System restarts and then BIOS can't see disk

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Guest

My XP Home system has increasingly been showing the following behaviour:
* it is all working fine then suddenly just stops whatever you are doing and
spontaneously reboots.
* when it restarts, the BIOS at this point can't see the disk - the Primary
disk master is "none"
* if you select the Primary master and hit enter at this point it
automatically finds the disk and then reboots as normal and works OK til the
next time it happens
This behaviour is unpredictable and seems completely independant of what you
happen to be doing on the computer at the time. It is also starting to
happen more often - at least a few times a day.

Is this indicative of an impending hard disk failure or does anyone have any
other thoughts?

The system is a fairly old PIII but has always been reliable, the BIOS never
flashed etc.

Thanks,
Barry
 
Barryco said:
My XP Home system has increasingly been showing the following behaviour:
* it is all working fine then suddenly just stops whatever you are doing and
spontaneously reboots.
* when it restarts, the BIOS at this point can't see the disk - the Primary
disk master is "none"
* if you select the Primary master and hit enter at this point it
automatically finds the disk and then reboots as normal and works OK til the
next time it happens
This behaviour is unpredictable and seems completely independant of what you
happen to be doing on the computer at the time. It is also starting to
happen more often - at least a few times a day.

Is this indicative of an impending hard disk failure or does anyone have any
other thoughts?

The system is a fairly old PIII but has always been reliable, the BIOS never
flashed etc.

Thanks,
Barry
Click to expand...

Your hard disk might be on its way out. Download and run
the diagnostic program that its manufacturer lets you down
load free of charge.
 
Barryco said:
My XP Home system has increasingly been showing the following behaviour:
* it is all working fine then suddenly just stops whatever you are doing and
spontaneously reboots.
* when it restarts, the BIOS at this point can't see the disk - the Primary
disk master is "none"
* if you select the Primary master and hit enter at this point it
automatically finds the disk and then reboots as normal and works OK til the
next time it happens
This behaviour is unpredictable and seems completely independant of what you
happen to be doing on the computer at the time. It is also starting to
happen more often - at least a few times a day.

Is this indicative of an impending hard disk failure or does anyone have any
other thoughts?

The system is a fairly old PIII but has always been reliable, the BIOS never
flashed etc.

Thanks,
Barry
Click to expand...

I trust you have current backups!

Your deteriorating symptoms are typical of a PIII motherboard whose
filter capacitors have failed. Take the cover off and examine the
motherboard to see if capacitors are the problem - there's a good
picture of what you're looking for here:

http://www.careyholzman.com/caps/images/bad_caps.jpg

The picture shows a couple of good capacitors, which are flat on top,
and others in various stages of failure, ranging from slight bulging on
top to severe bulging and leakage.

Sunny
 
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