Hard Drive Failed? need help

[Mheaton]

Morning all! Over the last week I was gettiung error messages saying I had a critical hard drive failure. after a few attempts to fix I wiped my computer and reinstalled the OS. During the install I receieved numerous error messages however was able to get the system up and running sort of. I was not able to install anything on the drive without getting hard drive failure messages but could work on the internet etc.

In addition my hard drive died in July and was replaced so this one is relatively new. It would seem odd to have two failures so close together woudlnt it? I dont want to go and replace the hard drive if thats not the issue basically? Ironically enough as I was typing this message my machine decided to reboot on its own haha. There do not seem to be any viruses on the machine but im unsure of what steps to take. any suggestions would be appreciated!

[rjfvillarosa]

What make and model of harddrive is it?
Download the harddrive manufacturers diagnostic utility and run diagnostics on the drive.
What make of machine is this? or is it a custom built?
What make of power supply are you using?

[Mheaton]

Thanks for the reply, its a Seagate ATA 160G Harddrive. the machine is a Dell Demension 4600 with factory power supply.

[rjfvillarosa]

My first concern was that it was a cheapo power supply and had totalled both your drives, but obviously if it is a Dell then it is of a reasonable quality.
My first thought would be to download the "SeaTools" diagnostic utility ( http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/ ) and run diagnostics on the drive.
Who changed the original harddrive for you?

[Mheaton]

Comp USA did the install of the replacement hard drive, they are going out of business but Id assume they would do a better job than me! I did download the seagate and when I launch it I get the following message in the window " No HBA has been detected". I appreciate you taking the time to noodle this.

[rjfvillarosa]

You said that compUSA replaced the drive for you, was this done under warranty? how old is this machine?
With some guidance from us would you feel comfortable and confident enough to open the case of this machine?

[Mheaton]

Hmm the machine is maybe 4 years old or so. the HD may be under warrenty would have to take a look. I do feel comfortable opening the machine, i have added RAM etc before. Have to step out for a few hours and I do thank you for your help. I can follow any instructions when I return.

[rjfvillarosa]

It is a bit odd that the harddrive should fail so quickly so I would like to rule it out as the culprit of you problems.
As the machine is four or more years old I would suggest that it is fitted with an IDE harddrive, the first thing I would do, considering you probably don't have a spare, would be to swap the IDE cable (flat ribbon cable) connecting your harddrive to the motherboard, with the one that is connecting your optical drives to the motherboard.