HDs resetting randomly

Omatic810Omatic810 Gainesville, FL
edited July 2005 in Hardware
Alight, here's my problem:

It seems my hard drives reset randomly while I'm using my computer. There's no specific activity associated with it doing this. My specs are below:

AMD Athlon 2800+ XP
1GB pc 3200 memory
120 GB Maxtor HD 5400 rpm
20 GB Maxtor HD 5400 rpm
ATI Radeon 9700 pro (128 mb)
450 watt PSU
ASUS A7N8X Deluxe MOBO

Well, that's all the details. Anyone got any suggestions?

Comments

  • qparadoxqparadox Vancouver, BC
    edited July 2005
    What do you mean by your "hard drives reset?"

    Do they just spin down and you can hear it?
    Do you lose your data?
    or do you mean your entire computer shuts down.
  • Omatic810Omatic810 Gainesville, FL
    edited July 2005
    While my PC is on (whether it's in use or sitting idly), I'll hear the hard drives make the sound they make when the PC first turns on, that clicking noise followed by some whirring, and some other noises.

    I don't lose any data, but my PC freezes up, and of course I have to reboot it.
  • shwaipshwaip bluffin' with my muffin Icrontian
    edited July 2005
    judging from the speed (5400 RPM) of your drives, I'd say they're fairly old. If you go to the manufacturer's webpage, there should be a drive diagnostic/fitness test for them. Check them out there.

    I was having similar problems due to a bad power suppy - but unless yours is some crappy generic supply, it should be fine.
  • Omatic810Omatic810 Gainesville, FL
    edited July 2005
    Hm.. alright, I'll try the HD diagnostic, and report back here. Thanks!
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited July 2005
    Omatic810 wrote:
    ...I'll try the HD diagnostic...
    When you go to the manufacturer's website you might want to hunt around and see if they have a special diagnostic test for "legacy" (as in older) drives.

    I've been testing some elderly HD's for the SMx Project lately and have found that the current version of the diagnostic usually won't work for drives more than a few years old, particularly if they are well out of warranty. Your 120GB drive is probably covered, but the 20GB drive may need an older version of the program. If you run into trouble running the test, just yell and I'll try and help you out.

    One other thing worth checking is your Power Management settings. With some boards if HD spin-down is enabled in the BIOS, but not in Windows (or vice-versa) it can cause weird behavior. Either way, a drive making "that clicking noise followed by some whirring, and some other noises" should be thoroughly tested. :)
  • GrondGrond
    edited July 2005
    I'm sounding like a broken record here, sounds like power supply to me as well.
  • ronboronbo Connecticut
    edited July 2005
    The clicking sound from a HD is not good. Just like the click of death from the old zip drives. If I were you, I would buy a new modern, high speed drive, install windows on it, and recover what you can on your old drive while it is still working. :thumbsup::thumbsup:
  • TexTex Dallas/Ft. Worth
    edited July 2005
    From the limited info. I would test them in another box. I vote likely PSU problem also.

    Tex
  • tmh88tmh88 Pittsburgh / Athens, OH
    edited July 2005
    ronbo wrote:
    The clicking sound from a HD is not good. Just like the click of death from the old zip drives. If I were you, I would buy a new modern, high speed drive, install windows on it, and recover what you can on your old drive while it is still working. :thumbsup::thumbsup:


    I had the same problem (kinda). I took an old hd that I had and stuck it in my xbox. If anyone here knows about xbox modding, I used slayers autoinstaller and then put unleash x on. Anyway It ran fine for a few months, and then it started to freeze randomly. My hard drive was clicking, and sounded like it was turning on over, and over again, and then it would freeze. Luckily I ftp'd all of my gamesaves ect to my pc, so I had them. Anyway a few days later my hard drive completely died and it refused to turn on, and I would get a click out of it every now and then. If I were you, I would save all of your important files to something and buy a new hd.
  • Omatic810Omatic810 Gainesville, FL
    edited July 2005
    The diagnostic checks out fine, it seems. I'm betting you guys are right when it comes to the PSU. However, is it possible my motherboard is somehow screwing with the flow of power from the PSU?
  • tmh88tmh88 Pittsburgh / Athens, OH
    edited July 2005
    Omatic810 wrote:
    The diagnostic checks out fine, it seems. I'm betting you guys are right when it comes to the PSU. However, is it possible my motherboard is somehow screwing with the flow of power from the PSU?


    Anythings possible when it comes to problems like the ones your having. Like I said, just back up the stuff that you need, cause if that hd completely stops working you can say goodbye to everything on it.
  • ronboronbo Connecticut
    edited July 2005
    Like I said before and thm88 is telling you now,back up that drive while you still can. This happened to my nephew with the clcking of the drive and he had 7.3 gig worth of pictures on it that could not be replaced, his vacation in Europe. He bought a new drive and copied the pictures while the drive was still working. A few days later the drive went dead. It "might" not be your drive, but do you want to take that chance? Drives are very inexpensive today, and I think you will be very happy with the newer high speed drives.... :thumbsup::thumbsup:
  • GrayFoxGrayFox /dev/urandom Member
    edited July 2005
    What brands your psu ?.
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