hard drive woes.HELP PLEASE

Mrchu_ · 12 Jan 2006 at 16:28

okay i made a puter for my boss.

ga7va xp ultra main board

but the wd 800 (80 gig) harddrive keeps making the noise like the arm is resetting itself.Then the computer freezes.As it should.
Sometimes it boots into windows fine,then will freeze,some times the thing says its booting from cd( which is the last setting, bios wise that i had it on?????)As it wont recognise the hard disk.

My question...is this a faulty harddrive
a power supply issue
or is there some sort of bios setting that ive missed.

Ive just updated the bios,and so far so good(as it hasnt happened yet)

what do you think?What is making the drive arm reset and how to stop it

Thanks

Gopher_By_Fende · 12 Jan 2006 at 16:31

sounds to me like a hard drive fault, i'd double check and if necessary RMA it.

Mrchu_ · 12 Jan 2006 at 16:33

thanks"double check" advice^^^^ any one else?

SiriusB · 12 Jan 2006 at 17:04

http://www.ariolic.com/activesmart/

Download trial. Install. It should tell you if the HDD has any problems.

SiriusB

Mrchu_ · 12 Jan 2006 at 20:11

thanks ill check it out

zetec452 · 12 Jan 2006 at 21:56

also maxtor powertools would help you diagnose your hard disk problem.

smids · 12 Jan 2006 at 23:19

I had a similar problem on my new 150GB raptor. Spins down/resets, then comes online again but it corrupted windows in the end so I've just RMA'ed it. It is certainly not a power supply issue as I have run 4 drives before + I have a dual psu system - watercooling, fans, HDU's (x4), UV lights run from 2nd PSU (Hiper 525W)

Everything which is connected/powered by mobo is done by the main psu (Hiper 480W Type R) - there is no grounding issue as they are completely independent.

Mrchu_ · 13 Jan 2006 at 03:43

Thanks smids,This one is spining down and resetting,i never hung around long enough to see a widows freeze come alive again.Then i reboot. even though ive checked bios settings,it said booting from cd(???)then(surprise) cant boot msg.As mentioned i reset bios to optimal now all seems....
okay ,but as with these lingering things...
Possibly ready for another ugly showing

It feels like the same kind of lockup one might get if overclocking and the ram says no.But of course you get all the damn clicking.......(not serious,just resetting clicking)

Yeah cheers, i dont think its a psu failure.More like imminent hdd death,even tho smart drivers say drive is sweet.??Is this too dramatic???Should i rma this???Damn

smids · 13 Jan 2006 at 17:11

I RMA'ed mine tbh - not putting up with something which doesn't function as it should. If they get silly, I'll get out my fat sale of goods book... (actually published by my tutor).

Mrchu_ · 14 Jan 2006 at 09:07

thanks for the advice and explanations,ill be looking for an rma on this one

MAllen · 14 Jan 2006 at 19:06

Go to Western Digitals website (http://www.wdc.com) and download their diagnostic tool. This will give you the official manufacturers opinion on the drive.

Sounds FUBAR to me, so time for the RMA.

smids · 14 Jan 2006 at 19:53

MAllen said:
Go to Western Digitals website (http://www.wdc.com) and download their diagnostic tool. This will give you the official manufacturers opinion on the drive.

Sounds FUBAR to me, so time for the RMA.

Thing is, my Raptor passed the Diag long test but still reset/occasionally spun down. There wasn't anything wrong with the platters, it was something else, most likely a faulty controller board.

MAllen · 14 Jan 2006 at 19:58

True - the diagnostic test is not perfect. I have had a disk pass the test, then die ten minutes later while performing a Norton Ghost of the drive. Funnily enough that was also a Western Digital drive. Not exactly the most reliable of brands. I see many more dead WDC drives than any other brand. Would never use them in my own or customer machines.

Back to MrChu - get that drive RMA's one way or another. It sounds sick and you don't want your boss's hard drive failing and loosing his pr0n collection. He would not be happy.

.

Mrchu_ · 14 Jan 2006 at 21:51

thanks again for the interest,ill do more testing monday.But it will be rma.