I have an interesting problem that I'd like some 2nd opinions on.
A friends PC has recently "died" showing symptoms of OK boot and operation from cold, then after an hour it dies and re-starts, or a re-start is required. Upon re-booting the machine it does not see the system disk and asks for one.
I have had a look at it, and seen the same thing. Initial boot from cold has been fine on the first two occasions. Re-boot to BIOS (within the 1 hour "time limit") and that too is fine....BIOS see's both drives exactly as they should appear.
However once it HAS died. The BIOS cannot see EITHER drive!!
This machine (AthlonXP 2100, MSI KT3 Ultra2 Mainboard) was home built quite some time ago (almost 2 years?) using a newly purchased Excelstor HD and an old Fujitsu from a previous and quite old machine. I suspected that the problem might be PSU and/or Heat related, however despite the small case the CPU runs pretty cool, and all my tests have been with the case open, so the case temp has been quite low also.
I have tried the machine with a couple of other HD's and they are fine, and here's the thing....I also tried the faulty HD's with a known good PSU/Mainboard/CPU test bench..after failure...and though the BIOS will recognise the HD's...at first....it cannot boot the system disk. It simply hangs on startup.
Could a dying PSU (voltage drop after time running) or heat exposure have KILLED both drives?
I have ceased experimentation with the drives themselves for now as there is data on them which ought to be recovered and I'm begining to fear that they only have a few GOOD cold starts left in them.
A friends PC has recently "died" showing symptoms of OK boot and operation from cold, then after an hour it dies and re-starts, or a re-start is required. Upon re-booting the machine it does not see the system disk and asks for one.
I have had a look at it, and seen the same thing. Initial boot from cold has been fine on the first two occasions. Re-boot to BIOS (within the 1 hour "time limit") and that too is fine....BIOS see's both drives exactly as they should appear.
However once it HAS died. The BIOS cannot see EITHER drive!!
This machine (AthlonXP 2100, MSI KT3 Ultra2 Mainboard) was home built quite some time ago (almost 2 years?) using a newly purchased Excelstor HD and an old Fujitsu from a previous and quite old machine. I suspected that the problem might be PSU and/or Heat related, however despite the small case the CPU runs pretty cool, and all my tests have been with the case open, so the case temp has been quite low also.
I have tried the machine with a couple of other HD's and they are fine, and here's the thing....I also tried the faulty HD's with a known good PSU/Mainboard/CPU test bench..after failure...and though the BIOS will recognise the HD's...at first....it cannot boot the system disk. It simply hangs on startup.
Could a dying PSU (voltage drop after time running) or heat exposure have KILLED both drives?
I have ceased experimentation with the drives themselves for now as there is data on them which ought to be recovered and I'm begining to fear that they only have a few GOOD cold starts left in them.
