Keep loosing one HD, wondering if it could be a power issue.

[Wizfrog]

Hello,

I seem to keep loosing one of my drives on a new system I just put
together, and I'm wondering if it could be a power issue, but wouldn't
the whole computer act erratic in that case?


I have a server rack with 8 HD slots
WinXP-SP2
MoBo GA-P35C-DS3R
2x1Gb OCZ SLI DDR2 8500
Q6600 G0
2x Raptors 150Gb on Gigabyte RAID
2x Maxtor 500Gb on Intel RAID
+1 Maxtor 200Gb stand alone on Intel controller.
CD-RW
DVD-RW
400W PSU
Intel stock CPU fan
+ 3 HD / case fans.

I have to say the PSU tends to heat up a bit because the fan was
making such and excruciatingly painful noise that I killed it.

The stnad alone Maxtor is the one I keep loosing from time to time.
It's the older drive too, all others are new.
Sometimes I reboot and it will show up again, sometimes not.

I calculate that each HD should use about 22W, that's only 110W
+ maybe another 30W for the CD/DVD drives

There should be at least 250W left for the MoBo/CPU.
Isn't that enough?

Wouldn't the CPU be first to fail in case of low power?

I'm wondering what else could cause this problem.

Anyone experiencing this kind of issue?

 

[JAD]

I had this problem many times and it ended up being the MBR of the boot drive. I did an XP
'fixmbr' or 'fixboot' and it solved it every time. YMMV obviously. Does the event viewer
show anything?

 

[Terrence Quinn]

Hello,

I seem to keep loosing one of my drives on a new system I just put
together, and I'm wondering if it could be a power issue, but wouldn't
the whole computer act erratic in that case?


I have a server rack with 8 HD slots
WinXP-SP2
MoBo GA-P35C-DS3R
2x1Gb OCZ SLI DDR2 8500
Q6600 G0
2x Raptors 150Gb on Gigabyte RAID
2x Maxtor 500Gb on Intel RAID
+1 Maxtor 200Gb stand alone on Intel controller. CD-RW
DVD-RW
400W PSU
Intel stock CPU fan
+ 3 HD / case fans.

I have to say the PSU tends to heat up a bit because the fan was making
such and excruciatingly painful noise that I killed it.

The stnad alone Maxtor is the one I keep loosing from time to time. It's
the older drive too, all others are new. Sometimes I reboot and it will
show up again, sometimes not.

I calculate that each HD should use about 22W, that's only 110W + maybe
another 30W for the CD/DVD drives

2.25Ax12Vx5= 135W at startup just from the five hard drives off the +12V
rail. An inexpensive '400W' PSU may be rated at +12V@18A which is 216W.
Now add 100W for the processor and another 100W for a higher end video
card and you've easily exceeded the 12V rail of the power supply.
Considering your hardware I would look at a Corsair, Zippy or Seasonic
power supply rated at 600W or more. Look for 40A+ on the +12V rail(s).

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=108088
(thanks to wasbit for the link)

 

[Michael Hawes]

2.25Ax12Vx5= 135W at startup just from the five hard drives off the +12V
rail. An inexpensive '400W' PSU may be rated at +12V@18A which is 216W.
Now add 100W for the processor and another 100W for a higher end video
card and you've easily exceeded the 12V rail of the power supply.
Considering your hardware I would look at a Corsair, Zippy or Seasonic
power supply rated at 600W or more. Look for 40A+ on the +12V rail(s).

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=108088
(thanks to wasbit for the link)

If that is a cheap no-name PSU with a faulty fan, replace ASAP before it
blows and takes your other hardware with it. If it is always the same drive
you lose, check the power connection to that drive, use a spare, or exchange
it with another.

Mike.

 

[~Mike Hollywood]

so how do you do it?
open a dos box, and
run it from there?

 

[JAD]

so how do you do it?
open a dos box, and
run it from there?

boot from xp cd go to recovery console

 

[~Mike Hollywood]

thanks

boot from xp cd go to recovery console