Optimist, the machine has 1.5 Gig RAM. So RAM is probably not the issue though when I got some of the blue screens I did wonder if faulty RAM could be an issue.

MM, powersupply is fine...I can boot from a floppy alright. I'm very sure the problem is the darned drive - it had been giving me a bit of grief for a while and I was due to replace it. It's hit me when I was days from ordering the new one...oh well, that's hardware and technology.

Klal
I had similar symptoms to yours and it turned out to be a faulty ide cable. Cheap enough to be worth a try

Thanks iiwarm. I will certainly keep that in mind! If it turns out to be the case, I'll owe you.

It is certainly worth replacing the IDE cable, but don't write off MM's comment re the power supply. Just because they seem to work does not mean that they are OK.

I gather that you are mounting it on a different machine, so that should eliminate all the non disc problems.

Optimist, will try every option, including powersupply. I do see this as a good excuse to buy a new PC! :-)

The option that you should try first, is mounting it as a slave on a different PC. Anything else reduces your chances of data recovery.

Yes, that makes sense. I've left the main PC powered off since yesterday. Going to carry out the rescue attempt soon after lunch. I've had tremendous help here for which I am grateful. I will post the results here as soon I'm able to get somewhere.

On the job now...opened up PC "A" which I will use to fix the faulty drive from PC "B"

The IDE cable that connects to the PC A's hard disk is pretty awkwardly placed to use for "B"'s drive. Can I disconnect the cable that connects to a CD drive in PC "A" and use it on the faulty disk?

Yes!

Obviously you will not be able to use the CD and the CD cable is likely to be a 40 wire one rather than the 80 wire for the HDD. It will still work but transfer rate will be slower.

Thanks Optimist. I'm now struggling to get the hard disk out from the faulty machine. I don't see any obvious screws holding the drive in place. What I do see are a pair of metallic "prongs." I can post a picture if that helps. Obviously, I don't want to tug hard and destroy something in the process!

Don't try to force it, look for any retaining screws and if there are none, then it will probably slide or swing out when you press the right bit.

By all means post the picture, someone may know the type.

Here we go...

I'm thinking if I can't get the disk out...I'll just bring PC A close enough and connect its IDE cable and power cable! And keep PC B (the bad one) powered off.

Your plan B should work.

The release mechanism should be something to do with the pieces of metal extending back from each side of the disk. Also, there is a metal tab above the HDD on the power connector side.

I bet it comes out really easy once you know how. Have you checked the manufactures web site?

Edit

You may as well find how to get the disk out as it needs throwing away once you have copied the data and safe erased it.

You're right. I'm trying to work it out with what info. I can get from Mesh's website.

Update - I managed to wire the faulty drive to PC "A" but it is not able to see the faulty drive. I tried to go into setup to force it to detect the drive but no luck. What could I be doing wrong? Just to remind, the faulty drive has been connected to the test machine ("A") while still sitting in the original machine ("B").

I've used the IDE cable from the CD drive in "A" with a spare power cable.

There are a few reasons why it is not being detected but possibly I gave you wrong info and you should first try IDE cable or make sure that the jumper settings on the disk drive to master rather than cable select.

The other possibility is that the BIOS of the other machine does not support that drive.

Or perhaps the jumpers on the suspect drive (B) should be set to slave as the master (A) is the one known to be OK

No he is connecting it with the CD cable so that will be on the second IDE chanell and it is better to be a master.

Frustratingly, I got nowhere with my attempts to fix the problem myself. I'm going to get a local technician to take a look at the problem to see if he can fix it. Failing that, I'll remove the hard disk and try a data recovery service - apparently there are some outfits that will do it at a reasonable fixed cost. But thanks to all who here who helped generously.