On Sep 4, 12:16 am, Stefan Patric <toot...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> On Mon, 03 Sep 2007 16:09:13 +0000, eric wrote:
> > Hi all, hope someone can help.
> > I'm having a problem with my desktop machine (dual Windows/Linux, both
> > installed on a single Maxtor 200GB disk): when I turn it on, it never
> > boots and it goes into the CMOS Setup Utility instead. I still see the
> > disk so I wonder if the disk is broken or there is some other problem.
>
> > This is what I see within the CMOS Setup Utiliy:
>
> > Channel 0 Master [None]
> > Channel 0 Slave [Benq DVD]
> > Channel 1 Master [None]
> > Channel 1 Slave [None]
> > Channel 2 Master [Maxtor 6V200E0]
> > Channel 3 Master [None]
> > Channel 4 Master [None]
> > Channel 5 Master [None]
>
> > The IDE Channel 2 Master is as follows:
>
> > Extended IDE Drive [Auto]
> > Capacity 203 Gb
> > Cylinder 65535
> > Head 16
> > PreComp 0
> > Landing Zone 65534
> > Sector 255
>
> > Thanks a lot.
>
> A question. Is your hard drive plugged into the IDE0 port? It should
> be, since it's your Master system drive. Windows "likes" being on IDE0
> Master. Linux doesn't care. You might have a "blown" IDE0 controller
> chip, too. I had this happen on a system, which caused it to refuse to
> boot. I just sat there.
>
> Check all your connections to the motherboard and to your drives. Make
> sure nothing is loose or broken. Clean contacts.
>
> Check that your CMOS battery is good. When it dies, sometimes this
> causes booting problems.
>
> I'm assuming that this just started. What were you doing before the last
> shutdown when everything was working?
>
> Boot your system using a Linux Live CD to check that there is nothing
> wrong with your hardware. See if it recognizes and configures
> everything. Run fsck on your Linux partition(s). Any errors? If not,
> check if you can mount your hard drive, DVD, etc. Check that your MBR
> (Master Boot Record) is not damaged. I'm assuming that when you
> installed Linux, you wrote GRUB or LILO, to the MBR overwriting Windows'
> MBR.
>
> Boot with your Windows CD in Repair Mode, and see what happens. As a
> last resort you can write the Windows' MBR back to the hard drive
> (overwriting the Linux one) using the command 'fixmbr'. However, you
> won't be able to boot Linux anymore.
>
> Switch where your drives are connected. See if that does anything.
>
> Stef

Thank you very much for your detailed answer. I switched keyboard and
the problem has disappeared, so I assume it was a keyboard problem
(though I can't quite pinpoint it). Still, I'm not 100% convinced. To
answer your questions, my hard disk is plugged in IDE 2, and
everything was working just fine before my last shutdown.