hdd being turned off and on over and over again!

  • Thread starter Thread starter jyrgen
  • Start date Start date
J

jyrgen

help ! the secondary harddisk drive
in my pc is being turned off and on again
(sometimes repetitive) at arbitrary times,
so that it sometimes doesn't appear under w98,
or causes the computer to hang. i don't get
any further with this problem.
I have an old ASUS K6 board with a patched
BIOS in order to accept that large drive.
Is this due to a weak power supply, a BIOS
problem or could it be a virus ??
If you have any idea, please let me know.
thank you ! jyrgen
 
jyrgen said:
help ! the secondary harddisk drive
in my pc is being turned off and on again
(sometimes repetitive) at arbitrary times,
so that it sometimes doesn't appear under w98,
or causes the computer to hang. i don't get
any further with this problem.
I have an old ASUS K6 board with a patched
BIOS in order to accept that large drive.
Is this due to a weak power supply, a BIOS
problem or could it be a virus ??
If you have any idea, please let me know.
thank you ! jyrgen
Click to expand...

I had this problem recently, and it turned out to be a loose pin socket on the molex
(powe) connector to the HDD. I determined this by gently poking about the connection
while the machine was running; probably not the best diagnostic technique, but it
nonetheless pinpointed the intermittent connection.

Jon
 
help ! the secondary harddisk drive
in my pc is being turned off and on again
(sometimes repetitive) at arbitrary times,
so that it sometimes doesn't appear under w98,
or causes the computer to hang. i don't get
any further with this problem.
I have an old ASUS K6 board with a patched
BIOS in order to accept that large drive.
Is this due to a weak power supply, a BIOS
problem or could it be a virus ??
If you have any idea, please let me know.
thank you ! jyrgen
Click to expand...

Backup the data immediately.
Next run the manufacturer's diagnostics.
Odds are good that your drive is failing.

Boot to a dos floppy and leave the machine sitting idle for
an hour, then try to access both drives. If the problem
NEVER occurs in this environement then suspect Windows or
virus/etc, a software or driver type problem.

If the problem does occur after DOS boot, you can rule out
windows, drivers, "most" viri (but run a scanner on the
drives anyway).

It could be another problem like power management settings
or a failing power supply.

Then again, having an old board with a "patched" bios is a
questionable practice, it's hard to say if that could be
causing this but is something to consider.

Recheck data and power cables, and drive jumpers on both the
drive in question and any other drive connected to same IDE
channel.
 
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