Member Avatar for dgcs

Bios does not recognize hard drive - Hard drive appears as 'Rigel' rather than as Maxtor 5T060H6. Apparently some hacker got to it. Any way to re-program it?

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Short answer: when the BIOS (and Maxtor utilities) show an alias such as "Rigel" instead of the drive’s labeled model, that almost always points to corruption of the drive’s hidden service area (the on‑disk firmware and adaptive data), not a normal partition/MBR problem. This explains why partitioning tools or Maxtor installers won’t “see” the right model. (flashbackdata.com)

Malware that can rewrite HDD firmware does exist (documented in high‑profile research), but those attacks are extremely rare and targeted. For consumer failures the usual causes are service‑area/firmware module corruption, electronic faults, head or platter damage, or power events. In short: the symptom set you described is much more consistent with a firmware/service‑area fault than a garden‑variety virus. (usa.kaspersky.com)

Safe, practical next steps: confirm the drive powers and spins, try a different cable/port or a second PC (or a properly powered USB/IDE adapter) to rule out a controller/cable problem, and stop if the drive is needed for recovery. Do not run repeated low‑level formats or destructive tools if you want data back — those operations can make service‑area damage permanent. Fixing service‑area firmware requires specialized hardware/software (PC‑3000/MRT or lab equipment) and expertise; it’s normally done only in professional data‑recovery labs. (blog.acelab.eu.com)

If data isn’t important, replace the drive. If recovery is required, contact a reputable recovery lab (service‑area repairs are common for DiamondMax/5T-series drives). The model 5T060H6 maps to Maxtor’s DiamondMax 60 family, so give the lab that exact label when you contact them. The community hints from , , , and point toward the same practical conclusion: this is a firmware/service‑area failure that needs lab tools, not an ordinary reformat. (seagate.com)

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Member Avatar for caperjack

Bios does not recognize hard drive - Hard drive appears as 'Rigel' rather than as Maxtor 5T060H6. Apparently some hacker got to it. Any way to re-program it?

ok, first was it the main /only hardrive in the computer /or is it a slave drive for storage .or is it a usb external storage drive ???
if it your main drive and had windows loaded onto it ,try formatting and reinstalling window to it

Member Avatar for DaniWeb4Jim

Bios does not recognize hard drive - Hard drive appears as 'Rigel' rather than as Maxtor 5T060H6. Apparently some hacker got to it. Any way to re-program it?

Did you FDisk it ? That should allow you to delete the current partition and hopefully fix it as a new drive.
Good Luck.
Jim

Member Avatar for DaniWeb4Jim

On other thing try checking your MOBO updates of the BIOS. The firmware on the MOBO (MOtherBOard) may need updating.
Just I always check everything.

Member Avatar for dgcs

OK - guess I need to be more explicit. When installed as the only drive, bios boot screen shows primary drive as 'Rigel', not as 'Maxtor 5T060H6'. Bios set up says 'no drive found'. If I manually set up drive with sectors/heads etc info off the drive, it is still not recognized by bios at startup. / What I believe happened is some hacker or malware found its way onto the drive and overwrote the eprom built into the drive. Else why would it think it was 'Rigel' instead of 'Maxtor 5T060H6'. I don't know how or if this was done, but that is what it appears happened. / BTW Maxtor install software also identifies the drive as 'Rigel' & doesn't install, reformat or anything except say 'no drive connected'. / So I'm wondering if anyone else ever encountered this problem, and if there is some low level drive software that can reprogram the eprom (or whatever - I understand it may be a low level program on the drive that was overwritten. I have some old dos programs for low level formatting of hd, but suspect there is something more up to date that _might_ restore the drive to functionality. Any suggestions welcome.

Member Avatar for DaniWeb4Jim

OK - guess I need to be more explicit. When installed as the only drive, bios boot screen shows primary drive as 'Rigel', not as 'Maxtor 5T060H6'. Bios set up says 'no drive found'. If I manually set up drive with sectors/heads etc info off the drive, it is still not recognized by bios at startup. / What I believe happened is some hacker or malware found its way onto the drive and overwrote the eprom built into the drive. Else why would it think it was 'Rigel' instead of 'Maxtor 5T060H6'. I don't know how or if this was done, but that is what it appears happened. / BTW Maxtor install software also identifies the drive as 'Rigel' & doesn't install, reformat or anything except say 'no drive connected'. / So I'm wondering if anyone else ever encountered this problem, and if there is some low level drive software that can reprogram the eprom (or whatever - I understand it may be a low level program on the drive that was overwritten. I have some old dos programs for low level formatting of hd, but suspect there is something more up to date that _might_ restore the drive to functionality. Any suggestions welcome.

I asked you IF YOU FDISKED THE DRIVE That is an old DOS program to delete the partition and then redo the drive as it was when it was created. Some manufacturers make drives for other companies and may have changed the name.
I have never heard of a software on a new drive to format it. That would be silly because after the first try your software would be gone. BAH! wrong answer.
Get a WINDOWS BOOT DISK of the same operating system ie. Windows XP and try to copy from someone's machine the fdisk program. Let me know.

Member Avatar for caperjack

fdisk will not do ,the drive is dead ,not readable anymore!read the links in Salem's post

Member Avatar for DaniWeb4Jim

fdisk will not do ,the drive is dead ,not readable anymore!read the links in Salem's post

OK I guess he knows. :)

Member Avatar for caperjack

OK I guess he knows. :)

you never know ! 75%-80% of original posters never return to there threads !

Member Avatar for dgcs

Thanks Salem. At least I know now that unless I wanted to pay for professional data recovery (which I understand is expensive) the drive is DEAD. / Still curious if malware might have corrupted the firmware. / I have a forensic level data recovery program, but assume that will not recognize the drive either.

Member Avatar for Salem

Dunno, it might work.

At least the BIOS is managing some kind of communication with the HD, even if it's making a mess of the answer.

Member Avatar for caperjack

,most hackers attacks i heard of are boot sector changes ,not firmware ,i think its just a maxtor harddrive fault

Member Avatar for jbennet

Sounds like corrupt firmware. Buy new drive.

Not the first time i heard of viruses killing firmware though, know someone who had one which installed itself to the MBR so it ran at boot and it maliciously wiped her bios (flashed it with 0s or something i think?). Needed a new mobo.

Member Avatar for DaniWeb4Jim

Thanks Salem. At least I know now that unless I wanted to pay for professional data recovery (which I understand is expensive) the drive is DEAD. / Still curious if malware might have corrupted the firmware. / I have a forensic level data recovery program, but assume that will not recognize the drive either.

I hope you get your problem solved.
I have a question what is the professional data recovery software do you have and do you share?

Member Avatar for caperjack

I hope you get your problem solved.
I have a question what is the professional data recovery software do you have and do you share?

they were referring to a professional data recovery company ,not software!

Member Avatar for DaniWeb4Jim

they were referring to a professional data recovery company ,not software!

Thanks, I have a friend who tried Hard Drive Mechanic and it did not work probably, for the same reason a dead drive and/or a virus hit the firmware.

Very knowledgeable group on this site in all of the threads I have started or joined.

One question. I clicked that two or three of mine were done and I have no credit showing that I solved any???!!!??? Any clues as to what happened after it accepted my solving a thread? Anyone?

Member Avatar for jbennet

You dont get credit if you mark your own thread as solved

Moderators dont get credit if they mark a thread solved either, regardless of whether they made it or just replied in it.

You DO get credit for replying to threads which the original poster marks as solved though.

Member Avatar for DaniWeb4Jim

You dont get credit if you mark your own thread as solved

Moderators dont get credit if they mark a thread solved either, regardless of whether they made it or just replied in it.

You DO get credit for replying to threads which the original poster marks as solved though.

Thanks
Jim

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