My friends computer started doing strange stuff, random lockups, unresponsive, etc. I ran a hard drive test on it (IBM) and it failed, bad sectors. I ordered a new one and he asked if I could save his data. I put his old drive in my computer and saved all of his data without any problems, it seems the bad sectors were only affecting the operating system. While waiting for the new hard drive I thought I would play with the old hard drive. I re-loaded the OS and tried it again and everything worked fine, no problems. Of course I would never trust a hard drive with bad sectors and planned on changing it as soon as the new one came in.
Now fast forward a week. The new hard drive is in, a Seagate 120G Barracuda. I install it and start the computer and before it gets to the BIOS screen, it shuts off. I hit the start button to try again and nothing -- dead. I unplug it for a few seconds and try again and it starts again, only to shut off again. It did run a little longer this time before it shut off. I had to unplug again before it would try and start again and it stayed on a little longer. I tried re-setting the motherboard and that did not help. I had to go though this about 5 or 6 times before it stayed on long enough to get to the BIOS setup so I could change it to boot from the CD-ROM. After that it booted from the CD-ROM, I partitioned and formatted, loaded the OS and all was normal.
Now the OS is loaded (XP Professional) and all works great. I turned it off and on several times the first day and no problems. BUT I try it the next day and it goes through the same thing--- shut down, unplug, restart, etc. etc. etc. It takes about 5 or 6 times to get it going. After you do it is fine. BUT I can put the old hard drive in and it works first time EVERY TIME.
It got progressively worse until the new hard drive wouldn?t ever start and the old hard drive would start most of the time not always.
As of today neither hard drive will start and I get a long beep followed immediately by two short beeps on the motherboard. I tried removing everything not necessary to run and tried a new power supply. I tried resetting the video card and memory. I am thinking the motherboard is bad, but I am not sure. I guess it could be the processor. What do you guys think??? And why did the new hard drive cause it to shut off, when the old hard drive would work (for awhile anyway)??
THANKS!!!
Here?s the setup:
ABIT KX7-333 motherboard
Mushkin DDR PC2100 256 MB ram
Matrox G4 video card
AMD Athlon XP 1800 (I think!!)
Now fast forward a week. The new hard drive is in, a Seagate 120G Barracuda. I install it and start the computer and before it gets to the BIOS screen, it shuts off. I hit the start button to try again and nothing -- dead. I unplug it for a few seconds and try again and it starts again, only to shut off again. It did run a little longer this time before it shut off. I had to unplug again before it would try and start again and it stayed on a little longer. I tried re-setting the motherboard and that did not help. I had to go though this about 5 or 6 times before it stayed on long enough to get to the BIOS setup so I could change it to boot from the CD-ROM. After that it booted from the CD-ROM, I partitioned and formatted, loaded the OS and all was normal.
Now the OS is loaded (XP Professional) and all works great. I turned it off and on several times the first day and no problems. BUT I try it the next day and it goes through the same thing--- shut down, unplug, restart, etc. etc. etc. It takes about 5 or 6 times to get it going. After you do it is fine. BUT I can put the old hard drive in and it works first time EVERY TIME.
It got progressively worse until the new hard drive wouldn?t ever start and the old hard drive would start most of the time not always.
As of today neither hard drive will start and I get a long beep followed immediately by two short beeps on the motherboard. I tried removing everything not necessary to run and tried a new power supply. I tried resetting the video card and memory. I am thinking the motherboard is bad, but I am not sure. I guess it could be the processor. What do you guys think??? And why did the new hard drive cause it to shut off, when the old hard drive would work (for awhile anyway)??
THANKS!!!
Here?s the setup:
ABIT KX7-333 motherboard
Mushkin DDR PC2100 256 MB ram
Matrox G4 video card
AMD Athlon XP 1800 (I think!!)