NEW problem! ug

[tsantsa]

I am wondering if I am about to have a hard drive failure...Whenever I start my comp up after it's been of for at least a couple of hours, I hear a bad kind of winding up sound...Not a fan and no clicking, just kind of like the platters in the HDD arent spinning up correctly. I don't know if this is the case, but if anyone knows anything about this please help...

If I leave the comp on, it seems ok. Every other time I boot up from being off for awhile the windows chkdsk utility kicks in and says there are inconsistencies. It says there are a few bad cluster and the like. Does anyone know where I can find the log file that chkdsk creates?

Its a Maxtor 80 g partioned for C: (25 g) and d: (the remaing).

[gmatov]

Do yourself a favor and go into the Setup and "Enable S.M.A.R.T."

If you are having a potential hard drive problem, imminent failure, SMART should tell you "disk is bad, back up and replace".

This costs you nothing but a few CPU cycles, as per MoBo makers.

Better than asking people with little tech knowledge, but many misconceptions.

Cheers,

George

[tsantsa]

Go into what setup and enable SMART? I don't know where to look to set that up...BIOS?

[redwudz]

S.M.A.R.T setting is in BIOS. If you suspect your drive and it's still under warranty, exchange it now. Check Maxtor's site for exchange. If S.M.A.R.T. says it's bad, replace.

[tsantsa]

I checked my BIOS and couldn't find a SMART setting. Hm.

[gmatov]

Is there any chance we could REQUIRE anyone who wants help to fill out their computer details?

If you have a 200 meg Cyrix, go away. If you are in the ballpark, tell us so.
SMART IS IN YOUR BIOS, as in SETUP, as in ENABLE/DISABLE..

The second, maybe with your machine the third page. Click down. LOOK. READ. CLICK. If you are less than a ten year old machine, IT IS THERE, and you would be doing us a LARGE favor if you do so.

I have never gotten pissed off at a Newbie before, but I am starting to be pissed. WILL you please LOOK?

When your machine boots, and shows the drives, it will display a line that says OK, or SMART says BAD, so look closely, and then, only then, come back and tell us about these wierd noises./

We may be able to help.

Cheers,

George

[mujahid7ia]

Some OEM BIOSes don't have the SMART option anywhere, even though it IS enabled. My old Compaq had SMART enabled, but nowhere in the BIOS was an option.

You can go the the Maxtor website, I think they have some utilites there.

[tsantsa]

I have a Soltek board. I have looked at my bios a dozen times that last 24 hours looking for SMART enable/disable...I CANNOT find it. It may be named something different but I don't know what another name might be...

Soltek 75frn. Amd 1800+

In the bios there is something called the SmartDoc Anti Burn Sheild but that is a temperature safety for AMD's (since they run hot). I have looked through the book that came with the mobo and nothing in there either...

Oh and mujahid7ia, I can't use the utility that Maxtor supplies since i have an nvidia chipset!!!

[moviebuff2]

Have you used Norton Disk Doctor or Windows ScanDisk? Usually, when there is indication of bad clusters, it happens because your computer was doing something (like downloading) and it was shut off improperly (like a loss of power). Norton Disk Doctor or Windows Scandisk can help identify and fix those bad clusters.

For Norton Disk Doctor, click on Start/Programs/Norton Systemworks/Norton Utilities/Norton Disk Doctor.

For Windows Scandisk, click on Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/ScanDisk.

Good luck.

[redwudz]

tsantsa: Apparently your board does'nt have S.M.A.R.T., nevertheless, if your HD is making funny noises, dump it at once and replace. Hopefully still under warranty.

[tsantsa]

tsantsa: Apparently your board does'nt have S.M.A.R.T., nevertheless, if your HD is making funny noises, dump it at once and replace. Hopefully still under warranty.

Just past warranty... pisses me off really.

If I were to clone the drive, could I do so to dvds? rw of course!