Hard drive failure??? Computer enthusiasts please help!

[eyeofbeholder]

I need some of your advise.

I'm running an ASUS A7A266 MB with an IBM 40GB ATA100 HD. Everythings hooked up correctly with the right cables, ect. Running Windows XP. Worked fine for the past couple months. Purchased the equipment new a couple months ago.

Twice over the last 3 days, the system has failed to boot. Gets past the BIOS post, then nothing. Just a blank screen.
No disk activity. On a third occasion, Windows blue screened. Again resulting in a failure to boot. Each time resulted in a reformat and reload of the OS. Not a difficult task, but time consuming. And I'm getting tired of doing it!

The XP CD has a recovery option which puts you into DOS mode capable of reading the NTFS partitions. In each case, it was unable to read the C: drive. I ran a CHKDSK on the C: drive. The Windows directory was missing and a directory named Found.000 was listed. I assume this is my missing Windows directory.

I've ran the Check Disk within windows (when it's running) and it discovers nothing wrong with the drive.

I'm looking for a good low level disk scan utility. Any recommendations? Does my problem indicate a problem with my hard drive? Or is it a problem with that AliMagik chipset?

Thanks for any help.

[Macros746]

It could be issues with the motherboard (though I doubt it) or it could be a failing HD. I recommend the following: Download your latest Motherboard BIOS and flash your BIOS. Goto the IBM website and download their in house HD analization software. Run their tests and see what you come up with. If the tests come up fine, there is an option to 'restore drive to factory' (i.e. it writes zeros to the drive...I don't guarantee that it has this option but both WD and Maxtor have this on their diagnostic software) Do that and then, one more time, reformat the drives and reinstall the OS. Hopefully the BIOS flash will solve all of your issues. If not, and you go through this process and it still has these issues, I would call the manufacturer and get a new drive.

Macros

p.s. Have you tried replacing the IDE cable...unlikely but it couldn't hurt

[eyeofbeholder]

Thanks Macros

I've ran the HD test from IBM a month or so ago. Came up fine.

One thing I didn't mention. This all started when I replaced a video card. Went from an old PCI, to a new GForce3 AGP card. ALi has an AGP upgrade for this on their web site. You think this may help.

Also, I haven't flashed the BIOS. But I'll try that tonight. Thanks for the suggestion.

Does Norton have any utilities that look may help?

eyeofbeholder

[Macros746]

Oh yes my friend, that changes everything! Usually if you change something and then things go wrong the thing you changed is to blame. Make sure you have the newest drivers for your Geforce card. Do the Ali update, flash your BIOS. Check to see what the AGP apeture is set for in the BIOS 2x or 4x. You should try 4x first but if that is causeing problems then try scaling back to 2x. Also, do you have a Pentium or AMD....I'm guessing you have AMD in which case you will also want to download the latest VIA 4 in 1 drivers. That is MUCH less painful than reformatting the HD. Good luck

Macros

[eyeofbeholder]

Thanks much for the help!

You're correct on your AMD assumption. Athlon 1200.

I'll get working on downloads and apply them tonight.

Again, thanks for your help.

[Kdiddy]

Had the exact same issue before...turned out to be a bad IDE cable

[eyeofbeholder]

Thanks, Kdiddy
IDE cables are cheap. I'll try it!

[matt1562]

ya, i replace my cables after every major upgrade. they're cheap, and i've had alot of problems related to cheap cables. be careful of the g forces applied to your hard drive. i've lost a few good drives from a fall of my desk....

[eyeofbeholder]

Update. Replaced both the IDE cable and the HD because the test software from IBM identified some bad sectors. Reloaded software and computer continued to crash. However, I learned a very important lesson - make sure your system is stable before installing additional software!

My problem ended up being software incompatability. I have a Scanport flat bed scanner attached which uses standard twain drivers. As soon as I introduced the new GeForce drivers into the system, things went crazy. So I was left with a choice - use the scanner with a different video card, or use the video card and remove the scanner. I chose the later. I know that as soon as I install the twain drivers, my system will become unstable. I finally figured this out after about 7 crash / reload sessions.

Thanks to everyone for the useful advise. And for anyone with a similar crash problem - reinstall your software one piece at a time and ensure system stability before you install the next piece of software. You'll save yourself a lot of frustrations and head aches.

eyeofbeholder.