SMART failure on new drive 1

[gbraden]

I have an old Gateway, got the SMART failure, could not bypass the error so I replaced the hard drive, formatted the drive, reloaded the OS and apps, restarted computer and while loading a couple more drivers got the SMART failure again.

What am I missing? Is it possible that something on the OLD motherboard is 'burning' an error onto the new disk? The old disk is at this time unaccessable, as slave and as external drive via USB.

Thanks in advance for any insight you can give me.

PC runs Windows XP Professional.


Glen Braden

 

[kmcferrin]

Is the new drive the same make/model as the previous drive with a SMART failure?

Are there BIOS updates available for your motherboard?

I suppose that it's possible that the system is doing something to damage the drives, but it could also be power related as well.

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[gbraden]

The drive is the same make, original being 38G IDE and the new being 250G eIDE. The hard drive is original and the PC was perchased in 1999. While it is silly not to get a new one (at today's prices), my wife who uses the machine for email and facebook, doesn't want me to spend the money on a new.

BIOS update has been aquired and is on my list of things to do to get everything running again.

BTW, I cannot get to the BIOS when the machine is cranking out the hard drive error. Most of the time, with such an error, you can hit enter and have the machine still come up. With the old and new drive, it is doing an automatic restart when enter is hit.


Glen Braden

 

[BadBigBen]

Most likely the new drive is fine, but I am leaning towards a failure in the IDE controller...

two ways to get around this issue:

1. get a new computer. the old one has outlived it's usefulness, 11 years and just now problems with the hardware is rather good, but the life expectancy of a computer is around 3 to 5 yrs max...

or 2. get a IDE PCI card that allows booting and attach the drive to said controller... drawback you are still using the same mainboard with the flaky build in Controller, and that can cause major problems down the road...

Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

 

[goombawaho]

^^^^ What BadBigBen said. That computer is past its useful life. The SMART information is on the hsrd drive itself and the motherboard just communicates the status of the SMART error. So, either the mobo is "reading" the SMART info wrong and causing the error, or the new hard drive actually has an error.

It would be best to put the new hard drive into another PC and check the SMART status there.

 

[G0AOZ]

I agree with diagnosis of the problem.

Whilst in an ideal world we'd replace a computer after 3 to 5 years, it seems to me that an increasing number of my users in the recession-hit U.K. are having to make 'em last a lot longer. I see many machines in here that are upto 8 or 10 years old and still working...

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[goombawaho]

Sure - there are older computers out there and that's fine. But if you start putting a new motherboard into an 8 year old computer (and you can't do the labor and O.S. reload yourself), you're really spending good money that should go to a new or used computer.

If you can do all the work yourself and it's less than a $100 for a new mobo, then I suppose it's ok. Still questionable though not to invest in something more modern.

Plus, when computers get that age, hard drives are nearing failure as well as power supplies. So, it could be a parade of problems after that new motherboard.

 

[gbraden]

Thanks for all your input. The new drive was okay when I hooked it into another computer. The old drive, when hooked into the second computer will cause a new hardware found, but I cannot get it recognized as a drive in any flavor (storage, slave, etc). I do wish I waited and ran bootable linux to get the pst and another couple of files. The old pc was stripped.

Instead of buying a new PC for my wife, I am configuring mine so that she can use it for her emails and farmville.


Glen Braden