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Error Just Started

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  • Error Just Started

    Every so often my bios is not recognizing the "C" drive at bootup. I have 4 hard drives and the bios finds and shows all four at startup. Recently it started not finding my primary master. I reboot (Control/Alt/Delete) and everything is fine.

    Any idea why? Is this harddrive going? I run an Abit KR7A board (no raid) and my drives are all Maxtor. All my other equipment is either SCSI.

    thanks,

    Bob S.

  • #2
    My first guess is that it is a power problem. When you first boot, you have a very large power drain because motors require more current to get up to speed than they use to stay running. It is possible that when you first start up there is not enough power available to spin all of the drives in the short time that the BIOS looks to them. If your c: drive is the largest drive, it may have more platters than the others, thereby requiring more power to spin up. When you reset, the platters in the c: drive are already spinning and require less power/time to get up to speed. This could be a result of a weakening power supply or bad line AC. Bad line AC can be remedied with a good UPS. If you need to replace the power supply, get not only a name brand, but one with a 20-50% larger power rating. One reason for power supplies weakening with age is operating them for extended periods in the high end of their capabilities. It is much easier on a power supply when it only needs to operate at 60-75% of its rated capacity.

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    • #3
      I'll look into this, but I run a 420W PS that is only about 10 months old. My drives are 2-30 gig C&D, and 2-15 gig E&F.

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      • #4
        Does the drive make any extra noise when you have the problem? Sticktion is a term that I haven't heard recently, but it refered to the spindle bearings in a drive "sticking" during startup. This lead to a much longer spinup time and sometimes needed a reboot to get the drive up to speed and be recognised. This was a sign of impending failure. The only other thing I can think of at the moment is a bad ide cable (loose wire in connector?). Are there any other factors to consider, such as does it only seem to happen on hot days?

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        • #5
          No noise or anything. Interestingly enough, since I started this thread, I have had no problems. Probably just wait and see. Like the old joke goes, "if she dies, she dies".

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