HDD or BIOS or Motherboard faulty ???

[Non Geek]

Hello,

Good day to all, I've come across this problem with my PC and hope you can assist in advising:-

Now, I'm not sure whether to change my motherboard (hence a new system is required) OR just to purchase a new harddisk.

Back in 2000, I've gotten a Celeron 466 with 128MB Ram (PC 100), it came with a Sony CD-Rom and an AOpen CDRW together with a Seagate 8.4GB harddisk running Win 98SE.

I've been using my system for about a year and thereafter problems surfaced, I've tried ways and means to follow the advice given by Seagate's Tech Support but the problem still persists (kindly refer below email sent to Seagate).

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QUOTE:

Good day. I've faced the same problems over and over again despite numerous HDD replacements from vendors:- (Attached is the SeaTools Diagnostic log file for your reference)

My PC configuration is:-

Celeron 466
Ram: 256MB
AOpen CDRW - 1 unit
Sony 48X CD-Rom - 1 unit
Power Supply: 230Watt

When I start the computer, the 8.4GB HDD (this being a replacement unit under warranty) come on quite sluggishly with a lot of swirling noise like "ssh, ssh ...".

When an application is activated, there are a lot of writing done to the harddisk accompanied by the swirling noise "again".

Not long thereafter, the computer hangs and a DOS message shows:-

Disk Write Error

Unable to write to disk in Drive C:
Data or files may be lost. Press any key to continue.

After pressing any key, the application continues BUT a while later the same DOS message re-appears.

OR/AND

Also, sometimes during bootup, the screen shows disk boot failure for this 8.4GB HDD. The error message is:-

"Disk boot failure, insert system disk and press enter."

OR/AND

Sometimes when the HDD is idle, the swirling noises can be heard clearly.

What is the reason?

Questions:-

Is the HDD about to crash again after many replacements? I've changed a brand new IDE cable but the same problem occurs.

When I brought the HDD to my vendor for verification, everything works fine when the supposedly "faulty" HDD is booted and tested at their shop.

When I did a "fdisk" and formatted the replaced HDD there was bad sectors reported BUT when the vendors formatted the drive and done a Windows thorough Scandisk, no bad sectors were reported. Strange, isn't it ?

Can it be due to my hard disk controller which is giving problems or there isn't enough power supply now to drive the HDD (I'm having a 230Watt power supply). Or the motherboard is faulty. BUT the test results is very favourable for the HDD using Seagate's Seatools.

What is happening ? These strange things started happening in Mar 2001 (1 year after my PC purchase).

Your reply much appreciated.

Thanks.


Alan
25 Dec 2001

UNQUOTE
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As you can see, till today (Jun 2002), I'm still facing the same problem even being asked to do a "Zero" fill to my Seagate HDD and a fdisk thereafter. (ie. everytime when I boot up my PC, either 1 of the abovementioned scenarios WILL certainly happen) can my Matsonic 7102C Motherboard be at fault?

What indications does a faulty motherboard give or do you envisage something is amiss with the HDD?

Pls help.


Non Geek
25 Jun 2002

[randyrhoads1981]

Power supply size seems ok with that system..if the drive does show to be fine on other tests outside of that system, it may be a faulty board or a voltage issue. Do you have any other drives to see if you get simular results?..are you using the IDE 1 connector on the motherboard for the hardrive and using IDE 2 for the cdrom? Have you downloaded Seagates dignostic software from there site and booted with that to test the drive? Also where your ribben cable connects to the board check for bent or possable broken pin. Also go in the bios and set it to the default settings and then set the master- slave settings to auto to see if that may help.

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**How TO End Task A FREZZE**
ALT-CTRL-POWER BUTTON

[Non Geek]

Hi Randy,

Thanks for the tip. I've done all of what you have said:-

1. Downloading of Seagate Test Tools, done a Zero fill, fdisk etc. but to no avail.

2. Noted that the ribbon is a brandnew piece and my HDD is connected to IDE1, the CDRom and CDRW is connected to the IDE2.

What gives ???


Non Geek
26 Jun 2002

Originally posted by randyrhoads1981:
Power supply size seems ok with that system..if the drive does show to be fine on other tests outside of that system, it may be a faulty board or a voltage issue. Do you have any other drives to see if you get simular results?..are you using the IDE 1 connector on the motherboard for the hardrive and using IDE 2 for the cdrom? Have you downloaded Seagates dignostic software from there site and booted with that to test the drive? Also where your ribben cable connects to the board check for bent or possable broken pin. Also go in the bios and set it to the default settings and then set the master- slave settings to auto to see if that may help.

[mjc]

I wouldn't entirely rule out a power supply problem. The size may not be the problem (for that system a 200w to 250w is about right), but the quality if it may be questionalble. It could be that it is going the slow route to failure.

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mjc
Computer Links (http://www.dreamwater.org/tech/mjc/index.htm)

Celts are the men that heaven made mad, For all their battles are merry and their songs are all sad.


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