drive dock issues

[Mac29]

I use a drive dock for sata drives and a number of OS's. My 7 64b was apparently downloading Windows updates today (even though it's set to not do so) and wouldn't allow me to open objects in My Computer. Figured if I reboot the 'freeze-up' would right itself. Only later concluded updates b/c nothing was unusual was running in Task Mgr.

Wouldn't shut down so I held the pwr button and even that wouldn't shut down the pc, kept powering on again. After which you guessed it, wouldn't boot. Sits there w/hard drive led's blinking.

I swapped in my XP drive and it also had issues. F8 and LKGC brought it up slowly but only Ctrl+Alt+Del twice got me my desktop icons. Now before anyone deduces virus, I use Sandboxie, haven't had a sniffle in over 5 years plus just did a MWB's scan. Trust me this is not a virus.

I imagine LKGC will get my 7 disc it to boot but I think wiser minds can help me understand what's happening. This does not appear to have to do with ahci. I think the boot loader got confused, but how does that also happen to the XP drive? Bios hasn't changed... I'm sure my Linux drive will boot. But why would messing w/even updates hose my boot sector? How could that effect a different drive?

Thanks in advance for any interest. Didn't find anything similar in the forum.

Cheers,

Mac

 

[mfenn]

Since you're using an external drive dock and are seeing a problem with multiple devices, I would suspect a flaky connection is causing your issues. Either the cable leading to your dock (assuming eSATA here), the connection between your eSATA bracket and the internal SATA port (unless you have a native eSATA connector), or within the dock itself.

Try connecting one of your drives to an internal SATA port with a normal SATA cable and see if you have issues.

 

[Mac29]

Sorry mfenn, it's an internal 'drive dock' and as I've experienced this before, I know using the internal sata cables works w/o a problem. I've never found why the different drives sometimes - extremely rare - mess up. I'm thinking an error log will tell me if Windows update was the precedent here, but how any of this screws w/what I can only perceive to be the boot sector (of multiple drives) is beyond me.

Thanks though,

Mac

 

[mfenn]

The fact that it works with a direct internal cable connection proves that this is a hardware issue. I highly doubt that you are going to find a software solution to a hardware problem, no matter how hard you look. Your dock simply cannot provide a high enough SNR to get SATA data packets through, probably due to a faulty connection somewhere.

Can you link to the exact dock that you're using? Perhaps we can help you find a replacement.

 

[corkyg]

Internal drive dock? Are you sure that you are not talking about a trayless mobile rack?

These are what I use: (Vantec EZ-Swap 4's)

 

[Mac29]

Drive tray, caddie, whatever term you favor, it works fine 98% of the time. So I'd say it doesn't appear to involve an inability to function per se. But I'd say every 5 months or so it has a hiccup. This episode was obviously due to powering off mid updates but I wonder why that would cause boot problems ( MS drives). Can't be the bios but I surmise the boot sector is what's being effected w/is why my linux drive boots.

After one slow boot to desktop XP & & Pro drive now boot normally. Curious.


Well thanks for the feedback. Dealing w/school admin this week but I'll try & check error logs.


Mac

 

[bradly1101]

I don't know how your drive dock is configured, but mine accepts drives vertically, and is a dust magnet. So I keep it in a storage baggie when not in use. Have you tried blowing it out?

 

[corkyg]

Please identify the HDD receptacle in question, i.e., make, model, etc. How is it mounted in your PC? It's not a matter of favoring terminology, it is important to know exactly what hardware is in question. Example:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...TabStoreType=0

 

[inachu]

I trust the other posters here say it's a hardware issue and not software but I NEVER put my faith in anyone who says it is not a virus issue.... Just sayin.(been there done that.)

 

[mfenn]

Drive tray, caddie, whatever term you favor, it works fine 98% of the time. So I'd say it doesn't appear to involve an inability to function per se. But I'd say every 5 months or so it has a hiccup. This episode was obviously due to powering off mid updates but I wonder why that would cause boot problems ( MS drives). Can't be the bios but I surmise the boot sector is what's being effected w/is why my linux drive boots.

After one slow boot to desktop XP & & Pro drive now boot normally. Curious.


Well thanks for the feedback. Dealing w/school admin this week but I'll try & check error logs.


Mac

Regarding the boot sector theory, the boot sector is only 512 bytes long, and contains just enough code to find the rest of the bootloader. Since you're getting to the point where the OS had booted enough to show you graphics, you're far beyond the point at which the boot sector has handed off control to the main part of the bootloader, which resides in a normal filesystem. However, see above, I highly doubt that this is a software issue.

Anyway, "It works 98% of the time but mysteriously doesn't work the other 2% of the time: is basically the definition of "flaky" that I mentioned before. I'm willing to bet your dock has a cold solder joint somewhere which increases in resistance just enough to disrupt data transmission when the right combination of temperature and mechanical force from drive insertion is present.

Also, I agree with corkyg, please let us know the exact model of dock that we're dealing with here.

 

[Mac29]

OK, bradly1101: thanks, it uses a 'door'. never thought of blowing it out though.
Corkyg: it uses a sata connector. I've tried replugging that when this has come up before. Same product @ http://www.ebay.com/itm/Connectland...356?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item541530d3d4 (Sorry if you're not supposed to post links. Looked for instructions not to and couldn't find any.)

inachu: Oh yea of little faith ....
mfenn: When similar issue previously it wouldn't boot at all for 7 drive - totally black screen, 1 led on 'drive tray' blinks - but again, is fine w/my Linux Mint drive. This time I did LKGC and viola 7 Pro and XP then boot normally.

Since it doesn't seem to be hardware (LM drive boots ok), I can only surmise some controller, ahci or boot sector snafu. Really long time since I got no boot and reseated ram, etc. Appreciate all the interest though : )


Thanx,

Mac

 

[mfenn]

mfenn: When similar issue previously it wouldn't boot at all for 7 drive - totally black screen, 1 led on 'drive tray' blinks - but again, is fine w/my Linux Mint drive. This time I did LKGC and viola 7 Pro and XP then boot normally.

Since it doesn't seem to be hardware (LM drive boots ok), I can only surmise some controller, ahci or boot sector snafu. Really long time since I got no boot and reseated ram, etc. Appreciate all the interest though : )

The problem here is that your conclusion doesn't follow from the evidence.

You're dealing with a mechanical system here, every time you insert and remove the drive, you exert mechanical on the board, connectors, and solder joints, which can open or close momentary faults. Additionally, normal temperature variations and their impact on poor solder joints apply.

Since your system originally hung and you hard reset it, it's quite possible that the first failure (for this incident) occurred on write, and that write was never completely flushed to disk before the system was reset, leading to corruption. Restoring from the Last Known Good Configuration would have rolled back to a System Restore snapshot before the bad write.

Thanks for linking to the product you have, that is fine and in fact encouraged. Since it's fairly inexpensive, I would recommend buying and installing a replacement to get around the physical fault in the current caddy.