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Random hard-drive non detection on cold boot - bad power s..

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  • Storage
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Anonymous
a b G Storage
August 26, 2005 3:50:12 PM

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage,alt.comp.hardware (More info?)

Hello,

My AMD 2400 XP+ system has an 80G Maxtor (primary IDE) and 30G
(secondary IDE w/Linux only). I'm getting random freezes at the point
where the bios detects IDE drives. I'll hear a weak beeping noise, and
the boot process will be halted before it detects an IDE drive. I
changed ribbon cables, and the problem seemed to go away only for a
while. I then changed mainboards, because the PC Chips seemed flaky
anyway. Now, with the new ABit, the problem happened again. Usually
several power on/offs will clear up the problem, and sometimes
unplugging the machine helps. Other symptoms include occasional random
"blue screens of death" during normal usage with "dumping physical
memory" messages. I ran the manufacturer diagnostic tools on both hard
drives, and there was nothing detected. The machine will run for days
between incidents. Could this be a power supply issue? I'm plugged
into a UPS, but maybe the power supply is flaky. Could either of my
two CD drives (secondary) be causing this? I don't see how the hard
drive electronics could be an issue, because they work flawlessly for
days, and the diagnostic tools gave them a pass. I would appreciate
any suggestions. Thanks.

More about : random hard drive detection cold boot bad power

Anonymous
a b G Storage
August 27, 2005 9:06:03 AM

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage,alt.comp.hardware (More info?)

joel.mcclure@gmail.com wrote

> My AMD 2400 XP+ system has an 80G Maxtor (primary IDE) and 30G
> (secondary IDE w/Linux only). I'm getting random freezes at the point
> where the bios detects IDE drives. I'll hear a weak beeping noise,
> and the boot process will be halted before it detects an IDE drive.

That sounds like one of the drives is recalibrating when it cant
read the platters properly. That is likely the 'weak beeping noise'

> I changed ribbon cables, and the problem seemed to go away only for
> a while. I then changed mainboards, because the PC Chips seemed
> flaky anyway. Now, with the new ABit, the problem happened again.
> Usually several power on/offs will clear up the problem, and sometimes
> unplugging the machine helps. Other symptoms include occasional
> random "blue screens of death" during normal usage with "dumping
> physical memory" messages. I ran the manufacturer diagnostic tools
> on both hard drives, and there was nothing detected. The machine
> will run for days between incidents. Could this be a power supply issue?

Yes.

> I'm plugged into a UPS, but maybe the power supply is flaky.

Yes, that is a real possibility. The UPS was
unlikely to help the problem with failing to boot.

> Could either of my two CD drives (secondary) be causing this?

Its possible, but not very likely. The obvious way to test
that possibility is to physically disconnect them and see
if that makes any difference to the boot particularly.

> I don't see how the hard drive electronics could be an issue, because
> they work flawlessly for days, and the diagnostic tools gave them a pass.

Yes, there is no common fault that affects just the boot.
And the hard drive cant produce those other symptoms.

> I would appreciate any suggestions.

I'd try a new power supply myself.
August 27, 2005 9:06:04 AM

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage,alt.comp.hardware (More info?)

reseat your RAM and then if that doesn't work try memtest86, if you getting
memory dumps and random BSOD's. Also try the simplest things first b4 you
go and buy a new PS also grab a cheap mulitivolt test meter and chek the
rails of the PSU.
!