hard drive problems?

d_b · Post by **d_b** » Fri May 06, 2005 10:07 pm

sometimes when i turn on my computer the fans and pretty lights will come on but the hard drives wont spin up and no spin up=no boot.( I may have to hit the power button 2 or 3 times before the drives will spin up and the machine will boot.: I have tried different power supply, different ata cable, different molex connecters, removed all other drives, even swapped out ram. This has been going for 3 weeks now. Dont have another vid card so i cant test to see if that is the problem.

I have come to the conclusion that its either the mother board or boot drive. Cant really afford to buy both a hard drive and mother board right now.

thanks

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Fri May 06, 2005 11:07 pm

Do you see anything on the monitor when this happens?

Usually this is PSU or mobo related. You can confirm the HDD is good by downloading the manufacturer's HDD diagnostic and running a full (advanced) test on the drive.

I have seen a LOT of bad mobos lately and it's usually due to bad capacitors. See if any of your caps are bulging like this: http://cquirke.mvps.org/badcaps.htm

I've got an Epox 8RDA+ right here in front of me that has one. The thing is fine once it posts but it has a hard time POSTing.

d_b · Post by **d_b** » Sat May 07, 2005 12:38 am

nothing comes up on the monitor, it just sits there all black and ugly looking. mobo you say. i am tending to agree with you. i,ll look tomorrow and see if there are any bulging capacitors. i ran the manufacturers full diagnostic and it came up clean. one thing i forgot to mention is the hrd drive makes a loud clunking noise every once in a while, usually when it there is alot off hard drive activity.

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Sat May 07, 2005 7:29 am

Clunking is not good - usually that's the kiss of death. Did you run the advanced diagnostic (does a complete sector by sector test).

Loud clunks or click - especially when associated with a slow down of the computer when it happens - is generally a sign of a failing drive.

It may still pass the diagnostic is the error just doesn't happen during the test.

However, that won't prevent a mobo from POSTing. I still think that's a mobo issue.

d_b · Post by **d_b** » Sat May 07, 2005 11:22 am

clunking happens whenever the HD is doing something intense. diag test shows there is nothing wrong. capacitors on mother board look good, no bulging anyway. i think you are right on the MB going south. Thanks FP for the help.

I have had a WD and Maxtor drive crap out on me in the last 6 months. Naturally just after the warranty ran out. Think I'll go with Seagate, at least they have a 5 year warranty.

jayscybertrhs · Post by **jayscybertrhs** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 1:05 pm

ha! you've got pinnitis! try this to verify: kill the power and wait fifteen seconds by the clock. then boot again and bypass the ram count-up.

if this cures the problem - the pins in the HD connector are getting old. changing the Mobo will do squat for this problem. the cure is to put a very slight bend onn the connector pins - about 2% so that the pins will be at a slight positive pressure, or just use the boot routine.

lower rank, down 2% upper rank left, don' touch, iupper rank right, 2% right.

;p

Executioner · Post by **Executioner** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 1:24 pm

If you have an older pc laying around, like most of the geeks around here, you could pull the drive that you have problems with in another pc to verify.

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 3:39 pm

Well I've never heard "Pinnitis" defined like that. Crud does develop on the pins. Merely removing and re-inserting the connector a few time will scrap the pin clean. A shot of contact cleaner wouldn't hurt either.

Did you run the Advanced diagnostic for the HDD? The quick diagnostic tells you nothing. If you've got clicks and clunks it's likely bad sectors.

Executioner · Post by **Executioner** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 5:22 pm

LOL - I never noticed the thread dates, and I replied to one that was 46 days old.

jayscybertrhs - why did you dig up this old post?

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 7:19 pm

He's digging up a LOT of old posts. Someone wants to rack up his number of posts

Pugsley · Post by **Pugsley** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 9:37 pm

I was gonna say if its not spinning it could be a bad spindle motor. Diag stuff wont detect that cause once its spinning there isnt a problme if one of the windings is weak. what happens is the drive just ahppens to stop on that weak one and when you restart it it cant get the disk to spin. jogging the power might cause it to twitch just enuff that the next winding in the motor has to do its thing and since its not weak it can spin the thing up. imagine a V8 running on 7 cylinders. it will run fine and unless you get it under a heavy load you wont even notiece it if your not keen to thoes sorts of things. Now shut that enigine off and you might not be able to restart it with a dead cylinder.

ZYFER · Post by **ZYFER** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 4:22 am

Originally posted by FlyingPenguin
He's digging up a LOT of old posts. Someone wants to rack up his number of posts

he is digging up alot of old posts and posting alot of nonsense...

d_b · Post by **d_b** » Sun Jun 26, 2005 9:40 pm

Originally posted by ZYFER
he is digging up alot of old posts and posting alot of nonsense...

I RMA'd the drive and have a new one.

Now lets bury this thread with the respect it desrves