Can anybody help me please?

[w.bishop]

My old computer that I have had for about 4 years or so,

Consisting of a 1.67 gig AMD Athlon XP processor.

Asus A7A266 motherboard.

Two sticks of 256MB Memory.

I changed the original 40gig hard drive for a new 80gig

About one year ago.

I heard an unusual noise coming from the inside of the computer

I opened the case and the sound was coming from the new hard drive.

I did a full back up to five DVD disks with True image.

Two weeks later the hard drive bit the dust.

I have had the old drive replaced with a new one under the terms of the five-year guarantee.

On fitting the new drive the computer switched on but did not post and shut down.

I removed new hard drive, switched on computer it posted ok but of course it could not operate without a hard drive, I fitted a different hard drive that I new to be in good working order same again computer switched on did not post and shut down again.

I removed this hard drive switched on the computer and it posted but could not obviously find a hard drive or operating system.

Please has anybody got any idea what is wrong?

 

[floppybootstomp]

It sounds as if the power connector to the hard drive may be faulty, it may have a short circuit present when connected.

Try using a different Molex connector when connecting drive.

Also make sure jumper configuration on hard disk is correct, it most likely should be set to 'master'.

 

[w.bishop]

Thanks Floppybootstomp but I have tried a different power unit in the pc and yes the H/D is set to master.

 

[floppybootstomp]

Hmm, a strange one.

Ok, disconnect everything else, floppy drive, any other hard disks and optical drives, use a different IDE cable and connect up your hard disk.

If that doesn't work try connecting hard disk to motherboard only after taking motherboard out of case.

It's either a cable problem or the motherboard IDE bus/port is knackered.

Which is another thought. Try connecting the hard disk to the other IDE port.

 

[w.bishop]

I removed motherboard from case, nothing connected other than power pack and hard drive, screen connector, mouse and board, exactly same results on both ide connectors and diferent cables.
I removed molex connecter and it booted to where it said. Disk boot failure, insert system disk and press enter.
I connected molex connecter to hard drive and computer shut down.

 

[floppybootstomp]

Sadly, it looks like the motherboard is faulty. Perhaps when the old hard drive failed it killed the IDE ports, I've seen it happen

Either that or you have two faulty hard drives, which, seeing as how you know at least one of them is good, is highly unlikely.

 

[itsme]

Hiya!

I take it you have done this> start the pc enter bios and set it to boot from CD and or DVD only and disabled the rest press F10 save settings and insert the OS disc into the rom> set-up the OS when finished re-enter the bios and set to boot from HDD 1St ?
I will Have to type faster FBS

Sorry I misread the thread.

 

[w.bishop]

Hi Itsme I can not get the computer working with a hard drive connected and I guess that what Floppybootstomp said is probably correct the IDE ports have had it.
How can I set up the OS without a hard drive? In any case one of my three hard drive is already set up with a OS but will not run as soon as I connect this hard drive or any hard drive the computer shuts down.

 

[itsme]

Hi Itsme I can not get the computer working with a hard drive connected and I guess that what Floppybootstomp said is probably correct the IDE ports have had it.
How can I set up the OS without a hard drive? In any case one of my three hard drive is already set up with a OS but will not run as soon as I connect this hard drive or any hard drive the computer shuts down.

Yes having read the thread again it appears the MOBO is caput! what Skt is it?

 

[w.bishop]

How can I find out what SKt it is ?

 

[Rush]

Its a socket A

 

[itsme]

How can I find out what SKt it is ?

You say it is 4 yrs old so I imagine it is Skt A I will find out now.

 

[itsme]

Its a socket A

Well bugger me you beat me to it

 

[w.bishop]

Yes Rush is right thanks for joging my bad memory.

 

[itsme]

Here is one only 2 PCI but I use to use them Skt A are few and far between nowadays
>http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/102909

 

[w.bishop]

Thanks for that Itsme but I do not think it is worth saving this computer I think I have had a fair run for my money, it is four years or more old and has been up to date a very good computer for what I wanted.
If I could have fixed it, it would have made a good computer for someone.
I have built another computer but that is another story.

 

[PC Craze]

can you see hardrive on the bios? if you see hard drive on bios then your primary IDE is fine. If you don't see hard drive listed on the bios then i will try unpluging cd rom and use that IDE (secondary IDE where cd rom is connected) to connect your hard drive. see if that list your hard drive on bios. if it does than your primary IDE is dead. You can use your secondary IDE to run hard drive. i have done that and it works.

 

[w.bishop]

I have tries both IDE conectors and neither of them work, but thank you PC Craze for your input.