Strange drive failures 1

[jurgen36]

I recently build a new computer. P4 3.3 Ht. 40Gbyte Seagate ATA133,1 Gbyte memory etc. After installing Win XP pro normally, the drive failed to boot up, or booted halfway and then keept hanging. Well I replaced the drive with a Maxtor 80 Gb, same problem. Another replacement an 80 Gb seagate, again the same. Changed memory, no cure, changed Cpu, no cure. Changed motherbord same problem. Finally in desparation changed the Power supply. Same 500 watt type as before, bingo this cured it. I did test the old supply with with full load and it works perfect. All voltages are ok but I checked with a Cro and you can see momentary voltage drops on the 12 and 5 volt lines. The 3 drives I used all have now bad blocks but are otherwise ok. So in case of similar problems change the supply first before you ruin your drives. Regards

Jurgen

 

[YellowOnline]

Ah yes, we learn a lot from screwing things up

Peace,

Yellow

 

[jurgen36]

YellowOnline:
Well it really was a new one for me. I work with computers for more the 40 years. I had plenty of supply problems in this time but normally this shows up quite differently. I never had destroyed drives by a supply problem. As you said we learn a lot by screwing things up. Regards

Jurgen

 

[micker377]

In an article on power supplies, I read that the main problem with some PSU's is that when you have a drain on (say the 12 v. line), this can cause the other lines (mem and board) to lower and then surge back up.

 

[SkylineGTR]

Hii im new to this forum and i really need help.. I recently bought a new hard drive for more space.. At first i got this 160Gb hitachi to be the slave drive.. when i booted up, the bios recognized the drive properly with all the details being correct... the computer even booted as far as the login screen and as things began to load i saw the lil usual popup sayin a new HD is detected... and then a matter of a few seconds later the computer jus either Reboots itself, or a blank blue screen appears..

ive been looking lots to see problems similar to mine on the internet and im thinking this feels like the same problem... I went bak and swapped it for a Samsung, but same problem!! I used another cable, but that dint work...

i have an old drive from my old computer which i tried, but it worked finee!!.. this is the par tthat confuses me tho.. could it be that the old drive uses less power, and the issue really is the PSU ??
Or is it a crappy motherboard??
i neeed help plzzzzz

My setup is,
AthlonXP 2600+ (barton) cpu
XFX NF2S-ALH Motherboard
Ultra 256Mb Ram (PC2700)
300W Power supply
Other items using power are:
DVD drive
CD/RW drive
Master HD
Floppy Drive
Modem?

Sorry for the longgg post but im desperate.. any help is greatly appreciated...

 

[TekTippy4U]

You said the "details" are corect on the POST screen.....as in all 160GB showing up or just 137?...if not, then a possible BIOS upgrade is necessary, concerning the LBA48bit issue. If using WinXP SP1 or win2K SP3 or better, it's not the OS fault, though a parameter may need to be set in the REG to enable this 48bit for win2K only, usually.

If the BIOS and POST recognize the full 160 GB, than possibly, just a File system prob? (FAT32 limitations).....what are the drives OS and File Systems? and how did you format the Hitachi and Samsung? if you ever even made it that far.

Did you setup the drive with the correct jumper setings and did you use a Manu floppy tools setup disk to Format the new disk/s?

as you'd suspect an older smaller drive wouldn't have this / these limitations.

TT4U

Notification:
These are just my thoughts....and should be carefully measured against other opinions.
Backup All Important Data/Docs

 

[SkylineGTR]

lol, well i got the drive to work today... i called tech for my motherboard thinking it was the motherboard... Why? well yesterday i tried hooking up the hard drive to my sisters computer and everything worked like presto and magic.. it wasnt formatted.. XP jus simply recognized it and i only had to format it THROUGH xp...

U see i have installed exactly 4 other slave drives on 4 different systems in the past and hav gotten comfortable to the ease of just booting those drives as slaves and doing the formatting through xp, or using partition magic...
with myyy computer which i assembled recently a few months ago, it seems that this isnt possible.. or at least theres sumthing preventing me from doing so..
anyhow the tech guy on the fone said hav u tried installing ur OS on the new drive jus to see if its a software problem..? i said no why would i do that i already hav it on ma other drive.. it should workkkk as a master...
lol, so ya ya i said i would do it and while i dint really install xp, i jus unhooked my original drive, made the new one a master, used my xp cd on bootup, went through the installation ONly up to the format of the drive... wen it came to restart, i turned off the computer, went bak to my old drive bein the master, switched jumpers on the new one to be slave, as well as the cable positions... Started up and woowee i felt like an idiot although more relieved..

anyways, to sum it up, it seems that lots of ppl (not including me) do the whole formatting a slave drive through dos using the fdisk method, or prolly the xp cd like i did... yet i never needed to until now. i remember dos back in grade 8, and things gotten so much ezier prolly making me dumb... anyhow i still dunno why it was like that...
was it software restrictions..?? mother board??
my sisters computer uses the same winxp with service pack 1 and it was fine there so im still thinking the motherboard was screwing around.. sorry for the long postt but who knowwws maybe sumone else out there has to deal with the same nonsense...

 

[SkylineGTR]

lol i still notice TekTippy4U asked the solution right away tho.. "did u use a manu floppy to format the drive"
i honestly tried goin throo the fdisk thingy but all i got was errors and the wrong drive size... so i jus skipped it..
thanks for the replies thoooo, i would hav figured it out after lookin here if not b4..

 

[smsg]

Jurgen36,

Thanks for the tip, I would have never suspected the power supply let alone use an oscilloscope to check it out.

I am a fan. Your computer MIS-adventures fascinate me. Like you, I also work in a school (since 1989) in technical support. I've seen some very weird, can't explain it stuff but your problems (tips) are just off the left field.

BTW, I also own a C64 (in the shed). How's Pataya Beach these days? It is cold here in Melbourne.

SMSG

 

[jurgen36]

:SMSG
Hello down under. I am from Perth but for the last 6 and a half years in Chiangrai, the north of Thailand. I am dean of Computer Science at a major University here, but I will retire at the end of this year, but will continue to stay in Chiangrai. Well I started with computers in the early 60th. The machines then occupied a whole fully airconditioned floor. The input was with dip switches and the output to teletype monitors. Yes I also still have a C64, a C128 and an Amiga in Perth. The weather here is now in the middle 30 degrees with plenty of rain. Regards

Jurgen

 

[jurgen36]

PS: Sorry the teletype monitors should teletype printers. I just remember there is also a C Vic20 around. Regards

Jurgen