cannot write to F:

[Dr Wahab]

Hi, how are all of you?

My computer was working just fine but from the last 4 to 5 weeks, I am having strange problem. During working, I get a sound similar to "BEEP" from the CPU. Then the PC freezes up. And I have to restart it. I am 100% confidant that the sound comes from the HardDisk. I have Windows XP and Windows 98. With XP, the computer just freezes up without any message but with windows 98, it freezes up by giving a message "Cannot write to Driver F:". It is important to mention here that I have Windows XP in C and Windows 98 in F drive.

I have Seagate 80 GB HardDisk. Any ideas or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks .... to all of you

Sincerely,
..::WAHAB

[michaeldadmum]

I need the list of partitions and drive letters in both OSes.

[Dr Wahab]

Thanks for your reply:

C: Windows XP [20GB]
D: [20GB]
E: [20GB]
F: Windows 98 Se [20GB]

File System : FAT32 on all drives

I really appreciate your help....please let me know if you need more information.

Sincerely,
..::WAHAB

[patio]

Hard drives do not beep.
What happened priior to this ? ?
Any new hardware or softare added ? ?
Freezing issues are usually from overheating, bad RAM or hard drive issues...

Run chkdsk /r on all the partitions...this may take awhile.
Then defrag the 2 with OS's installed ...C: and F:

For the heat issue remove a side panel and see how dirty it is inside. If it is get a can of compressed air to clean out all the heatsinks and fans...use a QTip to hold the fan blades in place while blasting them.
As always when working inside the case remove all power sources and take anti-static precautions.

To check the memory DLoad MemTest to create a bootable floppy/CD. Let it run a few hours ...any errors means bad RAM and if you do get errors you should run one stick at a time afterwards to determine which one has gone South.

I've given you a bit of work to do but hang in there and if you need further assistance with any of the steps let us know.

[Dr Wahab]

Hi Thank you for your suggestions. I am downloading MemTest 3.5 from http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/Memory-Tweak/MemTest.shtml to make sure my computers RAM is working properly.

But I have decided to re-partition my whole harddisk and install everything from scratch. Do you think it will solve the problem? As far as beep or sound is concerned, I am 100% sure that, the sound came from the harddisk.

No any new hardware added.
Nothing happen prior to this. Just working fine on my PC, a sound similar to beep came out and after 3 to 4 seconds, my PC get Freeze. One thing I notice, is that after giving beep or sound, the "the red light of the PC which shows reading of hard disk" keep ON even after PC got FREEZE...!!!

Well I know that hard drive does not beep but that is not the beep rather similar to beep. I got similar sound when I use to shut my PC down and that is normal I think since I have been receiving a beep like sound from the hard disk just before my PC turn OFF, from the time when I bought this hard drive. My Hard Drive is just 1 year and 1 month old.

If you want any other information, just let me know. I really appreciate you assistance.

Thanks,

..::WAHAB

[patio]

As an added precaution you can DLoad and run the diagnostics from the HDD manuf. website...this will also create a bootable CD to run.

[soybean]

C: Windows XP [20GB]
D: [20GB]
E: [20GB]
F: Windows 98 Se [20GB]

Hmm, that's interesting, considering that Win 98SE has to be installed first in such dual boot configurations and it would have to be installed on C.  How did you go about creating this dual boot setup where you have Win XP on C and Win 98SE on F?  It would normally just the opposite.

[Sid]

Hi Thank you for your suggestions. I am downloading MemTest 3.5 from http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/Memory-Tweak/MemTest.shtml to make sure my computers RAM is working properly.

But I have decided to re-partition my whole harddisk and install everything from scratch. Do you think it will solve the problem? As far as beep or sound is concerned, I am 100% sure that, the sound came from the harddisk.

No any new hardware added.
Nothing happen prior to this. Just working fine on my PC, a sound similar to beep came out and after 3 to 4 seconds, my PC get Freeze. One thing I notice, is that after giving beep or sound, the "the red light of the PC which shows reading of hard disk" keep ON even after PC got FREEZE...!!!

Well I know that hard drive does not beep but that is not the beep rather similar to beep. I got similar sound when I use to shut my PC down and that is normal I think since I have been receiving a beep like sound from the hard disk just before my PC turn OFF, from the time when I bought this hard drive. My Hard Drive is just 1 year and 1 month old.

If you want any other information, just let me know. I really appreciate you assistance.

Thanks,

..::WAHAB

If you can show me where on your hard drive there is a speaker to beep, I will eat a hat of your choosing.

Have you cleaned the inside of your computer case...ever?

[Dr Wahab]

Hi thanks for replying again. Well as I said already that the sound is similar to beep not exactly ""BEEP". Just like the fan gives out sound without any speaker. In the same way, I get that sound from inside my Hard Disk 

aaahh...this is a long story "how did I create this boot setup". But now I will change this boot setup.

Further more, I use to clean-up my PC from time to time. About 3 months ago, I removed all parts of it and then put them back again after cleaning everything.

I have downloaded a HDD Diagnostic tool from Seagate website. Let see what happen today since I will be doing with my HDD today.

Thanks....

Sincerely,

..::WAHAB

[Dr Wahab]

Hi again. Last night, I repartitioned my hole hard disk with following partitions:

C: 10 GB FAT32 will be for Windows 98
D: 20 GB FAT32
E: 30 GB FAT32
F: 20 GB FAT32 will be for Windows XP

I just want to ask if there are any test available in DOS mode that make sure that there is no problem with my harddisk and it is working just fine. I just want to be sure that there wont be any more problems once I installed my OS. Since I cannot afford re-installing whole system from time to time. I shall be very thankful to you.

Sincerely,

..::WAHAB

[patio]

Travel to the HDD manuf. site and DLoad their diagnostics which will create a bootable CD/floppy and run them...

[Dr Wahab]

I have partitioned my hard disk as described above. Now I have another issue. Today, I tried to install windows 98 after booted from Windows 98 bootable CD. But when I run the setup, my PC hangs when the setup says "Preparing to install windows 98". The progress bar reached to 100%, the mouse cursor showed as "Busy" and then PC got freeze. One thing I notice that my Floppy Drive continue to be ON even I restarted my PC. So I disconnect it but the problem remains same.

Any suggestions..!!!

Sincerely,

WAHAB
-FDO TEAM

[patio]

Hard drives do not beep.
What happened priior to this ? ?
Any new hardware or softare added ? ?
Freezing issues are usually from overheating, bad RAM or hard drive issues...

Run chkdsk /r on all the partitions...this may take awhile.
Then defrag the 2 with OS's installed ...C: and F:

For the heat issue remove a side panel and see how dirty it is inside. If it is get a can of compressed air to clean out all the heatsinks and fans...use a QTip to hold the fan blades in place while blasting them.
As always when working inside the case remove all power sources and take anti-static precautions.

To check the memory DLoad MemTest to create a bootable floppy/CD. Let it run a few hours ...any errors means bad RAM and if you do get errors you should run one stick at a time afterwards to determine which one has gone South.

I've given you a bit of work to do but hang in there and if you need further assistance with any of the steps let us know.