Hard drive problems

  • Thread starter Thread starter PB
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PB

I'm helping someone to fix their PC (HP Pavilion 8630 with Quantum Fireball
lct10 10GB HD). After a certain amount of use, perhaps 30 mins, the hard
drive will start making head pinging noises and when I was there the
computer froze and automatically restarted. On reboot it said "No operating
system found"... Leaving it off for a while it sometimes works again for a
short time, as above. I'm fairly confident the HD needs replacing, but one
bit of doubt I have is the fact it restarted when the HD crash occured -
could there be something wrong with the PSU, causing problems to the HD and
mobo?

There isnt anything obviously wrong with the computer itself but I'm
wondering why a hard disk problem would cause a reboot.
 
PB said:
I'm helping someone to fix their PC (HP Pavilion 8630 with Quantum Fireball
lct10 10GB HD). After a certain amount of use, perhaps 30 mins, the hard
drive will start making head pinging noises and when I was there the
computer froze and automatically restarted. On reboot it said "No operating
system found"... Leaving it off for a while it sometimes works again for a
short time, as above. I'm fairly confident the HD needs replacing, but one
bit of doubt I have is the fact it restarted when the HD crash occured -
could there be something wrong with the PSU, causing problems to the HD and
mobo?

There isnt anything obviously wrong with the computer itself but I'm
wondering why a hard disk problem would cause a reboot.
Click to expand...

Hard drive, I would say that if you can do a scan on the drive it would
crash a lot quicker - Sounds like the drive is having reading problems.
Are you running XP? - or Win 2000 - they have a setting to automatically
restart on serious failures -
Try a scan, try a defrag - It probably wont finish
Let us know
 
Hard drive, I would say that if you can do a scan on the drive it would
crash a lot quicker - Sounds like the drive is having reading problems.
Are you running XP? - or Win 2000 - they have a setting to automatically
restart on serious failures -
Try a scan, try a defrag - It probably wont finish
Let us know
Click to expand...
It's running Win 98SE.

I ran a Norton Utilities 2002 disk scan including media test, it went
through without finding any bad blocks. Shortly after, while copying some
files for backup (to the desktop of the same disk) the problem surfaced.

One particular boot up Windows loaded really slowly as if it was having
trouble accessing the drive - so there clearly is something wrong with it.
But I just want to be sure before I order a new HD.
 
PB said:
It's running Win 98SE.

I ran a Norton Utilities 2002 disk scan including media test, it went
through without finding any bad blocks. Shortly after, while copying some
files for backup (to the desktop of the same disk) the problem surfaced.

One particular boot up Windows loaded really slowly as if it was having
trouble accessing the drive - so there clearly is something wrong with it.
But I just want to be sure before I order a new HD.
Click to expand...

The noises you have really do tell you there is a problem - It may not be
with bad sectors though - Maybe run Norton utilities or some other disk
utility, maybe they may find and block the sectors - if it is that
Backup (If you can) and ditch it
 
It's running Win 98SE.

I ran a Norton Utilities 2002 disk scan including media test, it went
through without finding any bad blocks. Shortly after, while copying some
files for backup (to the desktop of the same disk) the problem surfaced.

One particular boot up Windows loaded really slowly as if it was having
trouble accessing the drive - so there clearly is something wrong with it.
But I just want to be sure before I order a new HD.
Click to expand...

Finish backup up data if you haven't already, then run the HDD
manufacturer's diagnostics.

Not knowing what that chassis is like I wonder about overheating.. is
that possible, and/or seem to be occuring?

If you have a voltage meter you might monitor voltage, especially if
you think the system will (if you can coax it to) crash.

Also check the IDE jumpers, not only that they're right, but on
securely. I once had a defective jumper and had a he!! of a time
troubleshooting it till I accidentally picked up a different jumper
and it worked. Also try a different IDE cable, removing any slave
devices on that channel if present,.

Is there anything at all about the system that might've changed, even
as seemlngly harmless as moving it, prior to the problem? Sometimes
its the little things that "get" you like a fan wire shorting againt a
rough corner of the case or similar.

However, Win98SE would usually just freeze for moments or permanently,
won't typically reboot from a drive problem unless it was an actual
electrical problem that only momentarily shorted the power supply, for
brief enough duration that the power supply didn't shut off but did
hiccup and reboot the system. More common reasons for reboot are the
power supply or motherboard. I suppose the CPU overheating is
possible but usually it'd just crash Win98, not reboot, IIRC.


Dave
 
PB said:
Already managed to back everything up.


Inside the case it is extremely cramped (tiny case), I also had to remove a
thick film of dust covering a rear air duct to the CPU. But then again,
everything is stock from HP (nothing added or changed at all).

I did reconnect the cabling and made sure it was tightly fitted.


As far as I know nothing has changed... It doesn¹t get very heavy use.


If the problems were the PSU I wouldn¹t have expected the hard disk to go
mad - perhaps just lock up?

I would do more testing but unfortunately the person lives quite far away.
Click to expand...

If you have a power tester - you could check the power to all IDE devices -
but I still think that if you are getting hard drive noises then it's the
hard drive - sorry.

Please let us know what happens
 
If you have a power tester - you could check the power to all IDE devices -
but I still think that if you are getting hard drive noises then it's the
hard drive - sorry.

Please let us know what happens
Click to expand...
I bought a new Hard Drive (Barracuda ATA IV) and the PC works fine now. The
old Quantum has the same problems in another PC, so it was certainly the
culprit.
 
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