HELP!!! MYSTERIOUS Hard Drive Problem

[X87850]

Sometimes my computer will not boot at all !!!:mad: :mad: :mad:

I does this when it starts to detect the hard drive and lists it as MAXTOR MILLENIUM when it really is Maxtor 91021U2 :confused: :confused: :confused:Also the computer sounds different when it does this, it sounds quiet

I have no idea why this happens

When i turn it off and on again it lists the correct hard drive as MAXTOR 91021U2 and boots properly

This is really pisses me off, I brought my computer to the shop for them to fix it and they just re-installed windows and erased EVERYTING:mad:and that did not even fix the *u*c*ing problem, but they just said that a corrupt Windows causes this problem :confused: MY WINDOWS XP WORKS FINE!!!!

I also got used scandisk to see if there where any bad sectors and used a program called SPINRITE to thouroughly check the drive but it says that its fine!

I also download a lot of movies,programs,etc off the internet and delete them once I burn it to CD, Does this degrade the hard drive????

Anybody knows why this happens or how to fix it????


Also can somebody tell me STEP-BY-STEP how to properly format the hard drive and what things you need:D

THANKS

[tukinnam]

it sounds more like a mobo/bios problem rather than an o/s.

see if they have any updates for ur motherboard.

[ReSpAwN DeMoN]

Well firstly installing and downloading does not degrade performance of the drive unless you don't defrag. But overall operation of the drive is not effected except for the extreme long run becuase this is the sole purpose of the drive.

Now onto your problem. You said the computer sounds........"different"...........when it comes up with this problem do you hear the hard drive spin up? Or when you shut her down do you hear the hard drive spin down? Does it sound normal?

Pretty much this is what happened when my IBM hit the bricks the bios didn't detect it and the drive was making weird if almost beeping and scratching sounds and the bios wasn't detecting it and then it just out right errored. Its in my closet right now I wonder if after a couple months it will come back.

But.......do you have a way of backing your stuff up? It may be a bit extreme but it is quite possible that your drive is giving you LUCKY early warning signs of a near death. You should be happy for that atleast as me it just died when I was taking a trip to the bathroom.

[minibubba]

have you checked all of you interal connections?

[X87850]

When I say it sounds different I mean that it sounds like the computer is in Safe Mode (Quiet) I have no idea how to check my internal connections since I am a computer amateur


Can you tell me how a hard drive fails??

I defrag often, is there such a thing as defraging too much??

How do I update my BIOS??

Do you think formating my hard drive will help???
If so tell me how to format it



:cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:
I want to buy a new hard drive but I wasted most of my money buying SIMCITY 4 which by the way sucks!!!!
:cry:

[ReSpAwN DeMoN]

I don't think formatting will you help you in this situation.It could be a different problem. It could be an outright hard drive failing issue. What do you mean your computer sounds like its in safe mode? I didn't think safe mode effected what sounds a computer makes. I wouldn't think defragging too often could effect a drive but tehn again the little access arm does go through alot of motion during this process so then again maybe it can? I format every few weeks OR whenever it gets above 6% fragmented.

Who makes the drive? Who makes the computer? What kind is it? How old?

[Wiggo]

First off I'd download Maxtor's hard drive diagnostic toolsand run them on the drive (usually unpacked to a bootable floppy and tested in full DOS mode). ;)
<center>:cheers:</center>

[X87850]

Who makes the drive?
MAXTOR

Who makes the computer?
I bought it from a computer shop here is the website www.intertechpc.com

What kind is it?
P3 500Mhz
128MB SDRAM
P6BAT-A+ MAINBOARD motherboard

How old? I bought it 2000

Could you give me a link to Maxtor's hard drive diagnostic tools Please.

[Wiggo]

This will get ya close to the tools ya need, http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/downloads/index.htm but most of ya other questions can be answered by Intertech and the manual that came with it. www.google.com is also a powerful tool for finding obscure information. ;)
<center>:cheers:</center>

[X87850]

THANKS FOR THE REPLIES:D :D :D

O.K. I downloaded thoes diognostic program from Maxtor and my HD passed all those tests and it also passed the tests of SCANDISK, SPINRITE, & NORTON UTILITIES.

So now I'm wondering what else could be wrong with my Hard drive??:confused: :confused: :confused:

I now suspect it may be the power supply because of the unique sound that happens when this problem occurs.

Can you tell me how I can test to see if there is a problem with the power supply??

Like I said I'm a total amateur and know little about computers
:?:

[kane2g]

I would suggest running the Maxtor test twice, because i got a drive that will consistently pass one set of tests, but if i run them again i will get an error. Its friggin weird, but its old 8gig so no worries there.

[ReSpAwN DeMoN]

What voltages is your psu reading? You can by going in the bios.