Failing to read HD

Post by **Scourge** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 1:35 am

In the last few days my pc will fail to read the main HD on reboots. I know it's not the drive itself. I've tried other drives and still does it. Usually after a couple retries it will read it and boot up. Sometimes it will halt on the post screen with no drives listed and sometimes it will hang on the right before the loading screen.

Was wondering what the most likely culprit could be? IDE cable, MB, PS? I'm fixing to build me a new one anyway but I would like to give this one to the kids and not have it crap out if possible.

XP home sp2
IEC AM37 mb
Drives are WD
I can give more specs if needed. TIA.

Post by **AmIdYfReAk** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 1:39 am

whenever i look for that mobo, all i find is HP... so yea.. anyway,

try taking everything off of the ide ribbon that the HDD is on and let it run a solo run.

if that dosent work, Try moving it to IDE channel 2.

Also, how sure are you that it is not infact the hdd?

Post by **Scourge** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 1:51 am

AmIdYfReAk wrote:whenever i look for that mobo, all i find is HP... so yea.. anyway,

try taking everything off of the ide ribbon that the HDD is on and let it run a solo run.

if that dosent work, Try moving it to IDE channel 2.

Also, how sure are you that it is not infact the hdd?

It used to be an emachine not an HP. ANd I screwed that up, it's an FIC AM37

I've got a few drives that I tested that with. It does it periodically with all of them. I'll try what you suggested and report back shortly. Thanks.

Post by **SoM** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 3:45 am

eMachine

i dont think it makes a difference

all 3 are crap, eM, HP, comcrap

Post by **Scourge** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 4:08 am

SoM wrote:eMachine

i dont think it makes a difference

all 3 are crap, eM, HP, comcrap

Had this one for 3 years and no problems up till now. Then again, there's not much of the original left in there. They're not as bad as they used to be.

Post by **SoM** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 4:13 am

you'd be better off buying a barebone kit and going on from there

Post by **Scourge** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 4:22 am

I'm building myself one. This one is for the kids and I don't have the resources to build two right now. If it's not too serious I can fix it, if it is they are SOL.

edit: BTW, after a few reboots and drive changes it hasn't done it yet, but it was pretty random anyway. If it does it again I'll try changing the IDE cable and go from there.

Post by **SoM** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 4:25 am

ok, so before it wan an eMachine, now its a HP ? have you tried the HP resources ?

Post by **SoM** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 4:26 am

what kinda IDE cable u using, 40-pin / 80-pin ?

Post by **SoM** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 4:31 am

scourge34 wrote:
AmIdYfReAk wrote:whenever i look for that mobo, all i find is HP... so yea.. anyway,

try taking everything off of the ide ribbon that the HDD is on and let it run a solo run.

if that dosent work, Try moving it to IDE channel 2.

Also, how sure are you that it is not infact the hdd?
It used to be an emachine not an HP. ANd I screwed that up, it's an FIC AM37

I've got a few drives that I tested that with. It does it periodically with all of them. I'll try what you suggested and report back shortly. Thanks.

yea, if its doing it with a few other drives, i'm looking at a bad IDE1/2 channel hence the mobo, if u dont get it resolved see if you can take it to a local store for a free checkup

cause i also never heard of that mobo

Post by **Hr.O** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 4:34 am

First things to look at when your post and harddrive have problems is at the mobo, psu, cables, and the proc.
1) CABLES!!!!!!!111111elevenoneone

2) check PSU it might have problems with the +5V and +12V rails

3) the slow post and hdd detect problems are on a 'hot' system only(also: noticed any other system oddities like games freezing?)
- Might be proc overheating. check cooler(s) (thick layers of thermal grease can crackle/dry-out on the longer term and cause heat conduction troubles, same counts for thermal tape)

4) or do they also occur when the system has been down for a while?
-might be cmos battery, or bios/cmos integrity.

5) if non of the above, change all but mobo (for testing prupose)
-it might be dying electrically. (capacitors fi. have a tendency to fail after long periods of Über activity)

That's all i can imagine at 6:33 am (while reinstalling own system)

Good luck :icon14:
[edit] schmucking up[/edit]

Post by **SoM** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 4:43 am

normally bad capacitors just pop and spew ooze, i had that with my abit BF6, around 13-16 were popped out of 18-22 iirc, system was stable for about a year tho.., before i knew it was the capacitors i thought it the my p3-800 CPU cause the fan was dieing and PC was rebooting/turning off, but that happend after a year of the popped capacitors

Post by **AmIdYfReAk** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 5:02 am

jesus guys, you dont need to go all balls to the wall when telling him every aspect of what COULD be wrong, start it out simple and work from there..

Post by **Scourge** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 5:41 am

SoM wrote:ok, so before it wan an eMachine, now its a HP ? have you tried the HP resources ?

Never said it was an HP.

80 pin cables, no games freezing or other symptoms yet. It stays on pretty much 24/7 with occasional reboots. All the temps seem to stay well within normal. 35 to 42c. The only things I could change out within the next couple of days would be cables, vidcard, and drives. No burnt or popped parts that I can tell by looking at the mb.

AmIdYfReAk wrote:jesus guys, you dont need to go all balls to the wall when telling him every aspect of what COULD be wrong, start it out simple and work from there..

Lol, no problem. Most of that had entered my mind already. :icon30:

If it's just the mb, I can probably swing that. But if it's much more than that, well, sorry kids. And by kids I mean 17 and 15. They can deal. Thanks for all the input so far. :icon14: I'll give it some testing tomorrow and see what happens.

Post by **AmIdYfReAk** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 5:44 am

allright man, continue to test it,

good to hear its working though.

Post by **SoM** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 5:46 am

scourge34 wrote:
AmIdYfReAk wrote:whenever i look for that mobo, all i find is HP... so yea.. anyway,

try taking everything off of the ide ribbon that the HDD is on and let it run a solo run.

if that dosent work, Try moving it to IDE channel 2.

Also, how sure are you that it is not infact the hdd?
It used to be an emachine not an HP. ANd I screwed that up, it's an FIC AM37

I've got a few drives that I tested that with. It does it periodically with all of them. I'll try what you suggested and report back shortly. Thanks.

just like u messed up, i missread not with now lol, sry been drinking.. good luck with your testing tomorrow, and dont forget to report back

Post by **Scourge** » Sat Oct 29, 2005 8:05 pm

Well, so far it hasn't happened again. Maybe I jiggled something just right and fixed it. Don't know.

Post by **AmIdYfReAk** » Sun Oct 30, 2005 12:12 am

good to hear man, Atleast now you have a *cough*beater For the kid's to fuckle with.

Post by **Scourge** » Sun Oct 30, 2005 12:57 am

AmIdYfReAk wrote:good to hear man, Atleast now you have a *cough*beater For the kid's to fuckle with.

Lol, exactly. This one has served it's purpose. Now to get a better system under my belt.

Post by **Scourge** » Sun Oct 30, 2005 1:38 am

P.S. Thanks for all the info and suggestions.