Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!quimby From: quimby@madoka.its.rpi.edu (Tom Stewart) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc Subject: Re: Hard Drive needs warmup??? Keywords: warmup, disk, drive, hard Message-ID: Date: 4 Jan 91 14:22:00 GMT References: Lines: 33 Nntp-Posting-Host: madoka.its.rpi.edu (Ken Shaffer) writes: >My brother's system when booted cold will not boot from his hard disk. >If he let's it sit and warm up (leaving the invalid boot device message >on the screen - or similar) for 15-20 minutes, then ctrl-alt-del, the >system then boots from the hard disk. > >Any suggestions as to the fix? What is the cause? > My guess is that the drive format is a little flakey, and the drift caused by the platter's thermal expansion is enough to make a difference. It's normal for some drives to fail boot when they are very cold, 0-20 degrees F or so, and it's not a good idea to try to boot one that is that cold - writing to a very cold drive can cause problems when the drive warms up again. Unless your brother keeps the room temperature at 50F or so, I'd suggest re-low-level formating the drive at normal operating temperature. It could be that the original format was done when the drive was very warm, or it could be that the drive has "drifted". Drives that start to "drift" often don't last more than a year or two. (Rough estimate, I've only seen it happen a couple of times.) As to power supply problems, it's certainly possible, but usually PS failure occurs at high, not low temp, and usually the failure mode is no output on any line. Quimby (mailer disfunctional, replies to: quimby@mts.rpi.edu, quimby@rpitsmts.bitnet)