Lap Top Hard Drive not holding partition (please read entire post)

This is a thread I started on another board that hasnt had any luck, I would greatly appreciate any input.


yes of course, that was tried first, over and over, it was only after the
restore and our oem copy didnt work that we resorted to fdisk

"Haus" wrote:

> Have you tried to boot from the XP cd and partition and format that way.
>
> --
> Hope This Helps
> Haus
> Good Luck
>
>
>
> "Deborah" <Deborah@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:0D7CEED5-5EC9-4CF7-BFA2-ADEDAB625788@microsoft.com...
> > Also tried different UDMA and still no. What I dont understand is, if the
> > drive is bad, why would it format and hold partitions on desktop,(in
> > laptop
> > hard drive adapter) but not in laptop? I can while in the laptop, fdisk,
> > format, set.... but after reboot, there is no partitons defined. In two
> > different laptops that work fine with other drives.... Obviously you would
> > think the drive must be bad? than why will it hold partions and boot fine
> > in
> > the desktop machine from the adapter? I need enlightenment.
> >
> > "Haus" wrote:
> >
> >> Deborah
> >> Have you set the BIOS boot order in the laptop.
> >> Most laptops boot order is set to boot the HDD before the ROM drive
> >> therefore when tiring to install the OS from the cd it is booting to the
> >> HDD
> >> and not the cd and you will not be able to continue.
> >> After finishing the install then you will be able to set it back to
> >> default.
> >>
> >> --
> >> Hope This Helps
> >> Haus
> >> Good Luck
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> "Deborah" <Deborah@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> >> news:1B38DC40-4490-4725-89BA-E05025E1AFA8@microsoft.com...
> >> >I have been trying to install winxp on a alaptop upgrade for a client.
> >> >What
> >> > happens is, I fdisk, format, and then reboot and the partition is gone.
> >> > I
> >> > plug the laptop hard drive into a desktop machine and no problem, I put
> >> > it
> >> > back into the laptop machine and no partition. I can fdisk and create
> >> > the
> >> > partition in the lap top but as soon as I reboot, poof, gone. I have
> >> > tried
> >> > using the laptop restore cd as well as a boot disk. I am going nutso
> >> > here.
> >> > The client needs this back in the morning. Just FYI I reset the bios to
> >> > defaults, also tried taking out the bios and lap top batteries and
> >> > letting
> >> > it
> >> > sit a bit and still no go, tried low lvl format on the drive, still
> >> > wont
> >> > hold
> >> > the partition on the lap top, reminder, it will hold the partition if
> >> > plugged
> >> > into the desktop machine. I also tried a second laptop, different brand
> >> > and
> >> > still had the same problem. If you create a partition in the desktop
> >> > set
> >> > it
> >> > up, shows working, take out of desktop and put in lap top, shows no
> >> > partition.
> >> > --
> >> > Deborah Owner ACE Computer Guy
> >> >

(^^;?(I couldn't make out the whole story. But,)

The point is that the HDD which you have fdisked surely doesn't have partition after reboot. But you formatted it? If unpartitioned, you have not to be able to format it?

In any ways, I suppose the HDD is losing its magnetic power, to revive this, try IBM drive fitness, and write 0 over the whole disk.

In a nutshell,
1)tried to clone users OS to new hard drive on laptop
2)tried to format and reinstall with recovery cd
3)tried to format with boot disk and fdisk
4)tried putting drive in adapter and formatting on desktop and transfering the drive back to lap top (drive keeps partition on desktop)
5)tried low lvl format (writing 0s)
6)tried hard drive in different laptop (same issue)
7)reset bios on laptop tried all of the above again
8)took out bios battery and laptop battery, tried all of the above again
9)put another drive in said laptop, boots fine
10)put new drive in desktop adapter, boots fine
11)put new drive back in laptop after booting fine in desktop adapter, reboot, lose partition

What happens is, the drive formats in laptop but upon reboot the partition is lost, no drive available, drive shows up in bios
and shows up on desktop (in hard drive adapter) but put it in the desktop, reboot and partition is lost, in two seperate laptops of different brand.
I would think the hard drive is bad IF it didnt format and boot fine while in the hard drive adapter on the desktop.

(^^;??(What a complex story it is!)

Then, even a new HDD was going to face the same fate as the said HDD.

In other word, the laptop seems to make a HDD weird. Are you telling thus?

Or this seems to be made by laptop and HDD each other?

The said laptop hardrive seems to behave the same in two different laptops of different brands which both work seperatly with another hard drive. But the replacement drive will work when put into a desktop drive adapter just fine.
I had thought it might be a udma problem, but both laptops are newer laptops that work with same size hard drives, just not this hard drive. I did try different UDMA formats just to check.
Could it be just a bad drive even though it will work in the desktop with the adapater?

I think this(what brand? by the way) is manneristic as some westerndgital ones which sometimes unrecognized or unformatted in different configurations i.e. different OS or different ATA cards, master/slave/cable changes.

This happens because disk geometry is changed by changing the configurations. After LBA is introduced, the conception geometry have had to be unnecessary, it is said, but OS (particularly Windows) seemed not to keep up with it.

Although I have not experimented yet, but Linux fdisk can deal with disk geometry.

That is why you should not fdisk it in desktop at least.

Drive Fitness is not pure low-level format, and as well as UDMA format may be of no use. But worth trying anything.

Then I am made to recommend Linux fdisk and change geometry if necessary.

After trying EVERYThing that I and 3 message boards had to offer, I ended up using a temporary replacement drive for my custoemr while I RMAd the crazy drive. Thanks everyone for all of your suggestions.

Deborah