Hard Drive problems?
 

My computer has suddenly decided to freeze completely now and again and get this funny beep noise from inside the tower.

As I can't shut down the normal way, I just power the tower off and switch back on but when the boot up screen appears, where it says 'detecting IDE' it just stops and then a maybe 20 secs later it comes back with no hard drive detected.

It then proceeds to the next boot up screen and says 'boot disk failure, please insert system disk.'

So shut down again, boot up and suddenly the BIOS is detecting my IDE drives.

Sometimes I manage to get to desktop screen partially loaded and then those funny noises again and then freeze.

At the mo the computer is working fine as I type this but could freeze at any moment.

Any ideas??????

Just one...
Replace the hard drive :D

seriously though, what hard drive is it? and PLEASE Enable S.M.A.R.T in the bios (If it has the option)
It SOUNDS like a hard drive failure, but if you tell me the manufacturer of the drive then I will point you to some diagnostic software to test it more thoroughly

It's not a fujitsu hard drive is it?

At the end of last year/beginning of this, there were large amount of 10Gig and 20Gig fuji drives failing in much the same way as you say.

If the drive isn't fujitsu it still sound like a major hard drive failure, sorry but you only answer really is to replace the drive.

Jon

If unable to sort it you could try moving it to another ide slot and check the jumpers. Go into bios and auto detect it. If it detects from their then changed the settings so it boots up from that ide slot ;)

I think, as can't remember now, its a IBM 40 GB Hard Drive.

Could it be the IDE cables in any way?

Found out its a IBM Deskstar 60GXP 40GB drive.

Apparently there is a firmware update which I have now done.

Also on IBM's site there is a diagnostic programme called 'Drive Fitness Test' which analyses the hard drive.

I ran this programme and according to test results my hard drive is fine.

So that rules out hard drive and now thinking its maybe the IDE cable, PSU or IDE MB controller not functioning correctly.

From your earlier posts it sounds as though the drive is not running up to speed in time for BIOS to detect it. Running diagnostics does not always detect intermittent faults, only if they occur when running the test.

Don't see how cables would cause a strange noise (other than catching on a fan).

Could possibly be a PSU fan problem causing noise but symptons don't make that a favourite for me.

As for IDE controller on MB, it's only an interface, the controller is actually on the drive, so I would recommend backing up your important files and getting ready to replace your HDD.

I had similar intermittent problems with HDD & was glad I had a backup when it died!

Just seen something posted on another board hope it helps,


http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview...psg1MIGR-44195

i have an IBM drive it likes to make clicking sounds sometimes but not always its done so since i got it about 9 months ago works fine though :erm:

Have updated already using that link....now have the latest firmware.

So far I have booted up 3 times with no problems and no crashes!

Keeping fingers crossed.:rolleyes: