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| Thread ID: 107907 | 2010-03-06 20:35:00 | Hardrives problem | Alank (10156) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 864509 | 2010-03-06 20:35:00 | Hi Everyone I recently reinstalled WinXP but then noticed that both DVD Rom and CD writer were not working. It came up in Device Manager with error code 41 saying that drivers had been successfully loaded but could not find the hardware devices. It appeared to be a windows problem as I was able to boot the windows CD from them at startup. That was about 2 weeks ago and I had not got around to fixing them yet. Yesterday when I powered the computer on, Windows would not load at all. It kept coming up with a BSOD saying unmountable boot volume. Now I tried the solutions in support.microsoft.com but none worked. I tried to access the recovery console from the windows CD but the system froze up and rebooted every time just before reaching it. So, I removed both physical harddrives and tried to access them from another computer using a USB to IDE cable. Still no go. Both are seagate barracudas. One was making the same sequences of sounds each time like it was struggling to read the data but couldn't and the other kept making a repeated faint clicking sound. That drive is only 2 years old. Does that mean both of the HD's have failed? I've never had HD failure before and what are the chances that both could go at the same time? Would the problems with the optical drives been an early warning sign of worse to come? What are my options now? They do have data on I would like to get back. I have backed up before but not recently. The M/B is at least 5 years old and system has 512mb ram and has an old Athlon 1800+ processor. Thanks muchly for any help or suggestions. Alan |
Alank (10156) | ||
| 864510 | 2010-03-06 20:43:00 | Is everything jumpered properly? After you installed windows, did you change the bootdisk (in the BIOS), to the hdd you installed windows on? | Speedy Gonzales (78) | ||
| 864511 | 2010-03-06 20:47:00 | Can you use a live Linux CD to boot he computer? This will tell if it's hardware or XP related possibly | gary67 (56) | ||
| 864512 | 2010-03-06 21:00:00 | Is everything jumpered properly? After you installed windows, did you change the bootdisk (in the BIOS), to the hdd you installed windows on? Hi Speedy. When I reinstalled windows, it was on another partition on the same physical drive. I just remembered that the CD drive was working at the very start as installed Nortons |
Alank (10156) | ||
| 864513 | 2010-03-06 21:01:00 | Can you use a live Linux CD to boot he computer? This will tell if it's hardware or XP related possibly Not yet thanks. I have one somewhere and will give that a try. |
Alank (10156) | ||
| 864514 | 2010-03-06 21:02:00 | Hmm wouldnt be surprised if Nortons made it crash. If it started crashing after you installed this. Since it looks like Nortons can give you that stop error (www.google.co.nz). Is this the AV or Nortons Internet security? Will it boot into safe mode? | Speedy Gonzales (78) | ||
| 864515 | 2010-03-06 21:06:00 | So, I removed both physical harddrives and tried to access them from another computer using a USB to IDE cable. Still no go. Both are seagate barracudas. One was making the same sequences of sounds each time like it was struggling to read the data but couldn't and the other kept making a repeated faint clicking sound. That drive is only 2 years old. One other option to consider as well --- If both drives wont read even from another PC, and as in the highlighted areas above, that can mean both drives are damaged. See if they will read from a linux CD as gary67 suggested. Just because they are only two years old doen't mean anything, HDD"s can AND do fail at any time, could be 5 minutes or 5 years for example. First thing that comes to mind from the description given is there may have been a power Supply problem - If the PSU is faulty, it could have spiked the Drives at the same time - thus causing damage. The PSU will be connected to the Motherboard and all drives, so if there are any PSU problems they will be transferred to what ever is connected. The first sign of a problem may have started Via 'both DVD Rom and CD writer were not working". |
wainuitech (129) | ||
| 864516 | 2010-03-06 21:15:00 | Just because they are only two years old doen't mean anything, HDD"s can AND do fail at any time, could be 5 minutes or 5 years for example. Thats true, the 1st hdd I installed in this died within 6 mths. Would have been nice, if it told me in advance :lol: But no it didnt, it didnt even click. It just died completely |
Speedy Gonzales (78) | ||
| 864517 | 2010-03-06 21:31:00 | yep -- From my own experience - in 2008, I had 3 HDD's fail in the same year, Two Seagates, 1 Western Digital, all new - Luckily for daily backups, All I lost was a few emails. | wainuitech (129) | ||
| 864518 | 2010-03-06 22:19:00 | One other option to consider as well --- If both drives wont read even from another PC, and as in the highlighted areas above, that can mean both drives are damaged . See if they will read from a linux CD as gary67 suggested . Just because they are only two years old doen't mean anything, HDD"s can AND do fail at any time, could be 5 minutes or 5 years for example . First thing that comes to mind from the description given is there may have been a power Supply problem - If the PSU is faulty, it could have spiked the Drives at the same time - thus causing damage . The PSU will be connected to the Motherboard and all drives, so if there are any PSU problems they will be transferred to what ever is connected . The first sign of a problem may have started Via 'both DVD Rom and CD writer were not working" . I couldn't find a linux boot disc but found an old Winternals one which is just as good and boots to a stripped down Windows Desktop . Using this way, I can now access the newer Seagate HD and am copying the files over to another spare HD . Will try the other one after . Will be able to sleep a little better tonight :banana |
Alank (10156) | ||
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