Strange problem with startup

[PikeyPriest]

Just had a very strange problem. This morning i shut my pc down fine, but 20 minutes later booted it and it came up that the disc wasnt detected or whatever the usual message is. The drive was still there in BIOS, but no data could be seen on it.

I just got back today and tried it again with the same result. i then reset the bios and it again failed. I pressed restart while i was opening my case to check fans + drives were spinning and when i looked up the PC was loading windows normally. Apart from a mild OC (2.8 ghz from 2.4 and speed-step or whatever it is called disabled), there are no bios changes that should affect it and nothing was changed before the problem arose.

Any ideas what is going on?? Slightly worrying TBH as a problem like this close to an essay deadline would cause some serious problems.

 

[PikeyPriest]

Update - just happened again. I made no changes to the setup and it crashed while i was working on an essay. Luckily auto save wasnt too far behind me and firefox opened all the journal windows i had opened.

Like last time i basically changed nothing and it started working again with time. Still not convinced if it is a MB or HD error TBH. Anyone have any insight in to this? AFAIK it must be either the hard drive not being working correctly and detecting an operating system, or the MB is failing to access the drive to boot with. Would a HD even have an intermittent type fault like this? There is a slight overclock (3.1ghz on a 6600), but no extreme volts or anything - system is stable + runs f@H and temps are 34C cmpu 41 MB with heating on and folding running (no overclock). High CPU gets is low forty's with the motherboard sitting around 45, so i dont think its a temp problem.

I`m worried its going to be a long-term problem and want to get the part swapped changed before my warranty runs out or i have more problems like this!! With deadlines it really is a moment!!

Thanks for any suggestions/insight!

 

[gumbald]

Make backups for now Get to your deadline before you start tampering. Better to have a limping system than a legless system