ResinBoy: That's interesting. Perhaps they've tried something radically different with the version they are now shipping. I cannot believe these problems weren't caused by MaxBlast. I assume you installed about a month ago?
Damn, what a nightmare..all my suggestions have mostly been mentioned already....
I have a MaxBlastPlus Version 1.11M disk that I have probably used 50 times without any failures like this and would be happy to send it to you. Let me know.
I know a few times when I've had no boot problems/black screens with clients computers, sometimes the ONLY way to get back was to pull the power cord, remove the battery for about 10 minutes AND then short the solder points (if equiped) to clear the CMOS for at least 10 seconds, all in this order.
Also have you tried the ram from the third computer in the two bad ones?
Try the known good Power Supply from the third computer also...
Check every jumper again and every case wire and also look for board shorts.
Finally, call around to a friendly shop in your area, and see if they have the same M.B.'s and will let you pop in another bios chip.
I have a MaxBlastPlus Version 1.11M disk that I have probably used 50 times without any failures like this and would be happy to send it to you. Let me know.
I know a few times when I've had no boot problems/black screens with clients computers, sometimes the ONLY way to get back was to pull the power cord, remove the battery for about 10 minutes AND then short the solder points (if equiped) to clear the CMOS for at least 10 seconds, all in this order.
Also have you tried the ram from the third computer in the two bad ones?
Try the known good Power Supply from the third computer also...
Check every jumper again and every case wire and also look for board shorts.
Finally, call around to a friendly shop in your area, and see if they have the same M.B.'s and will let you pop in another bios chip.
CRV: Thanks for the reply. I also have Version 1.11m of MaxBlast. It works great. This new version of MaxBlast was shipped with the recently manufactured batch of Maxtor 20 giggers.
I have pulled the plugs, replaced the memory, tested the cpus separately, etc. The power supplies come on in both machines because the cpu fan comes on System A and System B gives me a screen before it reboots spontaneously. All the components, except the mobos(and p.s.) work in the third system! I have ordered two new motherboards, which will be here tomorrow. I'm going to replace both motherboards, and get each system working. Then, I'm going to pull the rom bios chip out of the Asus and put it in one of the new Asus boards and fire it up. Who wants to bet real money the system won't start?
One of the machines is owned by a lawyer. He is not happy....
Edit: Tomorrow a.m. I'll try your suggestion about pulling the plug, pulling the battery, clearing cmos. I'll let you know. Let's hope that works on BOTH machines.
I have pulled the plugs, replaced the memory, tested the cpus separately, etc. The power supplies come on in both machines because the cpu fan comes on System A and System B gives me a screen before it reboots spontaneously. All the components, except the mobos(and p.s.) work in the third system! I have ordered two new motherboards, which will be here tomorrow. I'm going to replace both motherboards, and get each system working. Then, I'm going to pull the rom bios chip out of the Asus and put it in one of the new Asus boards and fire it up. Who wants to bet real money the system won't start?
One of the machines is owned by a lawyer. He is not happy....
Edit: Tomorrow a.m. I'll try your suggestion about pulling the plug, pulling the battery, clearing cmos. I'll let you know. Let's hope that works on BOTH machines.
chess9
You mentioned about a virus?
This got me thinking about something I had read about a few months ago..a varient of the CIH virus DOES alter and scramble your bios...
http://www.commweek.com/news/news0721-4.htm
If this happened..I don't think I would try the infected chip in the new board even though if it's scrambled it probably just wouldn't boot like the other one....but the possibility exists that if the virus is in the CMOS then it could possibly spread to the H.D. on boot...not alot is really known about this virus and what it can do.
If the virus did scramble the chip then putting in a new one could also be dangerous if the virus is still on the old H.D.
Before you replace the chip, run the old H.D.'s as slaves on another system and run the latest scanners on them, maybe even write zeros to them before you FDISK/Format.
You mentioned about a virus?
This got me thinking about something I had read about a few months ago..a varient of the CIH virus DOES alter and scramble your bios...
http://www.commweek.com/news/news0721-4.htm
If this happened..I don't think I would try the infected chip in the new board even though if it's scrambled it probably just wouldn't boot like the other one....but the possibility exists that if the virus is in the CMOS then it could possibly spread to the H.D. on boot...not alot is really known about this virus and what it can do.
If the virus did scramble the chip then putting in a new one could also be dangerous if the virus is still on the old H.D.
Before you replace the chip, run the old H.D.'s as slaves on another system and run the latest scanners on them, maybe even write zeros to them before you FDISK/Format.
CRV: Excellent thought. I think this scenario could only be a virus or MaxBlast writing to rom. Thanks for some very good help. I'll know more today. 
I was going to post this morning about Maxtor drives, and here you are with similar to my problem! I have trashed nearly 20 Maxtor drives this year, after having all fail while in production use. The machines are all IBM, with a few Compaq's also. The Maxtor drives keep having sectors go bad, and I end up reinstalling the entire machine with a Western Digital drive. One machine is on it's third install, after having 2 Maxtors fail. I have used MaxBlast to low-level format, thinking I could salvage some of these drives. MaxBlast appeared to have written to the BIOS also, and this is not one machine, it's nearly 20 machines. I used the very lastest version from Maxtor. I was wondering if it was just me, but after reading this I'm thinking it really is the Maxtor drives/MaxBlast.
Jean: Good grief, man, 20 drives! I'd be knocking down Maxtor's doors! I've got two bad machines and I'm apoplectic!
Here's an update. I've checked three of the 4 drives for viruses. NO KNOWN VIRUSES have been found. I'm doing the last one as we speak, so to speak, er type.
Here's an update. I've checked three of the 4 drives for viruses. NO KNOWN VIRUSES have been found. I'm doing the last one as we speak, so to speak, er type.
Imaginer
Diamond Member
- Oct 15, 1999
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Judging by the number of posts... I think I will use a Western Digital for my next machine. Even maxtor does make good hard drives, I virtually hate their software. It is Fdisk and format for me!
I once had to use that jumper on my BH6 to reset the CMOS for some reason. I think it is this very reason... But I am not sure.
I once had to use that jumper on my BH6 to reset the CMOS for some reason. I think it is this very reason... But I am not sure.
chess9
I'm sure you have the latest scanner but another one can't hurt!
Here is some more info on CIH and a link to a freeware version of Norton Anti-Virus
There is also a utility to remove the CIH from memory but that shouldn't apply to your situation right now.
http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/kill_cih.html
If you hear about it...DO NOT download a program called nocih.exe this is actually another virus! :Q
After all the scans I would feel fairly safe to move this along to the insert new bios chip (when you get it) and reboot into bios stage. Keep us informed!
I'm sure you have the latest scanner but another one can't hurt!
Here is some more info on CIH and a link to a freeware version of Norton Anti-Virus
There is also a utility to remove the CIH from memory but that shouldn't apply to your situation right now.
http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/kill_cih.html
If you hear about it...DO NOT download a program called nocih.exe this is actually another virus! :Q
After all the scans I would feel fairly safe to move this along to the insert new bios chip (when you get it) and reboot into bios stage. Keep us informed!
Ladies and Gentlemen: No viruses found on any of the 4 hard drives. I've tried CRV's excellent suggestions and came up empty. I will have two new boards about 4:00 p.m. today, God willing, and UPS rises! All the cpus work, all the memory works, three of the hard drives work fine, one has a fried boot sector, but can be reformatted. I checked all the drives with Maxtor's and WD's utilities. They are all fine.
My lawyer is now taking Maxtor's name in vain. Ouchee!
CRV, I'm going to stick an old hard drive in one machine after I swap out the bios, just in case it boots or transfers some ugly virus to the drive. Mucho gracias, senor!
My lawyer is now taking Maxtor's name in vain. Ouchee!
CRV, I'm going to stick an old hard drive in one machine after I swap out the bios, just in case it boots or transfers some ugly virus to the drive. Mucho gracias, senor!
CRV: Symantec has the CIH virus in its database. I have the latest definitions for Norton, but also downloaded McAffee's demo to check all the drives with. Each drive has been checked twice already. Do you think this CIH file will find something if the other two didn't? Also, apparently this file checks memory only, so I can't use it until I get the systems up. Then I'll use it before I run av again. Right?
CRV: By the way, I ordered complete new boards because I don't know for sure that the board doesn't have some damage. Might as well go the extra $80 and get it right the first time. If I find out the bios is bad, I'll order one for System A and sell the board here!
In my edit I mentioned that tool wouldn't apply to this situation and the main idea of my post was to give you a link to more info and to the Norton/Symantec freeware scanner which you said you have already tried.
You should be good to try the new bios chip and using an old drive is a safe idea.
Good Luck and let us know!
You should be good to try the new bios chip and using an old drive is a safe idea.
Good Luck and let us know!
chess9, Let us know something. If we don't hear from you, it would be like reading a book with the last chapter tore out...
Jagators: Good stuff coming tomorrow p.m. The plot has THICKENED! This is really too crazy to give short shrift. Tune in tomorrow! I'm almost finished.
Chess, were you able to get to the bottom of this?
I am having problems installing a 30 Gig Maxtor (7200 rpm).
Initially I tried to copy my old drive using Maxblast and it totally screwed up the drive so I reformatted without copying the drive.
It seems to have worked PARTLY in that I can read and write from the drive when I have it set up as a slave but I can't boot from it when I set it up as master. It gets partway through the boot process and just stops at the C: prompt. When I go to the windows directory and type WIN it tells me that it can't find HIMEM.SYS in the windows directory. To make things even stranger, I can see HIMEM.SYS sitting there when I look at the directory and I have copied the file there a hundred times. Having read this thread I have a feeling there is something very wrong with the version of Maxblast that was sent with the drive. I have a feeling I will have to reformat start from scratch.
One more thing, Maxblast installed EZbios on my system and now it loads everytime I start my machine. How do I get rid of it? I am running 95 OSR2 so I shouldn't need it should I?
I am having problems installing a 30 Gig Maxtor (7200 rpm).
Initially I tried to copy my old drive using Maxblast and it totally screwed up the drive so I reformatted without copying the drive.
It seems to have worked PARTLY in that I can read and write from the drive when I have it set up as a slave but I can't boot from it when I set it up as master. It gets partway through the boot process and just stops at the C: prompt. When I go to the windows directory and type WIN it tells me that it can't find HIMEM.SYS in the windows directory. To make things even stranger, I can see HIMEM.SYS sitting there when I look at the directory and I have copied the file there a hundred times. Having read this thread I have a feeling there is something very wrong with the version of Maxblast that was sent with the drive. I have a feeling I will have to reformat start from scratch.
One more thing, Maxblast installed EZbios on my system and now it loads everytime I start my machine. How do I get rid of it? I am running 95 OSR2 so I shouldn't need it should I?
Spikeman7, I can't answer all of your questions, but I can tell you how to get MaxBlast out of there. You have to use the MaxBlast disk, go to the menu and you will see the instructions of how to take EZBios out. I never did hear what the finale results of chess9 problem. He ended up tearing the last chapter out.
Spikeman7:
The reason I've left this matter unresolved to date is because I have been waiting for a replacement bios for the P3V4X, which actually arrived today. Once I replace the bios, if the motherboard works then I have strong grounds, I believe, to complain to Maxtor about the shipping version of MaxBlast. Also, if the bios was killed on the P3V4X, I'm going to try to pick up a bios for the other POS Dell motherboard to determine if it is workable with a new bios. Once those tests have been completed, I'll post my findings. Frankly, I think the shipping version of MaxBlast is defective for at least some boards.
Regarding your problem, I would FDisk, followed by a format. Although MaxBlast has a utility to remove EZBios, I wouldn't use it under the circumstances.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings on this score.
I hope you notify Maxtor of your problems. I certainly intend to do so, inasmuch as their tech support was utterly worthless and the software screwed up two machines.
Best of Luck!
The reason I've left this matter unresolved to date is because I have been waiting for a replacement bios for the P3V4X, which actually arrived today. Once I replace the bios, if the motherboard works then I have strong grounds, I believe, to complain to Maxtor about the shipping version of MaxBlast. Also, if the bios was killed on the P3V4X, I'm going to try to pick up a bios for the other POS Dell motherboard to determine if it is workable with a new bios. Once those tests have been completed, I'll post my findings. Frankly, I think the shipping version of MaxBlast is defective for at least some boards.
Regarding your problem, I would FDisk, followed by a format. Although MaxBlast has a utility to remove EZBios, I wouldn't use it under the circumstances.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings on this score.
I hope you notify Maxtor of your problems. I certainly intend to do so, inasmuch as their tech support was utterly worthless and the software screwed up two machines.
Best of Luck!
Jagators: Yes, this problem has dragged on. Actually, I ordered a bios from Midco and they failed to deliver or refund my money. Do not buy any bios chips from Midco Computers. I finally got one from BiosWorld, who shipped rather quickly.
I'm not sure I'm ready to write the FINAL chapter, but I'm about ready to write the NEXT chapter, sorry to say.
I'm not sure I'm ready to write the FINAL chapter, but I'm about ready to write the NEXT chapter, sorry to say.
chess9, All I can say is I feel for you. What a mess MaxBlast has caused you, and I know without your saying, you were trying to do a couple of your friends a favor.
Thanks guys, I think I will just Fdisk and start over on the new drive but I need to get ezbios of my old drive. Wish me luck...
Update
I managed to get my drive working last nite. I downloaded a trial version of Drive Copy and re-copied the old drive and voila! Good luck chess9, I know your problems are much worse than mine were...
I managed to get my drive working last nite. I downloaded a trial version of Drive Copy and re-copied the old drive and voila! Good luck chess9, I know your problems are much worse than mine were...
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