Aces High Bulletin Board
Help and Support Forums => Technical Support => Topic started by: moot on March 30, 2007, 07:42:08 AM
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This morning I found my computer, after leaving it on as always, as though it was in screensaver mode (blank screen, monitor on standby), except it wouldnt respond to anything I did, and the HDD LED was stuck on.
The reset button did not work, so I turned it off and back on after a few seconds. It did the same thing - monitor stays in standby, HDD LED stuck on.
The monitor is plugged in correctly, and there aren't any system error beeps.
HDD failure?
tia
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Hmm. I doubt it is your HD. The machine should at least POST. It doesn't do that huh? If it won't POST, it's probably either your motherboard or power supply. I would suspect power supply first.
You might try unplugging everything from the MB except the PSU. You should get the "BEEP-BEEP-BEEP." If you do, try it again with your video card and monitor connected and see if you can get it to POST. If it does, then your MB and PSU are probably ok. You can then start plugging things in one at a time till you find the culprit.
Hope that helps
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Sounds like the CPU burned up or possible the MB. If it was your ram u get a beeping sound. CPU and MB sometimes u don't. Possible it could be video card to. 1 way to check video card is put it in another computer just for test if u have another computer to test it.
I don't recommend swapping CPU with another computer as if it is bad, it could blow out the MB u testing it on and then u have 2 bad computers,lol.
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I forgot to add the second question : Is one of these two is more reliable?:
Western Digital Caviar SE 250 7200rpm
Maxtor Diamondmax 250GB 7200rpm
I'm replacing the HDDs anyway, because they've made errors once or twice in the past (blue screen-inducing type of errors).
The video card is integrated.
I'm going to try a start with everything unplugged..
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WD are alot more reliable then maxtor. I never buy a maxtor drive. I build my systems with WD's. I only had 1 WD fail in my 14 yrs of building computers.
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Uhmm, IDE/SATA hard drives are a crap shoot, quite frankly. I have had WD's fail in less than 30 days, but I have also had Seagate's, Maxtor's, and any other brand fail as well.
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Skuzzy what would you recommend?
I've gotten to the point where I have so much valuable data, that price is little object to secure it all.
I waited an hour or two before touching the computer, and it booted normally (failed-to-boot warning prompts aside) with everything untouched and plugged in.. Does this eliminate anything?
I will most likely keep it shut down with the power connections unplugged untill I have the new storage parts ready to back everything up.
Thanks again,
m.
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the failed to boot is your c drive has failed or is corrupted. U either have to replace the drive or reformat it and start over. If u have alot of data on it then I would suggest putting that drive in another computer as a slave and see if u can access the drive and pull the stuff u need off.
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Alright.. I'll buy a replacement as soon as I know what Skuzzy's alternatives are.
Another question: if a HDD fails, it is still feasible to have a tech open it up and retrieve the data from the disks, right?
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Moot, for my home system (which also has a lot of important data I really do not want to lose), I use whatever I need in the computer as far as capacity and have a separate file server which is stuffed with Seagate Cheetah SCSI disk drives.
I have Cheetah's which are 10 years old and still running like a top.
Right now, I am trying out the vertial recorded SATA drives from Seagate.
Basically, I keep the OS and program files on the internal SATA drive of my computer and all my data goes to the Cheetah drives. The file server makes an automated backup to another Cheetah, and once a week I burn off the data to DVD's.
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If you have lots of valuable data, I recommend setting up a mirrored RAID array. This makes it so that you have multiple hard drives all copying each other as files are added. If the main drive dies, there's most likely a drive in the array that isn't dead. Take out the dead one, move the other up and put a new one in as a secondary. Most people run a 2 drive array, but I think you can have as many as you want.
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I do not care for RAID arrays as done using the cheap onboard solution you find on PC motherboards. I have seen too many people have problems with them.
There is a reason why a good RAID array costs $10 grand versus the $2 part on the PC motherboard, which relies mostly on software.
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That's what I thought too. And I would rather use something that can last 10 years, than something built with parts whose failure are the cause of my problem already..
I'm going to cannibalize some old but functional PCs to build that file server. I had had that idea for a long time, I guess great minds think alike! :D
Can I retrieve a crashed HDD's data from the individual plates?
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Originally posted by moot
Can I retrieve a crashed HDD's data from the individual plates?
That should be left up to a technician. If you want to do that, there are companies that have controlled labs just for that reason. It can be pricey, but it works.
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Well, if you are going to build the file server, and use Linux, you can also make it your Internet router and firewall as well. Then you run Samba on Linux so the Windows machines can access it.
My Linux box is up 24 hours, 7 days a week with a couple of Cheetah drives in it and it has been running for about 7 years now. I put a backup power supply on it. It is a lowly 800Mhz P3 box with 256MB of RAM.
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Originally posted by AKDogg
WD are alot more reliable then maxtor. I never buy a maxtor drive. I build my systems with WD's. I only had 1 WD fail in my 14 yrs of building computers.
WOW! Something has changed since I was in the tech business. I was on a first name basis with several of the support people at WD replacing drives with the infamous clunk. Then again, I remember when Quantum was the ONLY way to go...
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Originally posted by OOZ662
That should be left up to a technician. If you want to do that, there are companies that have controlled labs just for that reason. It can be pricey, but it works.
I've done it, it's dicey. Depends on WHAT failed.
Had a drive case cracked and spun the motor up with my finger. Pulled the data off with the drive open. Found out you have to put it back together with the drive spinning, by the way, or you're never going to get it to work even long enough to snort data if for some reason you can't do it on the bench.
If the heads crashed you're looking at big money.
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Originally posted by Skuzzy
I do not care for RAID arrays as done using the cheap onboard solution you find on PC motherboards. I have seen too many people have problems with them.
There is a reason why a good RAID array costs $10 grand versus the $2 part on the PC motherboard, which relies mostly on software.
Three posts in a row. New record.
3Ware makes a pretty decent, inexpensive IDE/SATA RAID card. I've used them in non-mission critical applications.
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Thanks Puck.
I too remember when Quantum was the drive to have if you wanted a tank. Do you remember thier 35MB 5 1/4" full height SCSI drive? I think you could have dropped that drive from a 2 story building and it would have kept running.
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Originally posted by Skuzzy
Do you remember thier 35MB 5 1/4" full height SCSI drive?
I believe we have one of those in the back room at our High School. Our tech class uses stuff like that in the "days gone by" section of the course.
It's my job to dig around through all of it and find stuff. I just about toppled a stack of Ataris the other day.
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By the sounds of it your MoBo or your processor is toast, Check to see if any caps on the MoBo are "bubbling", if so u'll need a new 1, if it was your RAM or HDD it would still POST. HomeBoy, if it was his PSU it would probably never turn on, but if that is the case, 1) check to see if the PSU fan spins, 2) make sure the PSU doesnt make a semi hi pitched noise and, 3) shake it to see if anything has blown inside.
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Originally posted by Skuzzy
Thanks Puck.
I too remember when Quantum was the drive to have if you wanted a tank. Do you remember thier 35MB 5 1/4" full height SCSI drive? I think you could have dropped that drive from a 2 story building and it would have kept running.
Mine was 10 MB; I wasn't rich enough to afford 35M back in '82 or whenever it was I bought it. I have a platter collection at home from drives I've worked on. Everything from 14" DEC aluminum to 1.2" glass.
Before going after a MB you might want to look at the power supply. Those things are (generally) made cheaper than dirt and will cause all kinds of strange behaviors. I had a system that was rock solid for years, then started doing the random crash thing. Looked at EVERYTHING, then realized the power supply was going flaky on me.
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For backing up files, i've been using an external usb hard drive.
Plug it in, drag and drop the files you want backed up onto the new drive and your done.
So easy a caveman can do it. Fits me perfect.
I just backed up 35 gigs of info in less than a half an hour.
The only downside is that it's a hard drive, and it could fail too, but i've had this thing for about as long as usb2.0 has been around. (knock on wood)
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I've had intermittent problems with my hard drive. Sometimes it's fine for months and sometimes not. Not looking for help. Know what I need to do. Just though you all might find this interesting.
Push the power button to start and it might or might not. Get the beeps and then nothing. Or sometimes for no reason it reboots or just hard shutdown.
I searched for power problems and loose connections. Replaced RAM couse they looked overheated-needed the upgrade anyway.
Then one day out of frustration after it started to boot up and stopped, I thumped the drive pritty good with my palm-had the side off. Didn't have any problems for weeks after that.
I use hibernate to elimanate the need to cut prossesses on startup-yah I know about FS-Autostart. Anyway I told it to SHUT DOWN for travel one day and when I got to the motel it did its mobo beeps and nothing. Smacked it on the side and it came out of HIBERNATION.
Moral: Don't underestimate the crapiness of your hard drive.
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Sounds like a sticky drive. Those motors have pathetic torque. The GOOD news is you can generally save the data. The BAD news is you need a new drive sooner rather than later, because the window of salvation is finite.
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Skuzzy how do you feel about acronis true image? Ive got my system setup with two OSs with each backed up to similar drives using true image. I find it to be a lot more reliable than the crap onboard raid and it restores drives in less than an hour for even large capacity drives.