HD problems

[shreko]

I have a problem with my 2 year old machine, Gigabyte motherboard,
Athlon XP 2500, 40 GB WD400JB. Over last few months I have tried
several Linux distro and all of them have problem. It just gets worse.
Machine periodically freezes and I have to reset it after which does
not want to boot or have difficulties. Sometimes, all of a sudden
computer beeps in pattern long-short-long-short and shuts down itself
to full power off.
I have run WD diagnostic tool, it did not find any problem, but when I
run writing zeroes at about 80% done same weird beep happened and shut
down itself. I repeated and same again. Called local tech support
today, he recommended to try Maxtor diagnostic which works with any
HD. I did. Could not finish test, then I tried writing zeroes and
exactly same beep sequence and shut down.

Is this a HD issue or something else?

Thanks for help

 

[Rod Speed]

I have a problem with my 2 year old machine, Gigabyte motherboard,
Athlon XP 2500, 40 GB WD400JB. Over last few months I have tried
several Linux distro and all of them have problem. It just gets worse.
Machine periodically freezes and I have to reset it after which does
not want to boot or have difficulties. Sometimes, all of a sudden
computer beeps in pattern long-short-long-short

Thats the important bit. Check what the manual says about that.

and shuts down itself to full power off.

I have run WD diagnostic tool, it did not find any problem,

It isnt a hard drive problem.

but when I run writing zeroes at about 80% done same weird
beep happened and shut down itself. I repeated and same again.

Thats coz that is the problem.

Called local tech support today, he recommended
to try Maxtor diagnostic which works with any HD.

Its unlikely to be a HD problem with that beep code.

I did. Could not finish test, then I tried writing zeroes
and exactly same beep sequence and shut down.

Is this a HD issue
Unlikely.

or something else?

Yep. See what the motherboard manual says about that beep code.

 

[Arno Wagner]

I have a problem with my 2 year old machine, Gigabyte motherboard,
Athlon XP 2500, 40 GB WD400JB. Over last few months I have tried
several Linux distro and all of them have problem. It just gets worse.
Machine periodically freezes and I have to reset it after which does
not want to boot or have difficulties. Sometimes, all of a sudden
computer beeps in pattern long-short-long-short and shuts down itself
to full power off.
I have run WD diagnostic tool, it did not find any problem, but when I
run writing zeroes at about 80% done same weird beep happened and shut
down itself. I repeated and same again. Called local tech support
today, he recommended to try Maxtor diagnostic which works with any
HD. I did. Could not finish test, then I tried writing zeroes and
exactly same beep sequence and shut down.

Is this a HD issue or something else?

Soundst very much like something else to me. The HDD cannot shut down
a system (other than by shorting out the power).

Might be a cooling issue (CPU, mainboard) or a power issue (PSU).
You can try to get a health-reading with "sensors". If that works,
post it here.

Arno

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

I have a problem with my 2 year old machine, Gigabyte motherboard,
Athlon XP 2500, 40 GB WD400JB. Over last few months I have tried
several Linux distro and all of them have problem. It just gets worse.
Machine periodically freezes and I have to reset it after which does
not want to boot or have difficulties. Sometimes, all of a sudden
computer beeps in pattern long-short-long-short and shuts down itself
to full power off.
I have run WD diagnostic tool, it did not find any problem, but when I
run writing zeroes at about 80% done same weird beep happened and shut
down itself. I repeated and same again. Called local tech support
today, he recommended to try Maxtor diagnostic which works with any
HD. I did. Could not finish test, then I tried writing zeroes and
exactly same beep sequence and shut down.

Is this a HD issue or something else?

Thanks for help

Sounds like power saving running wild.

 

[shreko]

Thats the important bit. Check what the manual says about
that.



It isnt a hard drive problem.

again.

Thats coz that is the problem.


Its unlikely to be a HD problem with that beep code.



Yep. See what the motherboard manual says about that beep
code.

Thanks for help!

You are right, there are some other problem than HD. I went to BIOS
and got following:

System Temperature: 35C
CPU Temp: 86C
CPU Fan speed approx 3100 rpm

Then I run same Maxtor writing zeroes which caused that beep and shut
down. I boot back up to BIOS to check temp and CPU temp was 97C

I guess from here I should check or replace CPU fan?

 

[Rod Speed]

Rod Speed (e-mail address removed) wrote

Thanks for help!

You are right, there are some other problem than HD.
I went to BIOS and got following:

System Temperature: 35C
CPU Temp: 86C

Urk, thats clearly the problem.

CPU Fan speed approx 3100 rpm

Then I run same Maxtor writing zeroes which caused that beep and shut
down. I boot back up to BIOS to check temp and CPU temp was 97C
Urk.

I guess from here I should check or replace CPU fan?

Yeah, check if its all clogged up with fur. Thats likely the problem.

It shouldnt need replacing, its clearly still rotating properly from the RPM.

 

[Rod Speed]

Sounds like power saving running wild.

Best get your ears tested.

No system I have ever seen beeps like that with power saving mode.

Turns out its actually a gross over temperature cpu alarm.

 

[Rod Speed]

Rod Speed (e-mail address removed) wrote

Here is an update on my situation. I opened the
CPU fan and there was a thick layer of fur there.

Yeah, thats very common, mostly coming from the carpet.

I cleaned it with hand and vacuum,but still could not get it 100% clean.

Thats fine, you dont need 100%, it wont stay
100% for long even if you get it 100% clean.

Put everything back, boot to bios and now is at 66-68C.
Installed Ubuntu, it’s been running for few hours, no problems
so far. I installed some Gnome applets for monitoring CPU
temp, but does not seem to work, those sensors.

I use SpeedFan and Motherboard Monitor
myself. MBM isnt that easy to setup tho.

So to test it I have restarted machine few times and then
check BIOS, it is 66-68C. Is that temp OK, or it is still high?

Thats higher than I prefer but pretty typical for that vintage Athlon.

I did have some serious problems formatting HD after interupted
zeroes writing, and I still don’t feel coinfident in that HD and stiil
not sure that whole thing is over.. Ubuntu could not format it,
then I used PC LinuxOS live CD which has excellent Mandrake
partitioning tool. It did the job and then Ubuntu installed correctly.

Sure, you may have a different problem with the drive.

See what SpeedFan says about the drive temp too,
tho that drive may be a tad old to have SMART
temperature, that came a bit late with WD drives.

 

[shreko]

the problem.



Yeah, thats very common, mostly coming from the carpet.

100% clean.

Thats fine, you dont need 100%, it wont stay
100% for long even if you get it 100% clean.


I use SpeedFan and Motherboard Monitor
myself. MBM isnt that easy to setup tho.

high?

Thats higher than I prefer but pretty typical for that vintage
Athlon.

correctly.

Sure, you may have a different problem with the drive.

See what SpeedFan says about the drive temp too,
tho that drive may be a tad old to have SMART
temperature, that came a bit late with WD drives.

Hi guys,

It’s been a week since my last post. I still have some serious
problems and need your help. Since I lowered CPU temperature down, HD
still could not work properly. WD sent me a replacement and I tried it
yesterday with same result. All reported errors are related to HD.
Ubuntu install fails on various stages, but always related to HD. One
of the messages was: ’hda: drive not ready for command’. Live CD works
OK, occasionally fails on boot related to HD. Motherboard is Gigabyte
GA-7VT600. I have also played with BIOS setting it on ’optimized
settings’, no better. I replaced HD IDE ribbon with no success. I
really don’t know where to go from here?.
Thanks,

Shreko

 

[Rod Speed]

Hi guys,

It’s been a week since my last post. I still have some serious
problems and need your help. Since I lowered CPU temperature down, HD
still could not work properly. WD sent me a replacement and I tried it
yesterday with same result. All reported errors are related to HD.
Ubuntu install fails on various stages, but always related to HD. One
of the messages was: ’hda: drive not ready for command’. Live CD works
OK, occasionally fails on boot related to HD. Motherboard is Gigabyte
GA-7VT600. I have also played with BIOS setting it on ’optimized
settings’, no better. I replaced HD IDE ribbon with no success. I
really don’t know where to go from here?.

OK, maybe you have to separate problems, cpu temp
initially and a problem with the HD controller too.

Have a close look at the motherboard, see if any of the capacitors look bad.

These are the usually blue or black plastic covered posts like
thing sticking vertically up from the motherboard. Check that
their tops are flat, that none of them are bulging or visibly leaking.

The other possibility is that the power supply is marginal
and the drive isnt getting quite enough power when used
more aggressively for something like an install. Those
Athlons can be a bit demanding of the power supply.