Very Computer

Hi,

I'm suddenly having problems with my PC running Linux (kernel 2.0.34,
if it matters).  I was logged in and doing some things today, when
things seemed to slowly start breaking.  I was unable to create xterms
and I wasn't even able to login on another console.  I rebooted,
hoping for the best.  Well, the PC went through its BIOS thing,
checking memory and hard drives, but then refused to run lilo, just
beeping constantly.  Feeling a bit nervous, I tried booting off a boot
disk.  That didn't work either, until I reinstalled this EZBIOS (or
something like that) tool that came with my new 11.5 Gb Maxtor hard
drive.  Then, it seemed to boot normally from the disk, but died with
the message "unable to open initial console".  Oh, also, once I did
the EZBIOS thing, it just printed "Missing operating system" when it
would normally go to the lilo prompt when booting from the hard drive.

I also dual boot to Windows 95 when necessary, so I tried a Windows
boot disk.  It got me to a C: prompt, but it complained that my C: and
D: partitions were invalid media or something.

Everything was working fine (I've had the new hard drive several
weeks) until today, and I didn't change anything.  Something seems
seriously screwed up here.  Does anyone have any idea what could be
going on?  Is a hard drive fried?  I've never had that happen to me
(PC is two years old).  Maybe the partition table info got destroyed
somehow?

Thanks in advance for any help,
Reid

Quote:>Hi,

>I'm suddenly having problems with my PC running Linux (kernel 2.0.34,
>if it matters).  I was logged in and doing some things today, when
>things seemed to slowly start breaking.  I was unable to create xterms
>and I wasn't even able to login on another console.  I rebooted,
>hoping for the best.  Well, the PC went through its BIOS thing,
>checking memory and hard drives, but then refused to run lilo, just
>beeping constantly.  Feeling a bit nervous, I tried booting off a boot
>disk.  That didn't work either, until I reinstalled this EZBIOS (or
>something like that) tool that came with my new 11.5 Gb Maxtor hard
>drive.  Then, it seemed to boot normally from the disk, but died with
>the message "unable to open initial console".  Oh, also, once I did
>the EZBIOS thing, it just printed "Missing operating system" when it
>would normally go to the lilo prompt when booting from the hard drive.

>I also dual boot to Windows 95 when necessary, so I tried a Windows
>boot disk.  It got me to a C: prompt, but it complained that my C: and
>D: partitions were invalid media or something.

>Everything was working fine (I've had the new hard drive several
>weeks) until today, and I didn't change anything.  Something seems
>seriously screwed up here.  Does anyone have any idea what could be
>going on?  Is a hard drive fried?  I've never had that happen to me
>(PC is two years old).  Maybe the partition table info got destroyed
>somehow?

that sounds like what has happened.  maybe a virus?

i have little win9x experience, but you s/b able to run FDISK from either
linux or dos and recreate the partition tables.

loren

Quote:>Thanks in advance for any help,
>Reid