Hard disk defective?

[LunaticAl]

Hi all,

I have a problem when booting up my system. It says Hard disk failure every so often (but increasing). The hard disk however seems to be detected but the CD-RW isn´t. The configuration has always worked so far so I´m inclined to think the HD is defect (saw a similar post on this forum). Another thing: I can immediately hear if the boot is going to work or not by the sound of the hard disk gearing up. But WHEN the PC does boot, everything works OK except that the CD-RW is not listed in XP Pro (makes sense if it´s not detected). Once booted, "Restart computer" in XP is not a problem, only when switched off and on again.

Any help? I tried fiddeling with master and slave, to no avail. Anyway this setup has always worked so far. Another problem is that there´s a CD in the CD-RW I need, but I can´t get it open since according to the PC it is not there. Is it at all possible that this can be because of a faulty HD?

System: Athlon 1300 / MSI KT3 Ultra, VIA KT333 based
primary master: HDD Samsung? 30GB
sec. master: DVD-ROM
sec. slave: CD-RW

nVidia GeForce
Hauppage WinTV 350
Ethernet card

Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[edfair]

Hard drives can be flaky like that. In times past I've had drives that were slow coming up and rather than waste the boot just hit the reset button 2 to 4 seconds after powered on.
There are issues with some VIA chipsets. You might want to see if there are later drivers available.
Is there a hole in the front of the drive that looks like it might take a straightened paper clip? Some have an emergency eject mechanism accessable that way.

Ed Fair
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[LunaticAl]

Thanks for the quick reply Ed!

Resetting after 2-4 secs that´s exactly what I´m doing. I´m aware of the issues with the VIA chipset... installing the Hauppauge TV-card two months ago was a disaster.. had to update drivers, install new BIOS etc. etc. I´ll go check if there are newer drivers available, hope it helps.

And no, the CD-RW doesn´t have a hole.. the DVD has (oh the irony). Might take the CD-RW out and stick it in another PC just to get it open.

Anyway thanks again

Albert