Random hard-drive non detection on cold boot - bad power supply?!

[joel.mcclure]

Hello,

My AMD 2400 XP+ system has an 80G Maxtor (primary IDE) and 30G
(secondary IDE w/Linux only). I'm getting random freezes at the point
where the bios detects IDE drives. I'll hear a weak beeping noise, and
the boot process will be halted before it detects an IDE drive. I
changed ribbon cables, and the problem seemed to go away only for a
while. I then changed mainboards, because the PC Chips seemed flaky
anyway. Now, with the new ABit, the problem happened again. Usually
several power on/offs will clear up the problem, and sometimes
unplugging the machine helps. Other symptoms include occasional random
"blue screens of death" during normal usage with "dumping physical
memory" messages. I ran the manufacturer diagnostic tools on both hard
drives, and there was nothing detected. The machine will run for days
between incidents. Could this be a power supply issue? I'm plugged
into a UPS, but maybe the power supply is flaky. Could either of my
two CD drives (secondary) be causing this? I don't see how the hard
drive electronics could be an issue, because they work flawlessly for
days, and the diagnostic tools gave them a pass. I would appreciate
any suggestions. Thanks.

 

[Rod Speed]

(e-mail address removed) wrote

My AMD 2400 XP+ system has an 80G Maxtor (primary IDE) and 30G
(secondary IDE w/Linux only). I'm getting random freezes at the point
where the bios detects IDE drives. I'll hear a weak beeping noise,
and the boot process will be halted before it detects an IDE drive.

That sounds like one of the drives is recalibrating when it cant
read the platters properly. That is likely the 'weak beeping noise'

I changed ribbon cables, and the problem seemed to go away only for
a while. I then changed mainboards, because the PC Chips seemed
flaky anyway. Now, with the new ABit, the problem happened again.
Usually several power on/offs will clear up the problem, and sometimes
unplugging the machine helps. Other symptoms include occasional
random "blue screens of death" during normal usage with "dumping
physical memory" messages. I ran the manufacturer diagnostic tools
on both hard drives, and there was nothing detected. The machine
will run for days between incidents. Could this be a power supply issue?
Yes.

I'm plugged into a UPS, but maybe the power supply is flaky.

Yes, that is a real possibility. The UPS was
unlikely to help the problem with failing to boot.

Could either of my two CD drives (secondary) be causing this?

Its possible, but not very likely. The obvious way to test
that possibility is to physically disconnect them and see
if that makes any difference to the boot particularly.

I don't see how the hard drive electronics could be an issue, because
they work flawlessly for days, and the diagnostic tools gave them a pass.

Yes, there is no common fault that affects just the boot.
And the hard drive cant produce those other symptoms.

I would appreciate any suggestions.

I'd try a new power supply myself.

 

[Jamie]

reseat your RAM and then if that doesn't work try memtest86, if you getting
memory dumps and random BSOD's. Also try the simplest things first b4 you
go and buy a new PS also grab a cheap mulitivolt test meter and chek the
rails of the PSU.

 

[Patty]

Hello,

My AMD 2400 XP+ system has an 80G Maxtor (primary IDE) and 30G
(secondary IDE w/Linux only). I'm getting random freezes at the point
where the bios detects IDE drives. I'll hear a weak beeping noise, and
the boot process will be halted before it detects an IDE drive. I
changed ribbon cables, and the problem seemed to go away only for a
while. I then changed mainboards, because the PC Chips seemed flaky
anyway. Now, with the new ABit, the problem happened again. Usually
several power on/offs will clear up the problem, and sometimes
unplugging the machine helps. Other symptoms include occasional random
"blue screens of death" during normal usage with "dumping physical
memory" messages. I ran the manufacturer diagnostic tools on both hard
drives, and there was nothing detected. The machine will run for days
between incidents. Could this be a power supply issue? I'm plugged
into a UPS, but maybe the power supply is flaky. Could either of my
two CD drives (secondary) be causing this? I don't see how the hard
drive electronics could be an issue, because they work flawlessly for
days, and the diagnostic tools gave them a pass. I would appreciate
any suggestions. Thanks.

Did you add anything new to the system recently? I once worked on a
computer where the owner had added a new video card. He kept getting
intermittent hard drive failures on boot up. I began disconnecting devices
(cd-rom, secondary hard drive, etc.) and it booted up fine, no problems.
Turns out the power supply was not able to handle the power needs of the
new video card on top of everything else in the system. When the power
supply was replaced with a higher wattage one, all the problems
disappeared. Just a thought.

Patty