Smart Failure

[Brad4321]

So, I was going through my usual oiling of the fans ceremony (which went quite well, it was a memorable event), and upon restart, I received a SMART error on one of my drives. Now, I am used to seeing drive errors (because I usually forget to plug them in) so I bypassed it before I really read it.

Now my computer won't boot to windows. It gets to the place where it says "windows xp" with the little bar across the bottom. It never gets passed that stage. I tried safe mode, debugging mode, and all those other modes and it gets stuck at the same part.

It POSTS so fast I can't really see if there are any more errors, although I figure if there were it would say something again. I don't remember a thing about the error, not even what drive it was on, just that is what it said.

I haven't really had any problems that would point to a hd failure. It seems odd that it would do it right after I oiled my fans. I double checked to make sure everything was plugged in (even though I didn't unplug a thing). I can't find anything wrong with the drives, and I had no warning of this. I don't have any other computer around here than can take 250's or SATA drives, so I can't test them seperate.

opteron 246
tyan thunder k8w
PCP&C 510
BFG 6800 oc
audigy
(2) Western Digital 250GB Special Edition IDE
(1) 250GB SATA Maxtor DD9

One of the WD drives is the boot drive, which appears to be at fault (I figure it would still boot if my music drive was bad).

Is there any way to test/find out what is causing this?

 

[BillR]

While in safe mode, did you try "last known good configuration" or words to that effect?

 

[Brad4321]

Right after I made that post, I rebooted and the computer started fine and passed WD diagnostic tests.

Last known config did no good either.

 

[Vertigo Acid]

Have you checked all the cabling? Try pulling everything apart and reseating it

 

[Murali]

I'd recommend backing up all vital data, just to be on the safe side.