Potential data loss or system hang during system
shut down |
|
Problem description: |
| Some computers that have Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) hard disk
drives and newer or faster processors may have the potential for losing
data. The data loss can occur if the system shuts down power to the
hard disk drive before the data that is in the drive's cache is saved to
the drive. This problem is not specific to any one brand of processor, computer
or hardware. The problem is an industry-wide issue that affects a
variety of vendors. The biggest concern with this problem is that a user
may not be aware that the problem exists until after data is lost or the
operating system is corrupted. |
|
Symptoms include any of the following:
|
- When you start up the computer, the operating system reports that
the system was improperly shutdown even though it was shut down correctly.
- The system does not boot to the operating system because of lost data
during shutdown. The hard disk drive may sound noisy during boot up
while trying to recover lost data needed to boot the operating system.
The noise will go away once the operating system data is reloaded and
the corrupted data is fixed. It is important to note that there
is nothing wrong with the hard drive when this occurs.
- The system boots up but reports corrupted data or that it cannot read
data from the hard disk drive. The hard disk drive is not bad in this
case, but contains data that was corrupted during the previous system
shutdown. Once the corrupted data files are fixed on the hard disk drive,
the system will work fine. (Again, the hard disk drive may make noise
while trying to recover the lost data. The noise will go away once the
data files on the hard disk drive are fixed.)
|
|
Solution to the problem:
|
Microsoft has issued an update to their operating system depending on
which one is being used. This update is available at:
http://www.microsoft.com/Windows98/downloads/contents/wucritical/q273017/Default.asp |
|
|
|
