"Any disk" drive failure

[jordanpr]

Hey guys. I just flew with my rig in an airplane, and send it through the scanner, and the last time I did so there were no problems.

This time, however, my comp turns up a boot message, and doesn't hit up the ol' XP like it should.

I'm a newb, can anyone help me? Just reinstall XP and consider the HD wiped? Or is there some way to check to see if my stuff is still on there?

 

[jordanpr]

the error is:

reboot and select proper boot device

or insert boot media into selected boot device and press a key.


this is basically telling me... no more XP on the ol' HD right?

 

[jordanpr]

"Detect drives done, no any drive found"

 

[IEC]

There should be no problems due to scanners at an airport... you may wish to check if a component was knocked loose. Just to clarify, was this taken as a checked bag or a carry-on item?

 

[Seekermeister]

Check the bios and make sure that it is set to boot from the proper drive. I assume that this is a laptop, so there is probably only one. If you have the XP CD, boot to it and use the Recovery Console to run CHKDSK /R.

 

[jordanpr]

Okay, I think I've zeroed in on the problem. It seems my comp doesn't think I have a hard drive. Everything seems to be connected though.

Would there be a reason other than it became disconnected during flight why the hard drive would not be "recognized" per se?

 

[jordanpr]

Carry-on, and desktop. I am very brave.

 

[Bozo Galora]

normally, I would think that the HSF had been dislodged a bit, or something like that.
But if your PC works and you can actually say the prob is theres no HDD to be seen, that brings up the interesting question as to whether ionizing radiation can hurt a HDD.
My first guess is that it fried the controller chip on the HDD PSB.
I dont THINK radiation could scramble magnetic HDD data, but I really dont know.

Interesting, I'll have to ask around about this.

 

[Leros]

I dunno, I had a problem with my laptop last time I went through airport security. It would hang on the Windows boot. Everything was fine after I restored the drive.

 

[Mark R]

Originally posted by: Bozo Galora
normally, I would think that the HSF had been dislodged a bit, or something like that.
But if your PC works and you can actually say the prob is theres no HDD to be seen, that brings up the interesting question as to whether ionizing radiation can hurt a HDD.
My first guess is that it fried the controller chip on the HDD PSB.
I dont THINK radiation could scramble magnetic HDD data, but I really dont know.

Interesting, I'll have to ask around about this.

I don't think X-radiation has a significan't effect on hard drives.

However, cosmic radiation which is present at high levels at cruising altitude can corrupt flash memory (this includes firmware (BIOS, hard drives, etc.) as well as flash drives/sticks).

 

[cryptonomicon]

any way to reset cmos on a laptop?

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: jordanpr
Okay, I think I've zeroed in on the problem. It seems my comp doesn't think I have a hard drive. Everything seems to be connected though.

Disconnect and reconnect the hard drive, both power and the data cable (both ends of it too). Also clear BIOS. Then try re-detecting.

 

[DanDrop]

Sounds like a damaged hard disk. Did you accidentally 'jar' or bump the computer while in transit?

 

[WackyDan]

I've flown nearly 150 flights a year for the last eight years, all while carrying at least one laptop. Heck, even NASA drags ThinkPads into space with no modification these days.

Airport security screening does absolutely no harm to your laptops, or an actual desktop when run through the x-ray machine. NONE.

However, you carried a desktop. A desktop's drive does not take shocks and bumps like a laptop's drive will. Was it in the overhead? The jostling around while on the aircraft, or just carrying it around could be part of the issue. OR.... It could just be a coincidence that your drive has an issue.

Have you tried restoring a viable Master Boot Record for XP to see if it would indeed boot?>

 

[pcgeek11]

Originally posted by: Mark R
I don't think X-radiation has a significan't effect on hard drives.

However, cosmic radiation which is present at high levels at cruising altitude can corrupt flash memory (this includes firmware (BIOS, hard drives, etc.) as well as flash drives/sticks).

Now that is rich. Cosmic radiation taking out the flash chips... Inside of an airplane inside the atmosphere, No way. That would make it unsafe for the plane electronics also. Very Very unlikely!

pcgeek11