• Welcome to Overclockers Forums! Join us to reply in threads, receive reduced ads, and to customize your site experience!

Possible hard drive problem?

Overclockers is supported by our readers. When you click a link to make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn More.

altec

polka dot ninja
Joined
Dec 23, 2002
Location
Doylestown, PA
I have been without my main rig for a few weeks now, and I can’t take it anymore...I need some help, here is the problem: About three or four weeks ago my computer stopped booting reliably. It would go through the initial boot sequence fine, but when it would go to load windows, the computer would restart randomly. I found that if I switched the power supply off, and waited for a good hour, and then tried to boot, it would boot into Windows fine.

Then it got really bad. The computer wouldn’t boot into Windows at all...it would reboot when in got to the loading Windows XP screen, and wouldn’t stop. So I figured that I had some hard drive corruption, decided to suck it up, and format the drive, put a fresh install of Windows on there, and vowed to always back up my drives again.

For some reason I could not get the computer to boot from a CD, so I borrowed a Windows 98 SE boot disk and attempted to format the drive from that. It was successful, but the computer would still not boot from the CD. So I took an old drive that I had lying around with Windows 98 on it, booted to that and tried to run the Windows XP setup from there. Didn’t work.

I got so frustrated that I tore the whole thing apart and re-did the entire thing trying to figure out if some power connector was loose or something, and I even put a brand new CPU in to see if that was the problem. Tried booting from my Windows XP CD and it finally worked.

This is the current dilemma: When I try to set up Windows, initial blue screen that shows up runs through its course and loads all the necessary files to go through with the installation, but for some reason it says that there are no hard disks present. My BIOS recognizes the drive fine as the primary master, but Windows will not let me load to it. The drive is formatted, no partitions, no nothing, and Windows will not see it.

I am at a complete loss at this point, and I have no clue what to do. I have very little money at this point, and I don’t want to have to go and buy a new hard drive and find out that it isn’t even the problem. Does this sound like the hard drive is the culprit or the motherboard...what?

Thanks for any help that anyone has to offer.

With best regards,
Tray
 
s'up altec long time no see.

You know the drill, disconnect EVERYTHING.

Only cpu, heatsink, one reliable stick of ram, one reliable HD, video card)
(all other drives, all cards -- left out.)

Go on from there.
 
Alreadyt tried it....the BIOS recognizes the hard drive and gives me the model information, but Windows still won't see a hard disk when I go to install.

Remember man, I PM'ed you about this problem before it totally died, and you gave me the same suggestion. Thanks for the help....

Any other ideas?
 
JohnOC had a similar problem at the last LAN party. Ended up being the power supplied 5v rail was dipping waaay too low.

In your case it could be the ide controller on the motherboard. If you can find a PCI ide/raid controller cheap locally, that's worth a shot (ask around any techie friends you might have, while they're not a popular solution, a lot of people seem to have controller cards laying around).

Also could try to "format /s" the drive (I think /s is the switch for erasing the allocation table and completely starting over). The fact you were having cd rom issues, though, indicates this could be an intermittent (and frustrating) problem!
 
That was exactly what I was thinking because of the CD rom issues, but the fact that the BIOS recognizes the drive down to the model number made me double think that.

Thanks for the idea of asking around for a controller card...I'll have to try that and see if thats the problem.

Does anyone else have any clues?
 
To rewrite the Master Boot Record: FDISK/MBR.

But that won't help if your problem is similar to mine where it was the hard drive itself that was the problem.

1. Test another hard drive, just try temporarily installing Windows to a new directory on an old hd see if it goes through that way you'd know it's the HD itself that's the problem.

2. If your hard drive is under 3 year warranty, they'll replace it but watch out! When I sent it to Western Digital they voided my warranty because it wasn't sent in original packaging so make sure you get that cleared with HD manufacturer before sending it.


This problem happend to me and it was the HD.
 
For some reason I feel the problem has the smell of bad caps written all over it. Don't ask me why, maybe its the ABIT in your sig, but since nothing else has worked might as well give your mobo a good look through.

Although I'm not expert in windows behavior, I do not feel a bad HDD will cause the system to reboot.
 
I dug up my old HD and my problem was that the HD couldn't even be detected by BIOS so it may not be the HD.

Go with what Pinky said if you can try it.
 
Well sorry it has taken me so long to respond to all of your responses, but i dont have the computer access to post like I used to. :mad:

c627627: I tried another hard drive in the system, and I had the same problems. I also tried rewriting the master boot record, and to no avail. I am not too sure if the drive has a 3-year replacement warranty because I bought it from an OEV vendor.

Cack01: I scoured the motherboard, looking at the undersides and the tops of caps, an I didnt see any problems. Everything seemed to be looking well.

Since the other drive that I tested seemed to be fine, I am beginning to make the assumption that it is something other than the hard drive itself. I think I am going to try to borrow an IDE controller card and see if that solves the problem.

Any other suggestions that you guys can think of?
 
Then it's your mobo 4 sure.
Be it ide controller or something else on it.

It's the mobo.
 
Last edited:
If it ends up not being the IDE controller, should I just scrap the board and start from there, or should I try any other diagnostics to pinpoint the problem?
 
Putting all your current components into another mobo should result in ultimate proof that it's some sort of a mobo problem.
 
It has been a while from my 9x days but try this. You should be able to run a scan disk on the drive from the floppy for win98 instlation.I would try this to determin if the drive is actually seen and accessed by that utility.I would also change IDE cables,And the PSU.If you left it off for a while and ut use to boot that sounds like a heat issue.Swap it if you can OR remove everything except drives and vid.Disconnect all fans ect...
 
Personally I would just get a new motherboard. If one component brakes there is a good chance others will follow.

I you want to continue testing, I would get a Linux Live CD and see if you can boot into linux. Then run some tests from there.

If you are really strapped for cash test away, but to me I would rather get a new motherboard. That way I do not have to stress about the darn thing breaking down everytime I type a paper in word. Even if it means saving my money for 2-3 weeks.
 
Well I got everything worked out:

I tried replacing the IDE cables so many times, but for some reason this evening it worked. Im extatic.....thanks for the help fellas. :D :cool:
 
Back