Why XP likes to park my Maxtor 120 disk....and why its not the 'Click of Death'

[Scampi]

Afternoon...

I've been searching for a solution, or even something simular to this
problem for a couple of days now.

My AMD 2100+ XP box has a strange tendancy for the HDD to 'click' just
before the system freezes on me. At first glance you would think it's
the HDD dying and its time to get a new one. I've followed this line
before, got a new Maxtor 120gb, reinstalled etc etc but the problem
remains. The old disk, btw, is working fine in another computer...

When I try to boot into XP, I can now time exactly when the 'Click' is
going to happen. XP loads to the user login screen, sits for a second
or two, some HDD activity, a pause, more HDD activity and then Click!
its time to hit that reset button.

The only thing convincing me that this isn't the usual 'Click of
Death' is that the PC loads fine in Safe Mode. Infact I'm using it now
to type this plea for help.

What could XP be loading up that would cause my HDD to stop or park?
And what would that be that _isn't_ loaded in safe mode? I've read
many a tale of the graphics card being a culprit, or could it be my
Gigabyte GA-7VAXP Pro mobo and problems with the bios / IDE
controler... but then why would it be triggered again and again at the
same stage of XP booting?

Anyone who can shed any light into this little mistory may well save
my dissertation hopes :/

Thanks for your time, any comments will be welcome.

Chris 'Scampi' Williams, Staffordshire University, UK.

 

[kony]

Afternoon...

I've been searching for a solution, or even something simular to this
problem for a couple of days now.

My AMD 2100+ XP box has a strange tendancy for the HDD to 'click' just
before the system freezes on me. At first glance you would think it's
the HDD dying and its time to get a new one. I've followed this line
before, got a new Maxtor 120gb, reinstalled etc etc but the problem
remains. The old disk, btw, is working fine in another computer...

When I try to boot into XP, I can now time exactly when the 'Click' is
going to happen. XP loads to the user login screen, sits for a second
or two, some HDD activity, a pause, more HDD activity and then Click!
its time to hit that reset button.

The only thing convincing me that this isn't the usual 'Click of
Death' is that the PC loads fine in Safe Mode. Infact I'm using it now
to type this plea for help.

What could XP be loading up that would cause my HDD to stop or park?
And what would that be that _isn't_ loaded in safe mode? I've read
many a tale of the graphics card being a culprit, or could it be my
Gigabyte GA-7VAXP Pro mobo and problems with the bios / IDE
controler... but then why would it be triggered again and again at the
same stage of XP booting?

Anyone who can shed any light into this little mistory may well save
my dissertation hopes :/

Thanks for your time, any comments will be welcome.

Chris 'Scampi' Williams, Staffordshire University, UK.

Try adjusting the windows and bios power management settings.

 

[Trent©]

Afternoon...

I've been searching for a solution, or even something simular to this
problem for a couple of days now.

I've run across this several times now. Interestingly enough, its
always been with a Gigabyte board.

...or could it be my
Gigabyte GA-7VAXP Pro mobo and problems with the bios / IDE
controler... but then why would it be triggered again and again at the
same stage of XP booting?

I've solved the problem by replacing the IDE cable. Try that...and
let us know how it goes.

After we hear back from you, I may call Gigabyte and start a trouble
ticket.


Have a nice week...

Trent

Follow Joan Rivers' example --- get pre-embalmed!

 

[Scampi]

Try adjusting the windows and bios power management settings.

So far I've set the Windows power settings to never spin down the
disk, and not to hibinate, and I've also changed all the BIOS settings
to the same affect.

My suspissions are leaning towards the IDE controlers on my Mobo. An
intresting reverlation the other day, the PC started to boot ok.
Suspicious but needing to do some work, everything was going well
until I tried to access one of my CD-ROM drives. This caused the usual
‘click – crash'. Could my IDE controllers be faulty? Has anyone had
any issues with Gigabyte raid controllers on a 7VAXP-Ultra mobo?

Scampi

 

[kony]

So far I've set the Windows power settings to never spin down the
disk, and not to hibinate, and I've also changed all the BIOS settings
to the same affect.

My suspissions are leaning towards the IDE controlers on my Mobo. An
intresting reverlation the other day, the PC started to boot ok.
Suspicious but needing to do some work, everything was going well
until I tried to access one of my CD-ROM drives. This caused the usual
‘click – crash'. Could my IDE controllers be faulty? Has anyone had
any issues with Gigabyte raid controllers on a 7VAXP-Ultra mobo?

Scampi

I doubt it's the IDE controller. More likley a flaky power supply. Is
the power supply a generic?

Run the hard drive manufacturer's diagnostics, and disable ALL power
management settings (not just those related to the hard drive) in the bios
and windows.

 

[Jon Danniken]

What could XP be loading up that would cause my HDD to stop or park?
And what would that be that _isn't_ loaded in safe mode?

Log your boot and see what the last entry in bootlog.txt is.

Jon

 

[Scampi]

Log your boot and see what the last entry in bootlog.txt is.

Jon

Just to reply to everyone, thanks for your help. The solution came in
changing the motherboard. All the IT people I spoke to at uni
mentioned that it sounds like an IDE controler problem without me
prompting them for that responce, and changing the motherboard has
solved the problem.

Why this IDE controler went to pot I'm not sure, but its still under
warrenty to I'm covered. And now I have a nice Abit NF7 series mobo

Thanks, Scampi.