Windows 7 Random Crashs

hello

i've noticed lately that my computer will freeze every once in a while. no blue screen of death will appear but the mouse will work but no programs will respond when i click on anything on the screen. however if i do ctrl alt delete and bring up the task manager and then close it, everything is back to normal again. it's annoying! it happens a few times a day. do i have something on my computer that's doing this? also i had a blue screen of death for the first time on this computer a few days ago. i was installing some third party software on my ipod (Rockbox) and i was selecting a bunch of items on a list while holding ctrl and then i got the blue screen. it said something at the top like "Bad Pool" i think. can't remember for sure. but i haven't gotten a blue screen since. i think it was a one time thing. any advice???

thanks in advance if anyone can help solve this issue. it would be GREATLY appreciated

P.S. i had opened a application that was supposedly from DHL and i thought i had the so called "DHL application virus" that's been reported around the Net. however i haven't noticed anything when i originally got it. Not sure if that's related to this new issue.

my computer stats:

Windows 7 Home Premium
AMD Phenom(tm) 9750 Quad-Core Processor 2.40 GHz
8.00 GB RAM
64-bit Operating System
Gateway Desktop
Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2011

 

Greetings, Michael1980.

It's been my experience that the 'Bad Pool Header' can be caused by the following:

1. Registry problems.
2. Memory problems.
3. Windows Update.

Fixes?

1. Download and install CCleaner. Run both the files cleaner and the Registry cleaner.
2. Reseat your RAM modules, making sure everything is clean. You might also consider swapping modules, and trying one stick at a time.
3. Check your Windows Update history, see if anything stands out during the time frame of the crash. You might also check your Event Viewer for any likely flags.

 

hi Caliban.

thanks for the reply pal. i will follow your instructions immediately. but before i do that i was confused by the 2nd step. can you elaborate further in detail? i am confused how i go about doing that step.

thanks in advance pal.

 

No problem.

Are you familiar at all with the hardware layout of your machine? Ever poked around inside a desktop?
Not being facetious - just trying to get a handle on your level of expertise.

 

not really unfortunately. i do open up my desktop when i clean the processor fan and such for dust. cause it gets really dusty in there after a while. so yeah my expertise on hardware stuff isn't all that good. however if i need someone to help me with a hardware problem my cousin can possibly help. he knows some stuff about the hardware of a desktop. cause he helped me install some hardware like disc drives in there.

 

Copy.

Let's stick with the registry cleaning for now - run CCleaner, let it do its thing, and see if the freezes clear up.

 

ok i just ran ccleaner like you said. however i forgot to mention that i ran ccleaner a couple of days ago to try to correct this issue im having and i still got freezes afterwards. i did check windows update history and i noticed i had a failure at downloading "Update For Windows 7 for x64-based systems (KB2388210) it was attempted on October 26th and the update type was recommended. but i successfully downloaded it later on October 26th it looks like. but i'd thought i'd mention it. i know i've been having these crashes for at least 2 or 3 weeks. so maybe it's connected? right now windows update says it's up to date.

i've never used event viewer before but what i noticed is that there was 3 critical errors. 2 on the 18th of this month and 1 on the 16th. keep in mind i only had a blue screen of death just one time.

i really hope i don't have to end up formatting the drive and reinstalling Windows to fix this problem cause it's a pain reinstalling everything and i don't think i have enough blanks or external drive space to back up my data on the main drive.

 

Did the CCleaner registry cleaner find and fix any items? And, what were the Event Viewer critical errors?

I seriously doubt a format/reinstall is called for in this situation. If we can narrow down the specific causes for the freezes, you should be good to go.
Try to remember exactly what is running when the next freeze occurs: are you on the internet? Watching video? Transferring data? etc.

 

i forgot to write down what it found. i'm sorry. but it did find something i just can't remember what. doess ccleaner make a log that i can post? i just ran it again and it found nothing in registry cleaner.

i've never used event viewer before until you told me yesterday. but checking it again it lists the critical errors as source - Kernel-Power, Event ID - 41, Task Category - (63). "The system has rebooted without clearly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly." I know this is a stupid move but i will stop doing it but i think 2 of those critical errors was cause i shut down the computer without going to shut down in windows. i was angry that it froze.

i will make note of what i'm running next time it freezes. usually i'm multitasking and running a lot of programs. and i pretty much have my computer running all day and night cause i run Utorrent to seed my torrents. but i always run a scan before opening anything i download.

 

No need to be sorry - we're doing the best we can.

Don't worry about any CCleaner logs. As long as you allowed it to fix any errors it may have found, then everything there should be fine.

Do try to log what programs are running the next time the machine crashes, and try to remember to check the Event Viewer at or near the time of the crash.

Hang in there, and keep us posted.

 

ok cool .

sounds good about ccleaner. i will make note next time if there's anything it finds in registry cleaner.

will do regarding the programs i'm running when it does that. and i will remember to check the event viewer.

thanks pal. i will keep you posted.

 

got some news. my computer just froze again. no Blue Screen of Death or crash just froze. you might remember that was the main thing that was happening when i posted here. i had one Blue screen of death crash but it was weeks ago. and it was the only one i ever had on this computer. i'm pointing that out again cause you said next time the machine crashes let you know what programs i'm running. well here's the programs i'm running when it froze.

Sticky Notes
2 folders
my web browser had two tabs open.
AOL
MediaMonkey music player
Floola (Music management program for Ipods)
and i had a usb cable plugged into my ipod to the computer.

is that too much to run at once? i've had more programs than that running in the past and no trouble. i'm not sure what made it froze this time. but i have a good amount of RAM - 8GB.

in event viewer i found some disturbing notifications. the latest one i think was when i got the freeze it was:

Level: Warning
Source: Dhcp-Client
Event ID: 1003
Task Category: Address Configuration State Event
"Your computer was not able to review its addess from the network (from the DHCP Server) for the Network Card with network address 0x00064F80F05D. The following error occurred: 0x79. Your computer will continue to try and obtain an address on its own from the network address (DHCP) server.

i also got a error 20 min before i found this note in event viewer. they are:

Source: Bonjour Service
Event ID: 100
Task Category: None

508: ERROR: read_msg errno 10054 (An existing connection was

there was some more errors today listed. but before i report them can you tell me the easiest way to copy info from Event Viewer so that i can paste them here? cause it's a pain to write them all up manually. let me now

 

Hi, Michael.

In Event Viewer's right hand ('Action') pane, there is a 'Copy' option. I'd guess the best way would be to highlight a particular error, click 'Copy' and 'Copy Details as Text', and then paste the text into Notepad, which you can then post here as an attachment.

I can't see how the items you listed would have caused the freeze, unless, of course, there is a problem with one or more of those programs. Maybe something associated with the Apple apps is causing conflicts?

Was anything special going on at the time of the freeze: streaming video, gaming, etc.?

 

Better if it was saved as a *.evt file then zipped before attaching the zip. Makes it easy to import into Event Viewer the other end to check it over.

 

I stand corrected - that is pretty neat.

 

ok i am attaching the event viewer as a .evt file. thanks satrow for the tip

ya know i think there may be a problem with one of my apple apps cause i had my ipod connected on usb to the computer when it froze yesterday and when i got the blue screen of death which was a week or so ago when it said bad pool. can't remember if i had the usb to the ipod on the other times it froze but i have been using the usb to the ipod a lot lately.

nothing special was going at the time that i recall. all i remember was that i had the usb to the ipod connected. plus the folders and apps i had open that i reported in a earlier post.

maybe the event viewer log will be of more help. cause i see a lot of errors. it doesn't look good

 

There are a lot of errors, that's for sure. Looks like most of them are Apple and/or network related.
You might try disabling anything having to do with the iPod, and also make sure no apps are 'phoning home', see if your symptoms change.

 

hi caliban

oh no . should i worry since you saw a lot of errors?? were there anything really dangerous i should know about? maybe a reformat could be our last resort eh? i don't use the ipod and usb much. but if i can determine if that's the cause then that will make me feel at ease since i figured all this time it was malware or corrupted registry or something.

when you say "phoning home" do you mean going online? i use a torrent program as i mentioned most of the day and night to seed stuff.

if you don't mind can you tell me what exactly you saw on that event viewer that i should know about regarding those errors? i didn't understand alot of what i saw on it.

hoping for the best.

 

btw i noticed something that may have to do with my registry. i have win7 and when i click on start menu to see the recently opened programs it's blank. i have 10 as the most number of programs that can show up in there. maybe i deleted something with Ccleaner??

 

CCleaner will clear any MRUDs lists (Most Recently Used Documents), so that's common and nothing to worry about.

By 'phoning home', I'm talking about programs that send and receive data in the background. Many are useful, such as automatic virus definitions, Windows Update, etc., but many are troublesome, and if too many apps are enabled to gather information, they can interfere with normal operations.

Many of your errors are associated with Media Monkey, Bonjour, etc. Again, try disabling any apps that are not needed and see if your symptoms change. In fact, you might try temporarily disabling everything in your Startups group for testing purposes.

I'm also seeing some hard drive errors. It might not be a bad idea to run some drive diagnostics. There is only so much we can do from a software angle - we may be approaching a point where we need to do some hardware troubleshooting.

Got to go to work IRL - I'll try to get back on this ASAP, and maybe some of the gurus here can pitch in.

 

hey caliban

oh i see. but it's been like 2 days now and no programs still don't show in my start menu in recently opened programs list. i did some googling and someone mentioned it could be a registry problem. i think something was deleted registry wise.

i'm seriously considering just formatting the drive. i know it'll be a pain to reinstall everything but i'm just about exhausted my patience with trying to figure out this computer's problems. i mean i know that sounds crazy but at this point i'm willing to anything and fast before it gets to the point where it can't be fixed. and like i said my cousin is the only one who can help me with hardware stuff. unfortunately he's a busy guy these days, he has a wife and a kid now so i don't know when i'll be able to have him come over.

but i'm curious how do you run drive diagnostics? also i had a question regarding formatting the drive i wanna ask first. i have a separate internal drive that's 1.5 TB and is like the heart of where all my valuable data is. if i format the c: drive (main drive and where windows is installed on) will it also format my 1.5 tb internal drive?

please let me know pal when you get a chance.

 

Hi, Michael.

I agree - sometimes it's best to start from scratch. You'll then have a clean and mean machine.

Formatting only the C: drive shouldn't be a problem, and should in no way affect any other partitions and/or physical drives. Any formatting prompts will let you decide what to erase - if you do decide to go this route, just ask any questions you might have.

It's usually best to run the drive manufacturer's own tools - if you know the brand of your hard drive, visit their website and run any diagnostics programs they suggest. If you're having problems identifying the drive, there are steps we can take to help.

Got to run again - keep us posted.

 

true. i can't think of anything right now question wise regarding that. well i had one but you kinda answered it when you said "it's best to start from scratch. You'll then have a clean and mean machine."

while looking for the drive manufacturer names i found this. in control panel-hardware and sound-devices and printers, 2 devices had exclamation points. a device called IOI Smart Reader and my computer "OWNER-PC". the issue it said it had with the first is "USB Mass Storage Device is not working properly" and "Problem with PnP devices". the computer had "WAN Miniport (ATW) #2 has a driver problem - Not Fixed. i keep reinstalling the driver from that menu but it keeps failing. could this be related to my problems you think? would a formatting of the drive take care of this? cause the more i think about i'd ratehr just start anew.

please let me know when you get back how i can find the manufacturer drive names. thanks man.

 

Ok, let's find out who makes your hard drive: what's the model # of your machine? You might include any service tag #s, serial #s, etc. for identification.

Also, download and run PC Audit, a free system information tool.

(If you get a Security Warning, don't worry about it - uncheck the 'Always ask before opening this file' box, and click 'Run').

When the scan completes, click File > Save As, name the file 'Report', and save to an easily found location, such as your Desktop.

Then attach that file to your next post per these instructions: HOW TO: Attach Items To Your Post.

The flags for 'IOI Smart Reader', 'USB Mass Storage Device', and 'WAN Miniport' are most likely driver-related problems. Formatting and reinstalling Windows will not necessarily fix them, but they are issues we can tackle later.

 

ok i am attaching the report file to this post. i checked the report and i saw that it already gave the info on the hard drives like model #. i don't know how to find the other info like service tag #s, serial #s, etc. my bad. can you tell me how? or is the report good enough?

 

The report is showing an IBM-Hitachi drive, which would normally indicate the use of DFT 4.16 - however, I don't know if that utility will run on a 64-bit machine. You might burn a a copy and run it anyway, just to verify.

You can run a CHKDSK, though. Go through the steps listed here: make sure the "Automatically fix file system errors" and "Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors" boxes are checked. If the routine requests to be run at boot, then do so.

Meanwhile, I'm going to study that report some more.

 

hi.

i tried burning the iso to cd using imgburn. i then rebooted the computer and it didn't do anything it just rebooted as usual so the next time i went to the boot menu screen upon startup with the iso disc in my drive. it brought up a menu and i picked the drive that had the iso i burnt itn it. that brought up a menu that said at top PC DOS 7.0. i didn't mess around too much with that cause i had no idea what to do with the menus it presented so i rebooted again. next i checked CHKDSK and checked those boxes you told me to check. it had to reboot and it did its thing for a couple of hours. unfortunately it didn't find anything and i believe the last thing it said before finishing it said it was clean C drive. i'm not positive but i'm pretty sure it said something like that cause it appeared on screen for like 3 seconds. do you think i should do this CHKDSK program with the other internal drive i have? the drive where i have all my data like videos music and pictures? or is that unnecessary?

i hope we can figure out this. :banghead

 

It certainly wouldn't hurt to run chkdsk on the data drive.

Doesn't surprise me that the Drive Fitness Tool didn't run - there is a clear message at the IBM-Hitachi site about the program not working with 64-bit systems, but it was worth a shot, anyway.

 

hi

just ran chkdsk on the data drive. but i'm not sure if it finished or not. i remember it was only like 12% done when i last checked and then i checked again a hour or so later and it was apparently done cause it was at the windows login screen. but it was at 12% for a few hours before and had a HUGE amount of files left to scan before it was done. is there a log file somewhere i can look at it for this? btw one strange thing that happened when i logged in after the scan was it said my windows wasn't genuine. so i said i'd activate it later to check something. and then i waited a minute or two for things to load and then checked system and it said i was activated so i logged off and rebooted. next time i logged in it didn't say that windows activation thing. so that was weird. but when i logged in this time my mouse cursor moved a little by itself and stopped. now everything's ok so far. but i hope something didn't mess up my computer by doing chkdsk by some chance.

what do you make of that? what's our next move?

 

I wouldn't worry about the Windows activation. It's a common occurrence to scramble a few files during intense file checking and cleaning. You can always reactivate Windows.

The next step is up to you. The way I see it, you've got the following options:

1. If the system is running well, then leave well enough alone.

2. The chkdsk scans show that your drive is probably healthy, so I see no reason why you can't format the drive and reinstall Windows.

 

hi

well it seems to not ask about windows reactivation anymore just that one time i mentioned it. i think i will reformat the drive because of the following:

1. the computer still freezes from time to time. still cannot figure out why.
   
2. last 10 programs opened in start menu is still messed up.
   
3. remember when i found in control panel-hardware and sound-devices and printers, 2 devices had exclamation points? well now only one has that. my computer "OWNER-PC". that one was one of the two before. the computer had "WAN Miniport (ATW) #2 has a driver problem - Not Fixed. i keep reinstalling the driver from that menu but it keeps failing. would a formatting of the drive take care of this?
   
4. you said it yourself "sometimes it's best to start from scratch. You'll then have a clean and mean machine."

is there anything you want me to know before reformatting the drive (C" drive and not the data drive so that i don't lose the data)? i've done this reformatting before on another computer but its been a while. i seem to remember it asking near the end of the process if i wanna back up the data i am reformatting or something like that to the C drive? should i do that? it's just gonna take up room right? if it's useful i'll do it but if it's unneeded let me know. also is there a guide or something on major geeks to show how to successfully pull off a s successful reformat?

i am REALLY hoping this will take care of my problems. cause even though it will be a pain to reinstall everything it will be worth it if i can start a new with zero problems.

looking forward to hearing from you.

 

Since this is an OEM (Gateway) computer, I'm assuming you have the original operating system and driver restore disks, or have made a set of restore disks from a recovery partition? If so, then the format/reinstall should be a relatively painless process that we can walk you through.

If you are using a separate drive to store your data and programs, then the 'Windows backup' caveat has already been taken care of.

And, be advised: as stated from the first of this thread, some of your freezing issues may not necessarily be caused by Windows or other programs - the possibility exists that there may also be hardware problems with your machine. Formatting and reinstalling Windows will pretty much clear the software side of troubleshooting, but we still may have more work ahead of us.

 

yup i got the original operating and driver restore disks

the separate drive has my data like important files, music, video etc. basically stuff that i downloaded that i wanna keep. pretty much all of my programs are on the OS drive (C:\). i figure when it's time to finally start getting ready to format i will make a list of all the programs i have now that i wanna reinstall afterwards after formatting. that will be easy. one question tho. i have a router and am using that for wifi for my laptop and my mom's laptop. will that be affected by the format? if it is then i can always call DLink again and get that taken care of but i'm hoping i won't have to. other than that there's some other things i have to backup that are on my OS Drive like games i downloaded. i can put those on my external.

gotcha on the advisory. i will keep it in mind. i just hope this format is worth it. but the attraction of starting anew is very appealing to me.

like i said i have a laptop. so if i need to post something during the format process i can post it thru the laptop. i don't know if we'll need to do that tho since lately our schedules when we're on apparently conflict.

 

The router should not be affected, other than losing any saved passwords. You will of course have to reinstall any router software once Windows is up and running.

Once you have everything saved from the C: drive, you might disconnect your K: drive for safety's sake.
The report shows that the K: drive is an IDE device, so the procedure would be to power down and unplug the computer, remove the side cover of the tower, and remove the K: drive's IDE cable and power connector. When you restart the machine, you'll see that My Computer will now show only your C: drive and the optical drives.

Also, you might go ahead and access your BIOS, set your boot order to 'CD first' in preparation for booting to the installation disk.

 

hi

ok. i have the router software so that's no problem.

cool. i'll need a few days to get everything saved and backed up on the C drive. i can do what you said regarding the k drive. one question tho. can you post a pic or explain which cable is the IDE cable and the power connector? i just wanna be sure. sorry for the noob question. i just don't wanna ruin my K drive. those two cables aren't they the red and black wires if i recall? let me know pal.

another noob question how do you access your BIOS? is it in the setup menu you can access when you reboot? i will set the boot order to cd first when i have everything saved and am ready to start using the installation disk, correct?

 

There should only be two cables connected to the drive - just disconnect both of them. No need to take the drive out of the tower: all we're doing is temporarily disconnecting your data drive while we work on your Windows drive.

And, yes: the BIOS is the machine setup, usually accessed by pressing the <F1>, <F2>, <F12>, or <DEL> key upon startup (different BIOS manufacturers have different access keys - the correct key is usually displayed on the OEM splash screen).

Should be straightforward - any questions, just holler.

 

ok everything is done regarding backing stuff up. i disconnected the internal data drive and it's not showing up in windows like you said it would.

i pressed delete key at bootup and it got me into a menu called advanced boot menu. it has many different sections. i couldn't find what you said to find labeled as you said it would be. however i did find a option called 1st boot device. i put my cd drive as the choice. i rebooted and it still went to windows. i tried making the cd drive teh only drive to boot adn disabled the other drives to boot like the os drive but when i did that and it said to insert the media both of my cd drives wouldn't eject open. can't i just run these backup recovery discs in windows?

let me know soon if you can. i'll be waiting pal.

 

hey caliban

wasn't sure if you saw this message yet. i have the internal data drive cables detached. and have what my stuff backed up. i just need to hear back from you regarding my question i had above. i decided to post this message here instead of a private message to you cause i thought i read when i signed up that it's not allowed to pm people who have "major geek" member status or mods. i look forward to hearing from you.

 

Hi, Michael.

Sorry about the delay: IRL has been real...

By all means: if there's a walkthrough restoration program that makes use of your restore disks, then it's certainly worth trying.

I don't like the fact that you couldn't boot from one of the disks. I'm assuming that the program used to create the disks allowed you to save them (or at least one) as a bootable image?

One thing you might try: insert the first or main recovery disk into your optical drive while you're in Windows, then restart with the disk onboard, instead of trying to load the disk while in BIOS.

 

hey caliban

it's ok about the delay pal.

sounds good i will go ahead and use the restore disks. i bought the computer from Best Buy. so Geek Squad made backup restore disks and i made my own. i'm not sure why BIOS wouldn't work right with cdrom set as boot first. as i wrote earlier the cd rom wouldn't eject when i enabled the cdrom to boot first and when i disabled the other drives. but i will try your suggestion. i will report back later to let you know what happened.

 

Good luck!

 

hey caliban

i successfully formatted my OS drive yesterday. i installed a few of my programs from my list i made of stuff i needed back on this computer. only a handful of stuff cause i soon felt i should stop and wait for further instructions on what to do next. i have a restore point that is just before i started installing programs. i haven't noticed the freezes yet. so that's good. and i was wondering when it would be ok to reconnect my internal data drive? cause i have a lot of backed up data i would like to transfer to the OS drive. i thought i'd wait till talking to you cause i wasn't sure if maybe whatever that caused the problem originally could be on that drive and i didn't want it to be transferred over and have the problem start all over again. so let me know when you can pal.

 

Good job! I take it that the Windows installation was smooth?

I'd suggest holding off on everything backup-wise until you do the following:

1. Load a good antivirus program, and make sure the Windows Firewall is enabled.

2. Connect to the Internet.

3. Download and install any Windows Updates that are available, as well as antivirus and driver updates (if needed).

Once all of that is done successfully, then create a Restore Point. You've now got a great starting point in case of future problems.

Then reconnect your backup drive.

 

hey caliban

the windows installation was a bit slow for some reason but i got everything done.

should i go back to the restore point i made after formatting the os drive and reinstalling Win 7? cause like i said earlier i already started putting my old programs back on but stopped cause i felt i should let you know first. only a handful i put back on tho.

but before i did that i installed my Kaspersky Anti Virus 2011 and made sure the firewall is on. updated kaspersky updates. however i had the internet connection on the whole time since formatting. i thought i needed it to install and activate win7. i know i needed it to reactivate Kaspersky. i also installed all the windows updates. but are driver updates in windows update? with all this done let me know if it is still safe to reconnect my backup drive.

 

If everything's working correctly and there are no flags in Device Manager, I wouldn't worry about drivers. Driver software is usually updated to address specific problems - if you don't have those problems, then it's unnecessary.

The same goes for the Windows install and the backup drive - when you feel satisfied with the way the system is running, then fire up the drive.

The good thing about all of this is that you're becoming more comfortable with your machine.

 

hey caliban

i got two bad things to report. one is whenever i boot up and login to my windows account i get a notification from Kaspersky about 2 files that keeps loading up then called mhotkey.exe (Multimedia Keyboard Driver) and cnyhkey.exe (Creative Multimedia Driver). they're both detected as suspicious behavior but then are labeled "Result: Allowed: PDM.Invader (loader)". i'm not sure if they're harmless based on what i found on google. cause some say it is and some don't. the other bad thing is i still get erros in event viewer. nowhere as bad as when i posted that event viewer log on here. is it expected to have some errors sometimes on there? i remember getting mhotkey notifications in the past.

no flags in device manager however . what do i do next? if the above is nothing to worry about then i shall proceed to reconnect my data drive. otherwise i can always go to restore point when i first started after the reformatting of the OS drive. or would that not help?

 

The cnyhkey.exe and mhotkey.exe are obviously hotkey apps, and are most likely not needed. For the time being, you might run msconfig and see if the commands are listed in the Startup group - if so, try disabling the two files from there.

You're going to see random notices in Event Viewer - as long as the machine is running smoothly, I wouldn't worry about them.

I think you're at a point now where you can safely reconnect the backup drive.

 

hello caliban

yeah i just read up on hotkeys on google and they are in relation to your keyboard, correct? anyway only cnyhkey was found in msconfig under startup. i disabled it and i found later that when i press caps lock or num lock the little popup window wouldn't show up to let me know it was activated. i sometimes find that useful. See i have a Logitech keyboard that i'm using that didnt come with the computer. so i decided to enable cnyhkey again cause i think by disabling it would block that little popup window. luckily the notification that keeps poping up from kaspersky on starting windows doesn't pop up anymore now. so that's not annoying now. it still logs them in the reports but as long as they're harmless i don't mind it.

sounds good on event viewer. i shall reconnect the data drive now. if i run into any problems i shall report back. as a matter of fact i'll report back in a couple of days or maybe a week from now just to let you know how things are running. cause i feel like i may need your help again.

take care.

 

hi again

i installed the data internal drive and now windows 7 won't recognize it. it doesn't appear in windows explorer but it does appear in disk manager (but without a assigned drive letter) and it also appears in device manager. i have a seagate 1.5 ATA internal drive. i hope to god that i don't have to format this drive in order to get it working again. i can't afford to lose the data i had on that drive.

 

Go back into Disk Management, right-click the new drive, click Change Drive Letter and Paths, click Add, click the letter that you want to use, and then click OK.