CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

Try going back into your CMOS setup. Is the data still there?

Hmm, what kind of drive is it? You could plug it into a newer computer if it was compatible, and the newer computer's BIOS would automatically detect the settings for that drive, then you could note them down and use the drive on the old computer again

It shouldn't be too much of a problem... however 93 is pretty old, and from what I remember, some hard drive standard changed around that time. You might be able to do it though. Don't open the drive up!

INK. Open the computer, and read me off the make and model of the drive. I have a book with all the stats on all the old drives manufacuted up until 1997.

Glad you know me?

Wouldn't it be easier just to replace the battery? The same kind used today was used 10 years ago, wasn't it? (Or maybe there's something in here that I'm misunderstanding...)

CMOS batteries aren't that expensive. If I can get a standard Mac 1/2 AA PRAM battery for US$5 without even trying, you can do better for a bog-boring PC

Seriously, any electronics supply store, even Ratty Schlock, er, Radio Shack, will carry most kinds of CMOS batteries. Many are either the 1/2 AA type or a coin lithium, like a CR2032. It should not be more than a few dollars.

OK.

1. That is the battery. The corosion, the plus sign and the letters "NIMH" imply that it's a Nickle Metal Hydride.

2. Check and see if it's soldered onto the board. If not, we can get it replaced for you.

3. Bad Checksum = Other Problem, not dead CMOS. This is often a sign of a virus. Scan immediately! If not, check the clock date/times. If it's right, you may have corrupt CMOS. If it's wrong, it could be a dead battery.

4. Shooby's right. You should be able to get that easily.

Your assignments:

Step one, replace that battery.
Step two, Go into CMOS and setup the HD with the correct parameters:
Link to Seagate Page with Drive Spec Sheet

Step three, write those parameters on a piece of paper (or print the page), along with the date you replaced the battery, fold it up, and tape it to the inside of the tower. That way you'll have access to it when you need it later. (That's a handy trick I learned when I wen't to fix a box at a Hospital one time. The guy who fixed it before me did that, and saved my at least a days worth of leg work!)

If it fails to work, you have two options.
1. We can give you step-by-step instructions for hooking the drive up to another machine.
2. (Last Resort): Snail mail me the drive, and I'll burn you a CD of the info on it, and mail them back to you. I'll be on AIM later tonight if you wanna know more.

Questions?

PS: Good Drawing of that battery!

First, I don't know if/when it changed, but using a bad CMOS battery in a computer used to have the horrible effect of it exploding (killing the motherboard)... not a very common thing, but it's happened to a friend of mine as well as this being confirmed to me by several techs (one who owned her own business). Like I said, i'm not sure if this still holds, but you'll want to replace that thing as son as possible, but not keep running it.

Here's a question for you though, do you want to keep using that machine, or are you just looking to get the data off it?

If you're just looking to transfer the data, then you might want to look into getting a null-modem adaptor and transferring the data that way... I'd have to look it up (it's been a LONG time since I've done this with my system), but I can tell you the steps to setup both machines for transfer (unless MS in their vast wisdom decided to dump the link-up software from Windows, though there are still other options software-wise).

PHIL

I'm going to suggest this only as a last resort. One truly drastic way to fix the checksum error is to clear out the CMOS data altogether (resetting it to the factory default). On some motherboards this can be done with a special jumper that is temporarily moved from one spot to another for only a few seconds; and on some motherboards a special keypress combination is required at bootup. (Your motherboard's documentation should say if either option is available.)

Again, I only recommend this as a very last resort, so don't try it yet; let's see what our other tech guys have to say first.

madphilb wrote:First, I don't know if/when it changed, but using a bad CMOS battery in a computer used to have the horrible effect of it exploding (killing the motherboard)... not a very common thing, but it's happened to a friend of mine as well as this being confirmed to me by several techs (one who owned her own business). Like I said, i'm not sure if this still holds, but you'll want to replace that thing as son as possible, but not keep running it.

Euw...O.o...that's not good...

madphilb wrote:Here's a question for you though, do you want to keep using that machine, or are you just looking to get the data off it?

I would be satisfied with getting the data off, but getting it back up and running wouldn't be a bad deal either. I wouldn't be terribly hurt it I had to finally put it aside.

madphilb wrote:If you're just looking to transfer the data, then you might want to look into getting a null-modem adaptor and transferring the data that way... I'd have to look it up (it's been a LONG time since I've done this with my system), but I can tell you the steps to setup both machines for transfer (unless MS in their vast wisdom decided to dump the link-up software from Windows, though there are still other options software-wise).
PHIL

I don't have a null-modem adaptor at the moment, but I do have a laplink cable I've used for many transfers.

I did have an idea just now, though...what if I replaced the drive in my sister's computer with the one from the failed comp? Then I could haul that PC in here and use the laplink connection program (it's an old dos program so it'll run on any of our PCs) and dump the entire drive info to this computer to prepare for burning to CD. I'm wondering if hardware conflicts of some kind might keep the hard drive from booting...although I don't really know why I'm asking you guys about the hardware conflicts since you don't know what kind of hardware that machine is running... LOL

inkhana wrote:I don't have a null-modem adaptor at the moment, but I do have a laplink cable I've used for many transfers.

Actually, that should work just the same (the serial cables basically are a NULL modem)... the paralell cables should work too...

inkhana wrote:I did have an idea just now, though...what if I replaced the drive in my sister's computer with the one from the failed comp? Then I could haul that PC in here and use the laplink connection program (it's an old dos program so it'll run on any of our PCs) and dump the entire drive info to this computer to prepare for burning to CD.

That should work, so long as you set the drive settings on the computer.... I'd recommend using Windows for the transfer (with the Laplink cable... gosh, brings back memories, all those HD transfers with laplink) ... anyway, Windows will preserve the long file names on your system, where as the old DOS program won't.

PHIL

Yeah. The one thing you want to make sure you do is get the jumpers right on the drive. Otherwise you computer will not know which drive is the master, and tell you there is no drive.

Laplink? Boy THAT brings back memories. I used it extensively on old 6.22 boxes, but I remember trying to hook that up once on a Win95 and discovering the code had been yanked out. Grr. Anyway, moving the drive into the other box would work better, IMHO. Just be carefull with those jumpers, and mind your IDE cables.

To be on the safe side, though, you may want to backup your sister's computer first.

Well, glad to hear it worked!