Western Digital Caviar EIDE 5400 RPM Hard Disks May Be Defective

ID: Q245911

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition

SYMPTOMS

When you try to use one of the following Western Digital 5400 RPM Caviar EIDE hard disks, you may experience odd or unpredictable behavior:

WD64AA-XXAAAX (6.4 GB)

WD68AA (6.8 GB)

WD84AA-XXAAAX (8.4 GB)

WD100AA (10.0 GB)

WD102AA-XXAAAX (10.2 GB)

WD135AA (13.5 GB)

WD136AA (13.6 GB)

WD170AA (17.0 GB)

WD172AA (17.2 GB)

WD200AA (20.0 GB)

WD205AA (20.5 GB)

WD68AARTL (6.8 GB)

10100RTL (10.1 GB)

13000RTL (13.0 GB)

20400RTL (20.4 GB)

The odd or unpredictable behavior may include one or more of the following symptoms:

Possible data loss.

An inability to properly start your computer.

An inability to finish installing an operating system.

An inability to run the FDISK tool.

CAUSE

This issue can occur if you are using a Western Digital 5400 RPM Caviar EIDE hard disk made between August 27, 1999 and September 24, 1999. Some of these hard disks have a hardware issue, and may exhibit the behavior noted earlier in this article.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this issue, contact Western Digital to determine if you have one of the affected hard disks and to inquire about the availability of a fix for this issue.

To work around this issue, use a hard disk that is not on the list in the SYMPTOM section.

MORE INFORMATION

For more information about this issue, please see the following Western Digital Web site:

http://www.westerndigital.com/fitness/drive-alert.html

The third-party contact information included in this article is provided to help you find the technical support you need. This contact information is subject to change without notice. Microsoft in no way guarantees the accuracy of this third-party contact information.

Additional query words:

Keywords : kbhw win98se
Version : WINDOWS:
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbprb