Connector Troubles

[jw]

I have posted this trouble before, but I have to ask again.

If you guys had a machine (XP) with three hard drives and one DVD
drive, all IDE, that once a week or so quit processing by simply
hanging up, requiring re-boot, what would you do?

My solution is always the same - reseat the IDE cables and power
connectors on all the drives. I have changed connectors and cables,
but it still happens.

Do you think it could be the PSU itself? Or do you think it's time
to replace the machine?

Thanks

Duke

 

[Grinder]

I have posted this trouble before, but I have to ask again.

If you guys had a machine (XP) with three hard drives and one DVD
drive, all IDE, that once a week or so quit processing by simply
hanging up, requiring re-boot, what would you do?

My solution is always the same - reseat the IDE cables and power
connectors on all the drives. I have changed connectors and cables,
but it still happens.

Do you think it could be the PSU itself? Or do you think it's time
to replace the machine?

It would be worth swapping out the power supply. A flaky supply can
produce lots of weird results. Unless you have a ton of cards or
peripherals, or an aggressive video card setup, a good solid 350W would
probably do, and you can get an Antec Basiq for $20 + shipping from
newegg. (You can go up to 500W for $40 + shipping.)

 

[jaster]

I have posted this trouble before, but I have to ask again.

If you guys had a machine (XP) with three hard drives and one DVD drive,
all IDE, that once a week or so quit processing by simply hanging up,
requiring re-boot, what would you do?

My solution is always the same - reseat the IDE cables and power
connectors on all the drives. I have changed connectors and cables, but
it still happens.

Do you think it could be the PSU itself? Or do you think it's time to
replace the machine?

Thanks

Duke

Hmmmm, chances are its a power supply problem and powerful PSUs are
fairly inexpensive, but usually you'd see error messages on the screen,
in the Event Log viewer or BSOD.

Assuming you have more than enough space for the Paging file and a MFT
large enough to hold all your files.

Boot to safe mode and run some good utilities that clean the registry,
removes junk files, removes temporary internet files, scans the system
for trojans and viruses, and defrags the drives. Reboot and see if that
fixes your problems.

Other than PSU and XP clutter other possibilities are the video card and
cpu temp. You can use Speedfan and System Monitor to track temp and
file usage.

 

[Mike Walsh]

If the PC locks up with no error messages the problem could also be a bad motherboard or memory.

 

[jw]

Hmmmm, chances are its a power supply problem and powerful PSUs are
fairly inexpensive, but usually you'd see error messages on the screen,
in the Event Log viewer or BSOD.

Assuming you have more than enough space for the Paging file and a MFT
large enough to hold all your files.

I hate to ask, but my stupidity makes me do it. What is MFT?
Thanks
Duke

Boot to safe mode and run some good utilities that clean the registry,
removes junk files, removes temporary internet files, scans the system
for trojans and viruses, and defrags the drives. Reboot and see if that
fixes your problems.

I already do that religiously.

Other than PSU and XP clutter other possibilities are the video card and
cpu temp. You can use Speedfan and System Monitor to track temp and
file usage.

I have some PSUs in the closet. I'll see if I have anything better
than the present 400W

 

[jw]

If the PC locks up with no error messages the problem could also be a bad motherboard or memory.

Oh God! Anything but that.

Thanks

Duke

 

[jw]

It would be worth swapping out the power supply. A flaky supply can
produce lots of weird results. Unless you have a ton of cards or
peripherals, or an aggressive video card setup, a good solid 350W would
probably do, and you can get an Antec Basiq for $20 + shipping from
newegg. (You can go up to 500W for $40 + shipping.)

As I said a minute ago, the present PSU is 400W. But I'll see what I
have in the closet and try a swap.

Thanks

Duke

 

[Grinder]

As I said a minute ago, the present PSU is 400W. But I'll see what I
have in the closet and try a swap.

Sorry, I wasn't aware of any future comments you were going to make at
the time I wrote my remarks above. It's hard to gather inflection from
the written word, isn't it?

A 350W might still be enough. An online power supply calculator cannot
give you an exact number, but it might set some boundaries for your
requirements. Well, it will give you an exact number, but there's no
reason to suspect a high degree of precision (or accuracy.) Also, I
would take a quality 350W over a 400W "Bob's House of Power Supplies"
version any day.

 

[Mike Walsh]

I hate to ask, but my stupidity makes me do it. What is MFT?
Thanks
Duke

Master File Table
It is the file allocation table for NTFS. I don't know if you can manually change it. I think it will dynamically adjust itself to handle more files.

 

[jw]

Master File Table
It is the file allocation table for NTFS. I don't know if you can manually change it. I think it will dynamically adjust itself to
handle more files.

Thanks
Duke