Hard drive shuts down and fan cuts off, NEED HELP

[Freddiejp]

I have a HP 563w computer and the problem that I am having is that when the computer is started it runs for just a little whie and then the fan and the hard drive shuts down. Also the hard drive yellow light comes on and stays on, bu tthe power supply is still running. Only the cpu fan stops turning. I have changed the power supply and I know that is not the problem. here are the specs for the computer.

Model number
DB215A
Country/region sold in
United States
Base processor and speed
Pentium® 2.4 GHz/400
Chipset
845GL
Memory
Component Attributes
RAM (standard) 512/2100 DDR (2x256)
Maximum 2 GB
Speed PC2100/PC1600
Type DDR
DIMM slots 2

 

[TechnologyCoordinator]

Sounds like some kind of stand-by, sleep, or low power mode.

Take a look in the BIOS and disable any of the above mentioned features.

 

[Guest]

Or a dead/dying power supply.

 

[TechnologyCoordinator]

I have changed the power supply and I know that is not the problem.

 

[Guest]

Damn alcohol! damn you!

I think it's a dead/dying Hp computer then :?

I would suggest going into the Event viewer, if it's your HD acting up, you will have events there.

Right click on my computer, manage

 

[TechnologyCoordinator]

Damn alcohol! damn you!

I think it's a dead/dying Hp computer then :?

I would suggest going into the Event viewer, if it's your HD acting up, you will have events there.

Right click on my computer, manage

lol

I don't think it's the hard drive. Generally the computer would not shut off. It might blue screen or error, but not shut off.

 

[Paperdoc]

Check whether your system is monitoring the fan speeds as well as temperatures. Should be in the BIOS. Some systems will check fan speeds and, if any fall below limits, will slow or shut down the entire system. For example, if it thought (rightly or wrongly) that the CPU fan was not turning it would shut down quickly to prevent catastrophic overheating of the CPU.

Of course, this means YOU should first verify if the fans actually do start up. If not, you could cause yourself big trouble by telling the BIOS to ignore fans speeds.

Anyway, if it is trying to monitor fan speeds and, for whatever reason, gets info that one or more is not functioning, that could cause the behavior you are seeing. Could get a similar result if it thinks a temerature it monitors is 'way too high.

I appreciate that it might be hard to check all this if your system won't run long enough to get into the BIOS Setup program and look around. As a starter, make sure the system if off and the power cord pulled out, then check very carefully all the connectors for fans where they are plugged into the motherboard. Look for broken or loose wires. Carefully unplug and re-plug each fan connector a couple times to be sure it makes good contact. Then try to start up again.

By the way, you could test TC's suggestion of a faulty hard drive easily. Disconnect BOTH the power supply and data cables to the HDD and then try to start up. It won't find a drive to boot from and eventually will tell you that. But by then you will know whether it can stay running longer than 10 seconds!

 

[Freddiejp]

I have checked the hard drive by disconnecting all connections and it will run normally and stay running a long time. but when I plug in the hard drive and run it, that is when it starts the shutdown. I have checked the harddrive on another computer and it seems to run well. But I will check the BIOS and see what it will show me. THANKS

 

[TechnologyCoordinator]

Without a hard drive your computer doesn't boot into windows and run rampid with RAM and CPU usage. This is my feeling why it is stable without it.

If you get another hard drive and start to install windows on it I don't think you'll even get all the way through the install before it crashes.

I was able to reproduce your problem (fans on, computer off) by going to far on an OC last night. I don't know if it was the RAM or the proc though. So this could be a RAM related issue. Try testing your RAM stick independantly (just use one stick, boot into windows, then try the other stick(s), boot into windows, etc...).

 

[Guest]

Yeah I suggest standard testing procedure then!

Burn Memtest
Boot from the CD let it run for a while, Red = bad ram, if so remove one stick, try again and so on.

Then if ram is fine, monitor your voltage/temps while running Prime95.

You could always try the HD on another IDe channel and with another cable, weird problems may be caused by that!

 

[Freddiejp]

Sorry it took so long to respond. I do not have a way to check the fan speeds or temperature on this Hp computer. But when I disconnected the hard drive and let it run. The problem did not occur. it just happens when i connect the hard drive. I have tried another hard drive and it does the same thing. It will boot up correctly but after about five minutes it will shutdown the cpu fan, but the hard drive is till running

 

[Onus]

Hmmm, sounds like your hard drive has failed, possibly in a way that is overloading the PSU (which shuts down to save itself).
Put another hard drive in the system and see what happens.

You do have backups, right?

If not, put the dying drive into an external case and see if it will run long enough to get the data off it;
OR
If you can find one, buy an identical model [used] hard drive, and swap the circuit board on it with the one on the dying drive. Note that these boards undergo revision, e.g. the one from a WD800JB made today won't fit on the same drive made in 2002.

Edit: missed your last post, in which another drive shows the same behavior. Did you add anything to this PC recently? Perhaps a limit on one of the PSU rails has been exceeded, so another identical PSU wouldn't fix it.
After your PC shuts down, is anything on it notably hot? Does the behavior occur if you leave the case open with a big fan blowing on it? Check your heatsinks for dust, and blow them out. Don't use a vacuum cleaner due to static.

 

[Freddiejp]

I have cleaned out the computer not using a vacuum but using compressed air. I id not nothing anthing that was overhot when it shut down. The computer does not show any signs just just off and the hard drive lights stays on. I wil try the hard drive on another computer and see if it works.