Re: Boot up issues - this is bad help me

is there anyway I could boot to dos and try and get the files from there

"Fidz" wrote:

ok, last act of the day saw me get the one you suggested, all booted up ok
except when it went through some kind of test and found what can only be
described as a lot of errors, mostly compression errors but it was scrolling
quite quickly. Anyway, long and short of it linux didnt start for me...oh
well, thats it for today, see you all tomorrow hopefully with some
answers...thanks everyone for today

"Fidz" wrote:

yeah, my bad...told you I was half asleep here. Sorted it, got a version of
linux called Morphix, but dont have a clue what I'm supposed to be looking
for with regards drives etc...there is a file manager but doesnt make sense.
Is this just the version of linux I have being crap

"- Bobb -" wrote:

an ISO file is a burned copy of a CD ( think of it as a zip file)
BURN THE ISO to CD and you'll end up with bootable cd


"Fidz" <Fidz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:4DC0DA4C-F490-41FA-9E4C-A863277ECF7A@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
ok, think i'm doing something wrong here thats probably obvious to most.
I
put the cd in my laptop and just the folder with the iso on the disk
came
up...it's late think I'm going bed haha

"Fidz" wrote:

appreciated your help guys...close to giving up lol

anyway...downloaded linux...think I've sorted out the boot order but
nothing
is happening...any ideas>

"- Bobb -" wrote:

STRIPED RAID = bigger drive : no backup.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID#Standard_RAID_levels
Sorry

If you REALLY need to recover the data , you could leave them as-is
and
PERHAPS your pcitures etc are OK - maybe just Windows boot info is
hosed
( like a scratch on a CD/record). These drives act as a pair - if
one is
absolutely fried, then you're out of luck. IF just a windows issue on
that
drive, maybe the data part of the disk is OK.

Big picture: how much time/money you want to spend to recover ?

Understand what you're gonna do since if the drive IS good right now,
if
might die entirely within a short while. You want to do things
quickly (
that stuff that scratched off the surface is now floating around in
there
and will make it worse as time goes on)
To see if data still OK:
1. From another PC, you can download linux onto a CD.
http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html
Burn the Cd , bring it home and boot it.
You need to go into BIOS and change BOOT order to boot CD FIRST.
See the drives ? Your folders still there ?
No - sorry - that's it.
Yes - Good.

2.. Do you know someone /have another PC with room to insert the card
and
both drives into it ? Boot his disk on his pc and it should find
your
disk(s). Open Windows explorer. See the drive ? Your folders still
there ?
copy all of your stuff to his drive starting with the most valuable
to
you.

3. No other PC ? You're on an island ? then ...get another disk
drive.
Install windows to it ( leaving the current drives alone - unlpug
them
even). Do not hook up network cable/modem etc - you just want a quick
version of linux/windows on there.
After linux/windows is installed, shutdown/power off. Reconnect the
two
drives/raid card. Boot to the new winodws disk and HOPEFULLY the OS
will
find the drives and be able to read your data.

Not an option ? Or the drive is definitely unreadable ?

4. Then since you've lost your data, remove the bad drive and install
Windows to the good drive. Insert Windows CD and have it reformat/
install
..
You might need the license info handy, so if on the CD, write it down
first.
If Dell OEM CD then it might just do it all by itself - depends on
the CD.

Good Luck
Bobb

"Fidz" <Fidz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:6CF7174D-6918-4A5C-9659-461126CD682C@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
ok, this is the upshot of what I can after the dell screen
disapeers

Raid Volumes:
ID 0
Name Array
Level Raid0(stripe)
Strip 128kb
size 298GB
Status Normal
Bootable Yes

Then underneath that I've got

Psysical Disks

Port 0&2
Drive WDC x2
then the model and serial numbers
size 149GB
Typw/Status (vol id) 0 is member disk (0) and 2 says error occured
(0)

hope this helps

"Fidz" wrote:


ok, not the most technical bod around so a lot of that flew over
my
head
lol. I want to deal with the issue of getting stuff off there
first...the
bios and that can come later..if you dont mind of course.

Anyway, I actually have an unused tower here..could I use that?
It's
just I
took the back of it and the connections to the hard drive didnt
seem
the same
as the hard drive connections in the current dell pc


"- Bobb -" wrote:

Real quick version of answer - have to ask a few things 'cuz the
solution
'depends' on what you've got. Reply inline to any part of this
you
do not
understand.


BIG PICTURE:
If drives are mirrors ( redundant copies), you want to 'break
the
mirror'
to have them independent, then install the good one directly to
the
motherboard. ( now just like any store-bought PC) You may need
to
change
BIOS setting ( press F10 or the DEL key when you boot - it will
tell
you
on the monitor when you power up) to boot to that drive rather
than
SCSI
card ( or whatever your raid card is called in BIOS). Go to BOOT
part
of
BIOS.

As for 'just getting your stuff off there'. You could just open
the
box -
remove the drives - walk over to a neighbor's add one as a
second
drive
( disconnect his CD if you have to). Then open Windows
Explorer - if
drive
is 'kinda working' and just windows part of the drive is toast,
you
might
still retrieve your data. Or try your other drive. Copy your
data to
folder on his drive. Reinstall his CD. Burn to CD. If he doesn't
have
one - take yours or go buy one. ( PAY attention to MASTER/SLAVE
jumper - 2
masters and his PC won't boot).

read on.

DETAILS:
When you boot do you see a message like
" Press CTRL+L to enter boot menu" after BIOS loads ?
YES ?
Do so and you'll see a menu.
All you want to do is 'break the raid'. (go to Dell.com for
how-to or
tell
us what card)
Now : pick one to be master boot
Try it - right one ? You're all set.
No - try the other.

Or once broken could remove the card. ( have you been inside a
PC
before
?)
Turn off. Unplug from wall. Wait 30 seconds.
Open the box.
Are both disk drives plugged into a card ( RAID) ?
and you could plug the cable into motherboard ?
Move one disk cable from raid card to motherbaord ( unplug
CD/DVD if
you
have to )
Power up - into BIOS.
Does it see that drive? As a MASTER ?
You MAY have to mess with master/slave jumper on ( can hook up 2
drives to
one cable sothey refer to them as master/slave and there is a
jumper
on
each that determines that setting.
You want the drive to be PRIMARY MASTER in BIOS.
Once so, save/exit BIOS and boot.
If still blue screen remove it and try the other disk drive.
Good luck.

Bobb




"Fidz" <Fidz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:DE4659E6-E428-434E-91B2-590442A82BDA@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
SPECIFICATIONS: Dell Dimension 9100
Intel Pentium 4 processor, 1GB RAM, 2x 160GB hard disks, 256MB
nVidia
GeForce 6800 graphics, DVD+/-RW +DL, DVD-ROM

ok, yesterday I got a wondeful blue screen of death which
amongst
other
things said unmountable boot volume (before I continue i'm
writing
this
on a
laptop in case your wondering) After much internet searching,
diagnostics etc
I was getting a return code of seven, which basically means
the
hard
drive
has gone kuput (i think)

Anyway on more searching i read somewhere that the drives
actually
are a
copy of each other and hold the same info...soooo I was
wondering,
can
one
work on its own with the backup..this is where I come unstuck

basically i can see that theres something called a raid array
which
is
looking for the two drives, when it get see them walking ok, I
assume
this is
why they fail. So, first question is this, can I get one to
work on
its
own
by changing settings etc on the boot up bios? Second question
is,
on
trying
to enter safe mode, it always scrolls down a long list of
stuff and
then
goes
back to the blue screen, is this as bad as I think?

Thirdly, if none of these things are applicable, can anyone
advise
.

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