Getting Disk boot failure errors

[redrider4life1]

Ok I just built a new computer:

X2 3800+
EVGA Nforce4 SLI MB
EVGA 7800GT video card
Crucial pc4000 RAM
Maxtor Diamond Max 200gb 7200rpm hd

Everythign was workign find on this computer for the past 3 weeks then I go to EVGA's website to download and install an update for the built in sound card. I got an error and the whole machine crashed. I restarted the computer 3 or 4 times and found out the hard drive is not being recognized. So I disconnect the hard drive and reconnect it to see if thats the problem. Well it worked for about 30 minutes then my computer crashed again. So I decided to change out the cable thinking that may be the problem, but it still crashed. Then I flashed my bios to make sure that wasn't the problem, but came up with the same problem. I then disconnected and reconnected and it recognized the hd. I formatted the HD and reinstalled windows xp professional. Well it installed and I installed the video drivers. I then installed the drivers for the motherboard and when I restarted the system it froze during restart. I had to hit the restart button and the HD is not being recognized again. I don't have another SATA hd to put in this computer to see if that is the problem so any feedback will be appreciated.

Mike

 

[montag451]

Can you disable the onboard sound in BIOS.
Anything good if you try this now?

 

[deathwalker]

Well not quite sure of your problem though...I would not rule out your power supply. I can say one thing though...upon reinstall you installed your drivers in the wrong order. Always install your platform drivers before you install your video driver. Your platform drivers include a AGP drvier for the chipset that should be installed before you install the video driver.

 

[montag451]

Truuueeee Deathwalker, true.

 

[jadinolf]

Hard drive cable?

Got the same message and that turned out to be the problem.

 

[redrider4life1]

I will try the onboard sound in bios and I tried 2 separate cables so I doubt its the cable. Right now I am downloading the hard drive diagnostics from maxtor to see what that says.

 

[redrider4life1]

Well I've ran most of the hard drive tests and it passed them all. I am going to try the extended test in case it is an intermittent problem. I'm going to format the hard drive if everything looks good tomorrow back to maxtor certified specs and hopefully that will cure it. What is the proper install order for drivers? I haven't tried disabling the sound yet because I have been testing my hard drive for the past 6 or so hours so tomorrow I will try that if this does not work.

1) MB drivers
2) Video Card
3) XP Service Pack 2
4) Symantec Antivirus
5) Nvidia Firewall

I am going to install in this order and then plug my internet cable into my computer to update my virus definitions.

 

[deathwalker]

Do not overlook the possibility that you could have a flakey Power supply.

 

[redrider4life1]

How can I tell if it is the power supply? Could I connect my old 80gb HD to it and if it works then it is not the power supply?

 

[FlyingPenguin]

I doubt it had anything to do with the sound drivers. I am willing to bet you leave this system on 24/7 and it was the reboot that led to a hard drive failures.

Drives usually fail on bootup. This is the time of max stress on the whole system, and a flaky PSU will fluctuate voltages on bootup.

I've seen several examples of bad PSUs (usually with bad caps) that worked fine as long as the system was running but would voltage spike the hard drives and kill them on bootup (happened to my own workstation - RMA'd 3 drives before I figured it out).

Check you PSU voltages with a digital multimeter ($20 at Home Depot). DO NOT RELY ON YOUR ONBOARD VOLTAGE SOFTWARE OR BIOS. If the 12, 5 or 3.3 volt rails are outside of tolerance (+/- 5%) then toss the PSU.

The damage may already have been done to the HDD. Download the HDD manufactuer's disk diagnostic and run the FULL (Advanced) test. Either it'll pass or fail. If it fails, backup your data or clone the drive ASAP.

Hope this helps...

 

[redrider4life1]

Well I ran about 18 hours of the diagnostics yesterday and it passed everything so I know its not the HD. I am installing windows on it as we speak and this time I installed the RAID driver even though I wasn't using it before. I bought the stuff 3 weeks ago from newegg so if it is the power supply hopefully newegg will send me out a free one. This would be my 2nd bad powersupply that I received when I first built new computers. I think my luck is just ****** with power supplies.

 

[redrider4life1]

I have a 350w power supply I could hook up to this system to see if that is actually the problem. Do you think it would be enough power for my system in my sig?

 

[redrider4life1]

I put the 420w power supply in my old computer and the computer works fine. EVGA told me to update bios so I am trying that at the moment. I'm thinking its either the MB or still possibly the hard drive. I'm going to put my working 80gb hard drive in the new computer to see if that boots up.

 

[redrider4life1]

Ok so I made a bios update disk from the instructions on EVGA's website and when I follow their procedure I get a "cannot load dos" press any key to retry error. I think maybe the mb has a faulty copy of BIOS on it and I have no clue how to fix this except returning the MB for a new one.

 

[SuperSilicon]

Im guessing the other hdd didnt have any better luck, after trying all other options I would send that mobo back for a rma.

 

[deathwalker]

When you formated the bootable floppy...you did make it bootable ...didnt you?

 

[redrider4life1]

I just followed the instructions on the website.

ftp://evga.com/BIOS.pdf

 

[deathwalker]

well..if all u did was format the floppy and then copy the flash file and flash utility to it...then..it wont work..nothing in that proceedure makes it bootable.

 

[redrider4life1]

Well all it tells me to do is format the disk then double click the .exe file i downloaded and it makes the floppy itself. I didn't copy any files to the floppy at all. The guy from EVGA told me to follow the instructions on the website and it will make the floppy itself so I'm not sure how to make it bootable.

 

[redrider4life1]

I tried checking off "create an MSDOS startup disk" and when I opened the .exe file it just erased the disk and wrote over it.

 

[redrider4life1]

Anything else I shoudl know about the bootable floppy?