Seagate/Maxtor SeaTools Drive Diagnostic - Problems/Solutions

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I had a hard time testing some new Seagate ST31000340NS drives recently, and here is what I learned.

• Always test new drives ASAP so you can return defective drives within warantee period, and avoid lots of wasted work/installs/reinstalls.
  
• Download the Seagate SeaTools (also works for Maxtor) DOS ISO for drive testing, and burn the CD (I downloaded v2.13B on Jan-7-2009).
• The SeaTools Windows version doesn't generally work in Vista x64 (Known problem). Though a certain hack/fix (from this discussion) might work for you in Vista 64 bit. It worked better for me, but I think my hardware hindered the drive detection.
• Connecting the SATA drive externally via eSATA works great for drive testing (I used a Rosewill eSATA enclosure).
• My A7N8X Deluxe based computer would not boot with the drive attached. After drive detection, the machine hung.
• My P5B Deluxe/WiFi-AP based machine booted from the SeaTools CD no problem.
• The SeaTools software must have a floppy disk in the A drive (possibly writeable) or the long test will not complete. After the test, the floppy disk was completely empty. I put the CD and floppy in, then booted.
  
• I ran the Short Test, the Long Test and the Acoustic Test, taking a digital photo of the results of each.
• I also photographed the drive. The photos are for my inventory and testing results.

If you were wondering my new drives tested as flawless.

-AAron

Microsoft Update - the following updates were not installed

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I kept receiving "the following updates were not installed" when trying to use Microsoft Update on one of my plain Windows XP VMware machines. I have HEAVILY relied on Microsoft Update for a long time for many machines, and this is the first time updates just wouldn't install. In my scenario, I would choose "Custom" and anything I chose would go through the motions, but ultimately fail to install.

I followed the simple instructions here which solved my problem: Updates are not installed successfully from Windows Update, from Microsoft Update, or by using Automatic Updates after you perform a new Windows XP installation or you repair a Windows XP installation

Method 1: Register the Wups2.dll file in Windows

To register the Wups2.dll file in Windows, follow these steps:

1.	Stop the Automatic Updates service. To do this, follow these steps: a. Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK. b. At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER: net stop wuauserv
2.	Register the Wups2.dll file. To do this, follow these steps: a. At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER: regsvr32 %windir%\system32\wups2.dll Note For a computer that is running Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, type the following command, and then press ENTER: regsvr32 %windir%\syswow64\wups2.dll b. Click OK on each verification message that you receive.
3.	Start the Automatic Updates service. To do this, type the following command at the command prompt, and then press ENTER: net start wuauserv
4.	Exit the command prompt. To do this type exit, and then press ENTER.

AVG Free v8 - Start automatic updates fix

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Recently I found that my AVG Free (version 8 / AVG8), was not updating definitions and complained that "Database update is disabled" (strange since I had installed only this Vista x64 (64 bit) machine only about 1-2 months ago). I didn't reinstall, but I did find a fix:

The problem was that automatic updates were not enabled. But when I was not able to make AVG save my settings when I tried to enable it via:
Update Manager / Update Manager settings / Start automatic updates

I found Error: e001018b in the log file (C:\ProgramData\avg8\Log\avgcfg.log):

[AVG8.CFGMGR] ERROR 2008-07-12 14:25:06,155 AAFRY PID:3800 THID:2848 ID:{4B69726F-6E736B79-4C696C69-32303036-30393034}:519.134.79458 MSG:'DWORD:0x455295d4', 'DWORD:0x2', 'DWORD:0xffffffff', 'DWORD:0xffffffff', 'ERRORCODE:0xe001018b'

The solution was to remove the schedule config file (C:\ProgramData\avg8\Cfg\sched.cfg), and let it be recreated. Here's what I did:

1. Move "C:\ProgramData\avg8\Cfg\*.cfg" to "C:\ProgramData\avg8\Cfg\old" (NOTE: you might want to try moving JUST sched.cfg... that might be enough)
   
2. Open AVG console from the system tray
3. Check the box at Update Manager / Update Manager settings / Start automatic updates
4. Perform "update now" on all AVG components
5. Reboot

At this point everything seems fine.

These files were automatically recreated:
C:\ProgramData\avg8\Cfg\mail.cfg
C:\ProgramData\avg8\Cfg\sched.cfg
C:\ProgramData\avg8\Cfg\update.cfg
These files were NOT auto recreated:
C:\ProgramData\avg8\Cfg\krnl.cfg
C:\ProgramData\avg8\Cfg\user.cfg

File paths/directories will probably be different on Windows Vista vs Windows XP. To reiterate, I'm using Vista x64, so the paths above are for Vista.

If anyone does the above procedure with moving JUST sched.cfg, let me us know if it worked for you.