PC shot?/ Hard drive dead

[mbco2001]

About 1-2 years ago, I pulled my HP 523n out of its original case, and put it in a new one and added a few fans, upgraded to a geforce 5500, double the RAM to 1GB, and replaced the power supply with a SLIGHTLY bigger voltage.

All was fine with it until I moved into my new apt. Basically all we ever used this CPU for was to listen to music while cooking/drinking downstairs. Here near the end, I noticed the computer was HORRIBLY slow even on IDLE. I never saw the temperature get above 90F. Not sure if that is high or not but I cant even really know if the case temp reader works because I know damn well I didnt hook it up. But somehow it was registering the temps.

For whats its worth, all of a sudden the computer stop recognizing my cd drive.

Anyhow so one day I decide Im going to virus scan this damn thing. It finds about 7 and is taking so long to scan, I decide to just leave it alone and come back and check it later. When I return to the computer, I arrive to a black screen that says something along the lines of "incorrect system diskette" or something like that. So I just shut it off, reboot. Now something inside the puter is making a stirring noise and I fully believe its the hard drive. The computer will get all the way to the windows xp LOGO, then go back to this black screen.

I have a floppy drive installed but NEVER use it. There is nothing in the drive, and nothing in the cd drive. Again, remember the CPU doesnt even see the cd drive anyway.

So I UNPLUG the cd drive and the floppy drive from the power supply to eliminate those. Still get the whirring noise, still cant get into windows.

My suspect is that the hard drive has failed me, therefore not allowing me to load windows. But can we agree heat is NOT the issue, seeing as it (the hard drive) was directly behind the front 120mm case fan?

Ive not been a good reciever of WD hard drives here lately. I will not by them anymore because if this IS the culprit, it will be the 3rd one to fail on me.

And if we do conclude the Hard drive has failed, am I forced to buy another installation of windows? If it costs me $200 for that, I'll just scrap this thing because its so old, its not worth dumping the money into another install of windows.

[shadowpr]

First thing to do is make sure the pc is clean of dust.

Next, try to boot into safe mode. See if it will let you.

If not, then I would try to replace the hard drive cable.

Then I would try the hard drive in a different computer, to see if you can access it.

[mbco2001]

I originally thought dust too. I cleaned everything from the heatsink to the blades on the case fans. I also tried to get into safe mode (one of the first things I tried) and it will have none of that. Ive tried every Function key on the keyboard. I have NOT tried to replace the cable but not sure I see a median between the cable and the hard drive making NOISES.

I thought about trying the HD in my main pc but I fear that if it is some sort of virus (maybe) it will affect the rest of the PC. I've heard about "boot sector" viruses but Im not very knowledgeable about viruses so I only assumed one of those would keep it from booting?!?!

[Cricket]

Go to the Western Digital web site and download the Data Lifeguard diagnostic tool to check the hard drive with. It'll tell you if it's bad or not.

Cricket

[mbco2001]

Originally Posted by Cricket Go to the Western Digital web site and download the Data Lifeguard diagnostic tool to check the hard drive with. It'll tell you if it's bad or not. Cricket

True. I assume this is after I install it in my main pc (well of course but just want to make sure) Because I cant access it otherwise

[liambl]

You "could" put it in your main PC but here is an easier way. The WD diag program is a bootable one so you use your main PC to download the iso for the program and then use something like Nero to use the burn image option to burn it to a CD. The on the non working PC, plug in the CD drive and set the boot order to CD-ROM first. Restart with the burned WD diag dic in the drive and it should start up. Use the arrow keys to select the hard drive and perform the scan.

[mbco2001]

Originally Posted by liambl You "could" put it in your main PC but here is an easier way. The WD diag program is a bootable one so you use your main PC to download the iso for the program and then use something like Nero to use the burn image option to burn it to a CD. The on the non working PC, plug in the CD drive and set the boot order to CD-ROM first. Restart with the burned WD diag dic in the drive and it should start up. Use the arrow keys to select the hard drive and perform the scan.

Well see - thats the odd thing out here. The bad PC, when working , wasnt detecting the cd drive even when the pC was working fine. Dont get me wrong, the drive would open/close with no problem, but was not shown in "my computer" and would not even be detected on add new hardware. Furthermore, how shalt I get into BIOS to change the boot order? I never see a screen that tells me the key for BIOS.

[liambl]

Are you using a CRT monitor? Sometimes by the time they get going the bios screen has gone. Try pressing these butting after turning the machine on: DEL, F1, F2, F11, ESC. One of those should get it into the BIOS.

[mbco2001]

Originally Posted by liambl Are you using a CRT monitor? Sometimes by the time they get going the bios screen has gone. Try pressing these butting after turning the machine on: DEL, F1, F2, F11, ESC. One of those should get it into the BIOS.

Ok heres the new 10-20. Looking at the hard drive found out its indeed NOT a WD, but infact a sv8004h which is Samsung. The HD is on the primary drive, with the cdrom on the other end of the cable.

Got into bios...changed some boot options (to where it doesnt fast boot and to where it looks to the HD disk first for boot). It still does not detect the cd drive. The cd drive has to be working, because the tray will release out. Everytime the CPU goes to boot, I get a loud grinding type noise that only last 1-2 seconds. Then it throws me to the black screen saying windows did not completely load the last time around. If I go to "safe mode", it just shows all the stuff its loading, then restarts right back to the boot screen where it does the memory check. If I select "start normally" it gets to the windows xp screen, then puts me right back at the memory check screen again.

I have tried to unplug the cd drive to make sure that wasnt causing any errors and I still get this problem.



I found what might be a samsung diagnostic tool.
http://www.samsung.com/global/busine...ort_HUTIL.html

Only problem here is..it has floppy support, but I have no way to put this on a floppy drive since my main pc doesnt have a floppy drive. The troubled PC does though. And it also has a cd option, but again, the troubled pc is not detecting a CD drive.

[doubledragon5]

It is possible the cd/rom drive is dead you should replace it.. Also you can download most diagnostic programs to a floopy as well.. I have some knowledge of bad ca/drives because I have replace two in the last yr.. You might want to take the heatsink/fan off the cpu and put on a fresh coat of artic silver, make sure you clean off the old past first.. Also what brand of psu do you have installed? if it is not of good quality you might want to replace it as well. Also try this procedures and report back your results.

Try this first http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=168456.

Here is a list of good and bad psu http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=131195

[mbco2001]

Originally Posted by doubledragon5 It is possible the cd/rom drive is dead you should replace it.. Also you can download most diagnostic programs to a floopy as well.. I have some knowledge of bad ca/drives because I have replace two in the last yr.. You might want to take the heatsink/fan off the cpu and put on a fresh coat of artic silver, make sure you clean off the old past first.. Also what brand of psu do you have installed? if it is not of good quality you might want to replace it as well. Also try this procedures and report back your results. Try this first http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=168456. Here is a list of good and bad psu http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=131195

Would the drive be dead and still open? I have another drive right above it, but just dont really think this contributes to the erorr...seeing as I unplug it - not in use, and still get the error.

[doubledragon5]

As long as there is power going to the drive it can open and close and still be DOA unable to read write disk.. This just happened for the 2nd time in less than a yrs to my inlaws pc.. Just poped in a new one and off he goes..

[piasabird]

If the computer is around 3-5 years old it may be wise to replace it. If all you want to do is play music, any celeron system will work just fine. I would probably opt for a low-end Core 2 Duo. Sometimes spending more on the processor is better if you do any multi-tasking like chatting or IM or something like that.

You can try to just replace the Hard Drive and/or get a new DVD dual layer drive. If you build a new computer you can use them on the next build. You would have to buy them anyway.

Your power supply may be bad or of low quality also. What kind and size do you have?

A new Core 2 Duo System will probably treat you just fine.

[mbco2001]

I'm honestly not trying to spend too much on fixing this CPU to start with. The one I am typing to you on is my gamer and I would spend to fix IT, but not the downstairs CPU. The one downstairs was just takin up space under my bed so I really dont want to spend more then $100 on fixing it - if even that much.