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Possible hard drive failures?

S

shakes

n00b
Joined
Feb 4, 2005
Messages
21
Okay, I have different computers with the same symptoms. One is a P3 650mhz, 256mb ram and the other is a 2200 Athlon Xp with 256 ram. Both of these computers have random lockups. Both of these computers lock up, but never at the same time.

For instance, the P3 will go for 5 minutes before it locks up. Sometimes as soon as I turn it on, it locks up. When I finally thought I had it fixed because it was on for 3 hours, while I was surfing it locked up. I gave up on this one.

The Athlon. Same thing as the P3. The lockups occur at different times.

I have tried everything I can think of as far as software is concerned. Both hard drives had the partitions deleted and reformated. Both computers ended up locking up while formating the drives. Both where scanned for viruses ( possibly boot virus, hell I don't know). Just to clarify, I worked on the P3 last month, but never figured it out. Now another friend gave me his Athlon, and guess what? Same symptoms.

I am guessing it is the hard drives on both of them, but I am not sure. The athlon has a WD hard drive. It locks up during the WD diagnosticsand also during formatting the drive. When I finally got it formatted it locked up on the Windows install ( twice). After I was able to get Windows in, I started downloading the updates. Going good for a while, then bam. The whole screen froze. I also cannot hear the hard drive spinning.

One more thing on the athlon... its a emachine and on the case there is a light that goes around the power button. It is green when the hard drive is running. Sometimes when I go to turn it on, the green light doesn't light up and the computer doesn't turn on. The cpu and fans turn on, but I don't hear the hard drive spinning, and Windows won't load.

Sorry for the long read but I figured one of the [H]ard forum members could help me out. I would guess power supply, mobo or hard drive. How do I tell? Thanks in advance.
 
If you think its the hard drive then get another harddrive and try hooking it up. If they won't pass diagnostics they could be the problem. Do you have a working computer you could hook them into?
 
It's possible that it's a HDD problem. But then again, it's also possible that it's the RAM, PSU, mobo, CPU, or cabling. I'd say run some component specific tests. One for the HDD, one for RAM, CPU, etc, etc.

Also, some more info about the systems would be nice. :) Makes it alot easier to help if we know setup we're dealing with.
 
Okay here are the specs from the Athlon. This is the one I would like to get going first.

CPU: AMD Athlon™ XP Processor 2200+ (1.800GHz) with QuantiSpeed™ architecture
Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition
Monitor Bundle: eMachines E15T 15" LCD Flat Pannel Monitor
(0.297mm Pixel Pitch, Active Matrix TFT)
Chipset: VIA KM 266
Memory: 256MB DDR (PC2100)
Hard Drive: 60GB HDD
Optical Drive: 48x Max. CD-RW Drive; 16x Max. DVD-ROM Drive; 3.5" 1.44MB FDD
Video: S3 ProSavage8™ integrated (1 AGP slot available for upgrade)
Sound: AC '97 Audio
Network: 10/100Mbps built-in Ethernet
Modem: 56K ITU v.92-ready Fax/Modem
Peripherals: Office Multi-Media Keyboard, 2-Button Wheel Mouse, Amplified Stereo Speakers
Ports/Other: 6 USB 2.0 ports (2 on front), 1 Serial, 1 Parallel, 2 PS/2, Audio In & Out, Mic-In & Head Phone jack on front, 3 PCI slots (2 available)
Dimensions: 7.25"W x 14.125"H x 16"D

I do have another hard drive, but unfortunally its the one the computer I am typing on. I will be trying that tommorow. This computer first started locking up last week. He rebooted and it worked fine for a day. Next day, it did it again. He thought it might be a virus, so he said he reinstalled Windows Xp. When I got it though, it looked like he didn't reformat the drive so I did it. Still having lock ups.

Lets say I take this hard drive out ( mine) , and put it in his computer and it still locks up. That takes the hard drive out of the question. The only thing I know what else to test would be to run memtest on the ram. How would I test the psu? Thanks for the replies guys.
 
TheTMan said:
If you think its the hard drive then get another harddrive and try hooking it up. If they won't pass diagnostics they could be the problem. Do you have a working computer you could hook them into?
Click to expand...

I see. Im going to shut down and install his now. I will let you know.
 
www.ultimatebootcd.com

There are some generic HDD diagnostics tools on the disk. It's a good free alternative to the more professional (and damn expensive) diagnostic suites.

Also, be careful putting a good HDD into a suspect system. :)
 
Okay. I just ran western digitals diagnostics on the hard drive. It says it passed the test. I am going to reinstall it and run memtest on the memory. Ill report back what I find tommorow. Thanks guys.
 
Have you tried opening up the case to your PC and aiming a fan in there? I've had similar problems caused by overheating components.
 
MjrStryker said:
Have you tried opening up the case to your PC and aiming a fan in there? I've had similar problems caused by overheating components.
Click to expand...

Bios is reporting a 29C on the cpu. I don't thinks it's overheating.
 
Sieravor said:
www.ultimatebootcd.com

There are some generic HDD diagnostics tools on the disk. It's a good free alternative to the more professional (and damn expensive) diagnostic suites.

Also, be careful putting a good HDD into a suspect system. :)
Click to expand...


Ok I let Memtest run for a while. This is what it came up with. Next question. What about putting good ram into a computer that had its ram die on it? Any risk to the new ram? Or just try it and see. By the way it would be pc3200 ram not pc2100. Won't the 3200 just clock down to 2100 speeds? I know sdram would do that. Thanks ahead of time.

DSC02850.jpg
 
wow that ram failed. i vote for ram failure for sure. my system *in my sig* would do that same thing when i first put it together. it ended up being a bad stick of ram, the ram was like 2-3 years old at the time. it would give me blue screens, lock ups, no boot, etc.

and putting new ram in a machine that had bad ram in it is okay. just make sure its the right kind of ram, and dont put it in backwards >.<
 
Yeah I am not sure what all that means, I was just looking at the 74 errors. Do you know why ram would just fail? I am wondering cause I am thinking about putting my pc3200 in the computer to see if everything else works. I don't wont to fry my ram though. Although if I did, I guess I would just have to make the switch to 2 gigs :)
 
This computer takes PC2100 but I don't have any of that laying around. I do have 512mb of PC 3200 though. Am I okay to stick that in there? It should clock down correct?
 
ram can run slower than its supposed to, so putting pc3200 in a pc2100 comp should be okay, just make sure it takes this type of memory. any type of hardware can just "fail". its something that just happens at a certain time. so far ive had 2 sticks of ram just "die" on me. sadly hardware must/will die =(
 
Alright thanks for the help man. I guess I should knock on wood. My P4 3.0 is running great still. Come to think of it, my PII 400mhz is still running solid. Never once have I had hardware fail in almost 8 years now. :) Damn, I must be lucky then.* Knocks on wood*

Thanks again. I'll report back tommorow with my finds. I will also go run Memtest on the PIII 650mhz which is having similair problems.
 
Okay I am back. Still not fixed.

Computer off and I plug in the power cord into the power supply. The cpu and power fans turn on and keep running. On my computer when I do that, they spin up for a few seconds and turn back off. On the Athlon I have to hold the power button on the front of the case for about 5-10 seconds before they will turn off.

I also got some lockups on my PC3200 ram that I installed. I put his original PC2100 stick back in and reran Memtest and came up with no errors this time. Makes me think its not the ram after all. Could a bad power supply cause memory errors? Perhaps it is not pushing enough voltage.

Also if the computer is turned off, sometimes when I push the power button to turn it on, the cpu fan and power supply fan turn on, but the computer won't show a post screen, bios screen, or load Windows. The hard drive light will not turn on, and it doesn't appear to be spinning. It is like all it is doing is turning on the fans. The cd rom drives have a green light on them, but if I push the eject button on them they won't open. I have to turn it on and off about 7-8 times before I get a boot screen, and Windows loads.

Any ideas?
 
Motherboard bios reports

Voltage Vcore 1.63v
Voltage +2.5 2.57v
Voltage +3.3 3.28v
Voltage +5 4.81v
Voltage +12 12.22v
Voltage 5VSB 5.88v

Speedfan reports

Vcore 1: 1.63v
Vcore 2: 2.58v
+3.3v: 3.28v
+5v: 4.81v
+12v: 12.16v
-12v: 0.56v
-5v: -5.01v
+5v: 5.89v
Vbat: 3.30

Can anyone decipher this and tell me if its okay? Thanks.v
 
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