOS, make sure your carefully read how to go about doing so or you could render your computer useless. Enkrypted
A+
Let others know how much help they are by marking the helpful posts.

 

[lewat]

I HAVE READ OVER YOUR SUBMISSION. I have concerns in 2 areas. You stated that you added a virus protector after incident. Did you have a virus protector on there before?! Adding it on now only complicates the removal of a possible klez infection. My experience has been that klez is penetrating the music download sites. (you have to wonder who would most benefit from infecting download sites and the users.) Win-me has a restore feature that must be cleaned out (disabled on both drives).You first must download the latest virus updates to the uneffected drive. Run it 3x times. Then reconnect problem drive. Run norton from good drive. Do a coldboot. I could list the process but goto microsofts website for a clear instruction how to reset restore features to clean out virus in Me.

If this fails and it appears that you ran the integrity check for the hard-drive ( you can on-line) then, you must do the painful &quot;fdisk&quot; the harddrive. If not you risk (may have already happened) kill the ide controller. My understanding is that Me does not revert to Ms-dos. Did you do an upgrade of some sort in your operating system? If so that will involve fdisking both drives.

 

[pudda]

Another approach would be to test the drive seperately from the OS- create a Win9x boot disk and check the physical size of the secondary drive by typing DIR at the a:> prompt and checking the size.
If you still show it as too small, try removing the primary and connecting it's ribbon lead to the second HDD and set it as Master. Re-boot with the boot disk and check again.
Remember to follow the instructions of the overlay software- press Ctrl to boot to disk, etc.- before simply booting from the boot disk, which could cause corruption of the overlay...

 

[mudskipper]

All good suggestions. Here is my take--

You should check out this link--if that doesn't help, then read on!!

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;311561

Definitely do a scan for any virus. Especially check for a boot sector virus by booting to a clean disk, etc, etc (as suggested above).

Install updated Chipset drivers. If these drivers are not updated, then MSDOS Compat. Mode issues can be common. It is very possible that everything appeared fine until you tried to transfer a BUNCH of data at the same time--thus causing a problem that has been quietly there all along to suddenly come to the forefront. Mudskipper
___________________________________________________________________________________

Groucho said it best- &quot;A four year-old child could understand this! Quick! Run out and find me a four year-old child: I can't make heads nor tails out of this!&quot;

 

[mudskipper]

By the way--
I fogot to mention that I agree with Enkrypted--a BIOS flash is likely to bethe key to fixing this issue properly. If your BIOS is not detecting the drive correctly, then drive overlay HELPS, but it is not the best solution. Mudskipper
___________________________________________________________________________________

Groucho said it best- &quot;A four year-old child could understand this! Quick! Run out and find me a four year-old child: I can't make heads nor tails out of this!&quot;

 

[Clotho]

I agree. I first want to try the simple things. I'm going to try a different cable and power. Depending on the response I get, I'll try others. Although the thought of a virus has crossed my mind a time or two and continues to, I think an approach to get rid of a virus like that would take some drastic measures. I don't want to make any strong changes to my system only to find out it was a ribbon. I was running NAV before everything went south. I unistalled it afterward to install the complete Norton Systemworks. I have been thinking of reformating and getting a new start so flashing would be along that line. If there is the possibility of getting access to the 'failed' drive; I don't want to damage the overlay and make it even more difficult. My objective is to try everyway I can to read that drive first. Copy everything out of it and then scuttle the old and reformat both. Thanks, everyones ideas have been great. They gave me new ideas, keep 'em coming. Meanwhile,I'll post back after I've tried a few.

Clotho

 

[Clotho]

I was just thinking, could the overlay be the problem? If I took the disk that came with the Maxtor and reinstalled it as if I were putting in a new disk would that hurt anything? Would it reformat the disk?