Troubleshooting
Problem
General hard drive troubleshooting steps for IBM workstations
Resolving The Problem
Note: Diagnostics must be completed and any error codes or messages noted prior to hard disk drive replacement. Noisy drives are not always defective. Some are just inherently noisy. Compare noise levels against another identical drive with the same field replacement unit (FRU).
Data backup is an important part of any computer security program. Some of the procedures below may result in complete data loss. Make sure all important data has been backed up before continuing.
- To begin troubleshooting, check the following top
issues. If your issue is listed, select the link, otherwise
proceed to step 2.
- If a new option has been added and your system is not
working, complete the following procedure before
continuing:
- Remove the option that you just added.
- Run the diagnostic tests to determine if your system is running correctly.
- Reinstall the new device. Ensure all connections are firm and
proper.
- Make sure the system and controller have the latest levels of firmware code
installed.
- Select the type of controller your hard drive is attached
to:
SATA controller SCSI controller ServeRAID controller ATA-133 RAID controller IDE / EIDE controller
- If these steps have not resolved your problem, refer to
"Need more help?"
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- Remove any media from the diskette drive and CD-ROM
drive. If the error message "OS/2!! SYS0145 OS/2!! SYS02027" or
"non-system disk or disk error" is displayed, a non-bootable floppy
diskette was probably left in the drive inadvertently.
- If the problem remains, proceed to "IDE
Troubleshooting steps".
Symptoms experienced with hard disk drive problems:
- Drive is not recognized / detected / or seen by the system
- System starts and "Insert system diskette" message appears
- System starts and a blank screen appears with a flashing cursor
- System starts and a "Bad partition table" error message appears
- System halts at IBM BIOS screen during bootup
- Unable to FDISK or format a hard disk drive
- Bad cluster messages appear during a hard disk drive format
- HDD LED continuously lit during startup and system doesn't start
- 1762 or other POST errors appear during system start
Proceed to "IDE Troubleshooting steps" to
fix these problems.
-
Verify that the drive is shown properly in the Startup Sequence of the IBM System Configuration/Setup Utility. If the drive is not recognized by the system in the System Summary section of the System Configuration/Setup Utility (the BIOS), or is not working properly, use a process of elimination to determine whether hardware configuration, the drive, the data cable or the system board is at fault.
- Press F1 during system startup to enter the System Configuration/Setup Utility.
- From the Main Menu, select Devices, press Enter, select IDE Drives Setup and press Enter. The hard disk drive should be listed with the correct maximum hard drive space available indicated. Press Esc until the main menu is on the screen.
- From the Main Menu, select Startup Sequence, then Enter.
- The hard disk drive should appear on the screen as the second or third startup device, depending on the startup configuration. Typically, the sequence should be either: CD-ROM, then Diskette drive, then Hard disk drive or Diskette drive then Hard disk drive. The hard disk drive should usually be the last device in the startup sequence. This permits booting to rescue diskettes or other similar media.
- Press Esc to return to the Main Menu, then select
Save and exit to restart the system.
- Disconnect all other IDE devices on the primary controller
and reconfigure the hard disk drive to be the master drive on the
primary controller. When checking the drive for proper jumper
configuration, there are 3 settings to consider: Master, Slave and
Cable Select.
- Some drives are configured using the simple Master drive or Slave drive jumpering scheme.
- Some drives can be jumpered as a single Master drive with no slave drive, as a Master drive with Slave drive, or as a Slave drive. If a new drive has been added as a Slave drive, the Master drive may need to be reconfigured as the Master drive with Slave. Refer to the drive owners manual.
- Cable Select is an alternate jumpering scheme used on
newer systems. All devices on the channel must be capable of
supporting Cable Select. All devices on the channel must be
jumpered Cable Select.
- Remove, examine and reseat the signal cable and power
connections to the hard disk drive and to the system board, to
ensure all connections are firm and proper. Cables should be
carefully pulled near the connector when disconnecting from the
hard disk drive or the system board to reduce the possibility of
damage to the cable.
- Check for bent or broken pins on the system board IDE
controller and the hard drive. Replace damaged components.
- Check the cable is correct for the drive. For ATA-66, ATA-100
or ATA-133 - 80 conductor, 40 pin cables:
- Connect the blue connector to the system board.
- Connect the black end connector of the cable to the Master drive.
- Connect the gray middle connector of the cable to the
Slave drive.
- Check for cut cable conductors. Make sure that cables do not interfere with drive trays when they are closed. Swap with another cable if possible.
- Check for proper pin 1 to pin 1 connection orientation. It may be possible to incorrectly flip cable connectors.
- Check the power connector to the hard disk drive is making a
good connection to the drive. Swap with another connector if
possible. This is important if the drive will not spin up, to check
if it is getting power. Try a different cable and power connection
if available.
- Check for bent or broken pins on the system board IDE
controller and the hard drive. Replace damaged components.
- If the other system board controller is known to be good,
move the drive and cable assembly to that controller and check the
BIOS for drive recognition. The original controller or
connector may be faulty.
- If the drive uses sound and vibration insulators, use a
screwdriver or install a jumper wire between the drive and chassis
to ensure the drive is fully grounded. Ensure that the mounting
screws you are using are not too long, as they may be shorting out
the drive.
- Remove the drive from the chassis, and operate the hard
drive outside the chassis to eliminate possible heat, or electrical
shorting problems.
- Check if the drive is recognized by the BIOS in another
working system. If not, the drive is defective and needs to be
replaced.
- Run diagnostics on the hard disk drive. Replace drive if
diagnostic testing reveals a failure.
Click here to download the latest diagnostics for your system.
- Check if a firmware update is available for the
drive.
Click here to view downloads available for your system.
- FDISK and format the drive, then reload the operating system
using the available recovery media. If the operating system
fails to load, or the hard disk drive is still not recognized or
working correctly, then replace the hard disk drive. Use FDISK to
verify the drive is partitioned and active. This requires a
bootable or startup diskette and the FDISK.EXE utility. Option four
on the FDISK menu will display the current partition information
for the hard drive.
Warning: FDISK and format will result in the loss of all existing data on the hard disk drive. Make sure you have a backup of all data before performing this action as a last resort before replacing drives.
- Check partition information within the operating system to
check if the drive is seen correctly. For Windows 2000 and
XP:
- Right click My Computer, then click
Manage.
- Select Disk Management from the Computer Management list
and verify the partitions are correct.
- Right click My Computer, then click
Manage.
- If these steps have not solved your problem, refer to "Need more help?"
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Many symptoms such as lockups, hangs, slow performance, rebooting, error messages, etc. are caused by the installation of software that was not preloaded or by viruses, but are incorrectly attributed to the hard drive.
Before replacing a hard drive for these symptoms, check the drive using the latest virus definitions. Removal of some viruses may require specific steps using special software to successfully and completely remove the virus. Also, pay careful attention to computer performance after non-preloaded software is installed to identify when offending software is reloaded. Some software can cause significant undesirable results when installed with other software.
Before replacing a hard disk drive for these symptoms:
- Check the hard disk drive using the latest anti-virus
definitions.
- Clear temporary files from your hard disk drive. This
includes Microsoft Internet Explorer cache, Netscape cache, temp
files, .chk files, and emptying the Recycle bin.
- If hard disk drive performance is still an issue, then
perform the following steps.
Warning: FDISK and format will result in the loss of all existing data on the hard disk drive. Make sure you have a backup of all data before performing this action as a last resort before replacing drives.
- Unconditionally format the hard drive (e.g. format
c: /u)
- Reload the operating system.
- Pay careful attention to non-preloaded software installed after
this to identify when the offending software is reloaded.
- Unconditionally format the hard drive (e.g. format
c: /u)
- If these steps have not solved your problem, refer to "Need more help?"
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Some drives are inherently noisier than others by design. A hard disk drive making a grinding or continuous clicking noise can usually be considered defective, but before replacing any hard disk drive:
- Verify the hard disk drive is the source of the noise by
removing the cover of the system and identifying the hard disk
drive as the source of the noise. Occasionally the mounting method
may cause a higher than expected noise level.
- If the drive uses sound and vibration insulators, use a
screwdriver or install a jumper wire between the drive and chassis
to ensure the drive is fully grounded.
- Run diagnostics on the hard disk drive. Replace drive if
diagnostic testing reveals a failure.
Click here to download the latest diagnostics for your system.
Note: Applications provided by IBM may report an "imminent failure" message during operation. Such drives can be replaced as defective. Additional testing of confirmed noisy drives with diagnostics is not necessary for these drives.
- If these steps have not solved your problem, refer to "Need more help?"
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Microsoft Windows 2000 and XP may run a chkdsk program on boot up if the system was not shut down properly or if it detects a hard drive error on boot up. When the chkdsk program is finished, a list of information will show up on the screen showing various information about how much space is used and available.
The message "x number of Sectors on the HDD are Bad" may appear, where x is the number of bad sectors that were found. This may be caused by a corrupted file, or the hard drive may be bad. The system will attempt to correct the problem. It is recommended that diagnostics be run to determine if there is a problem with the hard drive, especially if there are a number of these errors showing up or if these messages are happening frequently and the system is being shut down properly. Click here to download the latest diagnostics for your system.
If these steps have not solved your problem, refer to "Need more help?"
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- Verify that drives are installed correctly:
- For IDE drives, signal cables should be of type Ultra ATA-100 or ATA-133 and should be installed correctly. Ensure connection is firm and proper.
- Power cables to drives should be connected correctly.
- Try replacing the cables before replacing a drive.
- Remove the first drive not recognized and try the hard drive diagnostic test again. If the remaining drives are recognized, replace the drive you removed with a new one.
If these steps have not solved your problem, refer to "Need more help?"
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Remove the hard drive being tested when the computer stopped responding and try the diagnostic test again. If the hard drive diagnostic test runs successfully, replace the drive you removed with a new one.
If these steps have not solved your problem, refer to "Need more help?"
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- Verify that drives are installed correctly:
- For IDE drives, signal cables should be of type Ultra ATA-100 or ATA-133 and should be installed correctly. Ensure connection is firm and proper.
- Power cables to drives should be connected correctly.
- Try replacing the cables before replacing a drive.
- Remove the first drive not recognized and try the hard drive diagnostic test again. If the remaining drives are recognized, replace the drive you removed with a new one.
If these steps have not solved your problem, refer to "Need more help?"
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Verify that all physical drives are installed correctly and are powered on. Reconnect, replace, or rebuild any failed drive.
If these steps have not solved your problem, refer to "Need more help?"
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Verify that drives are installed correctly. Replace drive with another drive of the same capacity.
If these steps have not solved your problem, refer to "Need more help?"
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Verify that drives are installed correctly. Run FDISK to set active partition.
If these steps have not solved your problem, refer to "Need more help?"
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Check firmware error codes. Verify that the boot device in system firmware setup (CMOS setup) is selected correctly.
If these steps have not solved your problem, refer to "Need more help?"
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Document Information
Modified date:
28 January 2019
UID
ibm1MIGR-44388