Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!mcsun!ukc!strath-cs!str-va!cnav11
From: cnav11@vaxa.strath.ac.uk
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.programmer
Subject: IDE's :Want to Know More
Message-ID: <1991May20.151010.11704@vaxa.strath.ac.uk>
Date: 20 May 91 15:10:10 GMT
Organization: Strathclyde University VAX Cluster
Lines: 20

Recently I bought a 386 25MHz IBM compatible.After a few weeks
the computer wouldn't start up and kept giving very "strange"
messages including

Cannot find operating system

CMOS battery state low

When I took the computer back to the dealer he said that the
latest range of IBM compatibles have IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics)
disk controllers and since I had been using Norton Utilities and
PCtools this had probably corrupted the reserved sectors on the
hard disk resulting in the system crahing.

He couldn't however find the exact fault so he gave me a computer
with a new motherboard and advised me to avoid using utility 
programs.

Does anyone have any more information on IDE's and was the dealer
correct in telling me to avoid using utility programs.?