I have installed a WD1200JB HDD as slave to my ST340824A HDD on the primary IDE.

But the addition of the WD1200JB as slave (jumper is set for slave) to my Seagate master drive causes irregular, momentary interruptions to the audio, video, keyboard, mouse activity. Games have become unplayable.

However, if I disconnect the WD1200JB from the system all activity returns to normal operations. If I reconnect then the interruptions resume. It seems my computer just doesn't like your WD drive!

When the 2nd HDD is connected to my system the POST SMART reports that both HDD's are operating in Ultra DMA mode 5 and are okay. When I click on 'My Computer' in Windows Explorer the connected drive information for the WD1200JB drive takes a little while to appear (1-2 seconds). In a trial I was able to copy files to and from the WD1200JB okay.

My computer specs:
MSI MS-6712 motherboard
1.4 GHz Athlon CPU
64MB Nvidia GeForce GTS2 PRO card w/TV out
512 MB DDR RAM
Seagate ST 340824A 7200 40GB HDD
Western Digital WD1200JB 7200 120GB HDD
CD-ROM
CD-RW
1.4 MB Floppy
Microsoft optical mouse
USB keyboard
USB Microsoft Sidewinder Precision2 joystick
4 port Belkin USB hub - 2 ports used (Epson 1240 USB scanner, Sony USB digital camera cable)
Epson 680 line printer
300W PSU
WinME OS

The optical drives are set up on the Secondary IDE with the CD-ROM as master and the CD-RW as slave.

I would sure appreciate any suggestions as to how this matter can be resolved (other than selling the drive and buying another make) before I lose any more hair.

BaldEd
:confused:

I suspect that your long suffering power supply has about had it.... Check out this link for info on power requirements:

http://www.pcpowercooling.com/maxpc/index_cases.htm

This one for info on choosing a power supply:

http://www.firingsquad.com/guides/power_supply/default.asp

And this one for reviews:

http://www6.tomshardware.com/howto/20021021/index.html

And Welcome to http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/pcgubb.gif

Budfred: Thanks for the info. Investigation of the demands of what I have attached to my system (approx 330W if running at max) definitely seems to point in the direction of a suffering power supply. I'll go get a 400W unit.

BaldEd

:( I have replaced the 300W Helochi PSU with a 460W EnermaxEG465-VE FCA PSU.

After coupling up the 2 HDDs and the my 2 optical drives I have discovered that the problem has become worse. Although the POST results seemed to come up with no delay the pauses were so great with loading WinMe that it was obvious that it was going to take at least a couple of hours to load! Not having the time to spare I had to cease the loading by pulling the power plug. After disconnecting the new 2nd HDD I booted once more. This time I managed to get WindowsME up and running (sort of) in about 5 mins. The pausing was still there and typing up an email took an age. The HDD activity LED and the modem noise would cease every 5 to 10 seconds for about a second or two and when they resumed was only when I could input anything in my email. Very frustrating.

Could this be a WinMe problem? It only seems to occur after the POST. How does one reinstall WinME OEM (I have the supplier's Recovery CD - supplier has since gone out of business - and a Startup floppy disc I made sometime back (before all the problems)? I am not sure of all the steps to be followed.

It sounds like it could be a WinME problem and it could even be a malware problem. If you have your files backed up and you are prepared to reinstall, this is probably how it will work, it can vary because the Restore disks are not always the same in how they work.

The first thing I would do it completely wipe the drive. The restore will destroy any data you have anyway, but I would wipe it to make sure you don't have some malware lurking... You can probably use that Startup disk you made to Format C:, but since it is WinME, you may have to make a new boot disk. You can download one from Bootdisk.com (http://www.bootdisk.com) and I would get one with CD suppport in case you need it later. Reformat the drive and turn the computer off for about 30 minutes to make sure RAM clears (probably overkill, but safe).

When you turn the computer back on, go into BIOS setup at the opening screen and set the CD drive first in the boot order. Put your Restore CD in the drive and Save and Exit BIOS changes (usually F10). The computer will reboot and should boot into the Restore CD and let you install Windoze from there. When you get WinME set up, it is a good idea to do some tweaking so that it runs more quickly and stably. We can help with that or you can get tweaks at Black Viper...

Hard shutdowns usually lead to more serious problems like bad sectors on your harddrive. It sounds as if you've compounded an already existing problem with likely software corruptions. No fault of Micro$oft, it's just that most users are handed the keys to the automobile without proper 'Driver's Ed',,, and they end up here. Just like I did. :o

I suuure have lernded a bunch since my first SNAFU, but I still manage to 'break' things once in awhile even for an old fart. Without anyone else's help toooooo!!!

Like the sig,,, "Just reformat the damn C". Wiping the drive maybe, if you're paranoid, but reformat is plenty as long as you ain't mr. Secret Agent man or nuthin else to hide... :cool:

I save waaay too much stuff on my HDD's. If it were compared to a car, you would have gone from 20mpg to less than 10. Systems bog down over time. Reformatting or Recovery disks brings it back quite nicely.

Thanks Budfred and Fruss Tray Ted for your suggestions. Seems like a man's just got to do what a man's got to do. It's probably time to get rid of some of the dross on that computer. Glad I have some recent back ups and this other ancient Win95 computer that I have retrieved from the garage and blew the dust off today - never had a problem with this computer- it may be an oldie but it's been a goodie.

Well that's gone and done it.:(

Inserted the OEM disc and was confronted with 4 options:
1. Load the drivers.
2. Refresh WinME.
3. Recover the HDD without formatting.
4. Recover the HDD with formatting.

Tried option 2. No change. Pauses still very much in evident.
Tried option 3. No change. Pauses still very much in evident, even when WinME was asking for mouse input whilst it was being refreshed.
Tried option 4. The BIGGIE that was sure to fix the problem. Oh no, the pauses were still evident during keyboard input whilst loading WinME.

So I'm now thinking that there was probably not a problem with the files on the 'C' drive HDD nor with WinME. Would that be correct? Any clues as to what the problem is would be greatly appreciated.

It doesn't sound like any of those alternatives involved a complete power down of the computer. If you have one of the nastier malware infestations that are able to hide in RAM to survive a reformat, you will need to wipe the drive and power down completely for a while to let the RAM clear. Since there is no clear way to know if that is the problem, the only thing left is to try it....

If that doesn't do it when you reinstall WinME, it pretty much has to be a hardware problem. That said, first thing I would try is resetting the BIOS to defaults and make sure the setting are for AUTO detect of drives.... If that doesn't do it, it will be back to a step by step testing of components...

:D :) I am smiling again. It seems WinMe was the culprit. I have upgraded to XP and the problem has gone. Both HDDs are operational. What a hassle free installation XP was! It found all my hardware and drivers without any problem. I don't know why I had resisted the upgrade for so long! All my data files are now across on the new hard drive and I am now only faced with the relatively minor core of reinstalling my programs of choice.

Thanks everyone for the time and trouble you took to help me return to the land of the living.

Cheers
BaldEd
:)

Congratulations for getting it sorted out...:) :cool: