Can you make sure that is not a failing CMOS battery.

I am getting a 1782 disk controller failure on my 340meg primary hard drive during the power on self test POST.

Gave this computer to my nephew. It has lots of windows 3.1 software on it, including Office 4.3

I don't wanna buy him a new PC. Can I get past this hard drive problem?

This question was answered on February 22, 2004. Much of the information contained herein may have changed since posting.

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The error meaning is that POST can not find the hard drive or the hard drive controller is not responding properly Try a cold boot Check CMOS and verify that the drive is recognized If CMOS supports auto dedection and BIOS recognizes the drive, the drive should be listed Verify that the hard drive settings are correct If you have previosly saved CMOS settings to a disk, restore CMOS from the backup Verify that the drive is spinning during POST Listen for the spinning drive or carefully place your hand on top of the drive housing to feel the vibrations Test the voltage of the power connection with a multimeter Reading should be:

Pin1 10.8 to 13.2 volt

pin2 ground and pin3 ground

pin4 4.5 to 5 volt

If the drive is spinning check the data cable connections and verify that pin1 is oriented correctly at both ends of the cable If the drive is still recognized by POST, try performing the following procedures in order:

reconnect or swap the data cable

Exchange the hard drive with one you know is in working condition If the known good drive does not work, then suspect the system board, including BIOS, the IDE connector, and chip set.

If the problem is solved by exchanging on of the above modules, try reinstalling the old module to verify if the problem was not caused by a bad connection Check the web site of the drive manufacturer for suggestions and tools.

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Posted by Student of Katharine Gibbs School - New York on February 22, 2004

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