Big, Grande, Problems (long)

[sevan89]

Hello,

A week ago my computer started to hang at random times and spontaneously restart. Everytime it did this, upon restart the BIOS would not find the hard disk. I had to turn the power supply off and on, restart the computer then it would find the hard disk and boot up fine. Later, it would hang again, restart and this cycle continued. I noticed that seemed to hang more often when installing programs or burning a CD.

Virus check came up clean. I formatted everything, did fdisk/mbr because I thought I may have missed a boot sector virus, flashed the BIOS, and reinstalled XP. It took 5 tries to install XP because the installation would fail in mid process and setup files could not be copied properly. When this happened, I had to restart and again the BIOS couldn't find the hard disk unless I swithed the power supply switch on and off and restarted. Finally, XP installed and the computer boots up fine. But, now when I try to install SP2 it hangs, and restarts again and the BIOS again can't find the HDD unless I cycle power. (I also noticed that by unplugging just the power to the HDD and plugging it back in I can get the BIOS to find the HDD)

It seems to me as though the computer spontaneously loses contact with the hard drive during installations or CD-writing etc... I am unsure if it is a HDD problem or a motherboard/BIOS problem or something else. I don't know what is going on but I can't install programs and I feel like the computer may lose the HDD at any moment.

My computer has never had any problems of any kind. It's about 5 years old.

Do you guys have any ideas what the problem may be?

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

My system specs:

MOBO: Asus P4T, 256MB Cache
BIOS: Award 1007
CPU: Intel Pentium 4 1.8MHz
RAM: 512MB Rambus 2x256
HDD: WD 100Gb 7200RPM
Power Supply: 400W generic
Video: ELSA Gladiac 920 64MB

 

[helpmeout]

Have you checked in Event Viewer to see if any errors are showing? Post the error nr and the application/system component name. Also go to the WD website and D/L-install-run their disk diagnostic tool.

 

[Raj]

sounds like a failing Hard Drive.

I worked on a PC that similar symptoms last week.

You may have already doen this but try running scandisk and/or defrag and see what happens. If you get errors during defrag that will surely suggest a failing hard drive.

If you get errors during scan disk it will try to correct them.

Good luck, and post and let us know what happens.

 

[sevan89]

Thanks for replying guys.

I downloaded the WD Digital DataLifeguard Diagnostics and ran an extended test. It found bad sectors and I clicked repair. The computer froze and I don't know if it fixed the bad sectors or not. I restarted (turned off and on) and ran a quick test that failed completion.

Here is the error log:

Test Option: QUICK TEST
Model Number: WDC WD1000BB-00CCB0
Firmware Number: 220.A422
Drive Type: IDE
Capacity: 100.03 GB
SMART Status: PASS
Test Result: FAIL
Test Error Code: 06-Quick Test on drive 1 did not complete! Status code = 07 (Failed read test element), Failure Checkpoint = 65 (Error Log Test) SMART self-test did not complete on drive 1!
Test Time: 11:29:10, March 05, 2005


It says the SMART self test didn't complete but when I first open up the program it says it passed the SMART self test. In any case it sounds like my HDD is about to die. I will run defrag and see what happens and another extended test to see if the bad sectors were fixed.

Any other thoughts? Can I rule out a mobo or BIOS problem?

Thanks a lot for your help.

 

[helpmeout]

I've had 2 WD drives give me a Code 07 in the past. Both times WD tech support has immediately given me an RMA.

 

[sevan89]

Hey,
I just got off the phone with WD. My warranty expired in October, 2004. Damn. The guy said I could try another IDE cable and see if it resolves. If not, I guess I will be buying a new HD.

Thanks for all of your help.