[HELP] catastrophic failures

[tris-]

a few months ago my primary HDD started making new noises. gradually performance dropped, programs became corrupted. the other day i turned it on and it blue screened before it even started to load windows. it kept doing this from then on.
it then developed another problem. after pressing the power button, it takes about 10 minutes before it powers up. then it goes to the blue screen.

any ideas which bits are fucked? im guessing the HDD is, but since its got a power problem it could also be the PSU or M/B? im not trying to fix it, i just want to know what it could be so i can sell the workable parts.

[Ashala]

if your harddisk is indeed saying strang clicking noices it would be the most logical choice to swap, if you dont have a diffrent part you cant change out to see which part is the faulty one, the harddisk is probably the best choice im guessing.

[Kryten]

Would it be a Maxtor perchance? If so, common fault. Backup, get it replaced.
Use a linux liveCD to backup as it's better at reading windows file systems than Windows is and doesnt hammer the drive as much, meaning you probably won't get a corrupted backup.
Once backed up, grab the diagnostic software relevant to your drive, i.e. for maxtor or seagate download and use Seatools, for a WD drive get DLGDiag and for Hitachi/IBM, get DFT (Drive Fitness Test). That will confirm/eliminate the drive as the problem and you can safetly replace.

[tris-]

yes it is a maxtor. i planned on just plugging into another comp to get my photos etc off the drive.

any idea on the problem with turning the PC on though? all ive got attached to the psu is the m/b.

[Dark Orb Choir]

plug the molex/sata power into the drive and see if it powers up straight away (do not connect the sata/ide cable at this point), you can tell if its spinning if you turn it in your hand (see gyroscope)

it may be "stuck" if it doesn't appear to spin the disk up straight away


if it does spin the disk up straight away it might be the mobo/bios

[soze]

Does your bios post instantly? Do you get your Asus screen open then the 10 minute delay? Or do you get nothing then bluescreen. If BIOS posts then a big delay its prolly disk related.

[tris-]

no guys. i pres the power button and 10 minutes later it boots (as in, power now runs into the pc) to bios, then the next screen then blue screen.

although at the moment no power is getting anywhere after any length of time.

[nath]

Do you get the same issue if you unplug the maxtor drive?

[tris-]

yeh thats everything out except the ATX plug.

just been digging around inside it and thought id check the CPU. unlocked it and the whole thing just came out even without the locking arm being open, so half the pins bent on that. chucked that in the bin.
managed to get a multimeter but realised there doesnt seem to be a way of checking the PSU unless someone knows a method?
then i can ascertain what i can sell, but by todays prices i dont think its worth fuck all

[Yaka]

do you mean cpu came out of the socket when you tried lifting off the heatsink?
thats happens becuase alot of peeps slap on far too much thermal paste

preety sure the delayed booting problem is psu related

[tris-]

i used OEM amd when i bought it, came with its own paste h/s fan etc.
what i mean is i firstly un anchored the heat sink, then this ripped out the cpu with the socket lock still down, so it bent the pins.
either way i dont have a cpu now and i think the psu could of been shagged.

the HDD on the other hand. well it sounded dodgy when i span it in my hand but ive just hooked it upto another pc as a slave and i can transfer files off of it. maybe it wasnt the hdd after all?

[Kryten]

The cpu/heatsink issue is common with a lot of OEM kit like dells, the paste hardens and normally seperable only with a blade :/

The power issue sounds (sounded?) like power supply. You can test these outside of a pc by plugging in and shorting pin 14 and any ground. Pin 14 is the only green cable, ground is any black, there's one either side of the green one. That will power the unit up. Putting a multimeter over a black & red cable on the molex should show 5v, over the yellow and black it should show 12v.

It seems odd that the drive no longer clicks in another machine - that issue is specifically one of a faulty drive, I've never heard of a power fault causing it, but I say nothing's impossible

[tris-]

cheers kryten. weird isnt it, i managed to get all the info off and then format it without a problem.

im wondering if it could of been the CPU that got damaged. if that burns out would it stop power to the board? maybe if it was over heating it would explain the corruption in programs etc.

[Kryten]

Again, possible, as the motherboard and processor both have vitoe over the rest of the system's behaviour. Shouldn't cause a HDD failure but it might prompt the failure of a PSU should it be a crap one.

[Furr]

I'm currently playing Russian roulette with my hd, makes nice clicks every one in a while, really should order a new one quickish and ghost the disk... but I'm being retarded and lazy... maybe tomorrow, works fine though at the moment...