scarykitties on 16/9/2009 at 11:49
Well, the only cables I have are supplied by the motherboard.
Maybe I should take a trip to Radio Shack.
scarykitties on 6/10/2009 at 01:53
Update. I've ordered a new motherboard, but haven't received it yet. Tonight, while trying to warm up my room with a heater, my computer died yet again. When I first booted, all hard drives were recognized, but none of them would respond. I waited a few moments, then tried again. The Windows began to boot, but claimed a critical file was missing. I began to recall how this always seemed to happen when I turned on the heater and closed my door, so I suspected it may be an overheating problem. According to my BIOS, my motherboard wasn't near overheating, so maybe my hard drives were overheating? I had three of them jammed one on top of the other in a tight row. I removed some stuff from the computer and have managed to spread them out with two to three inches between each, so hopefully they'll be cooled better now. After doing so, Windows booted just fine.
Could that have been the problem? Would HDD overheating cause files or drives to not be recognized?
heywood on 6/10/2009 at 03:01
Usually, heat reduces hard drive life span but I've never heard of them just stop working like that at sub-critical temperatures. Were they hot to the touch when you moved them?
Also, was your computer running before you turned the heater on? If you turned on the heater first, and then booted the computer, then hard drive cooling could not have been the issue, because the hard drives would start out at room temperature.
Is it an electric heater? If so, and it's on the same circuit as your computer, and the computer has an undersized or weak power supply, then the voltage drop on the circuit when you run the heater could be reducing the power supply output and causing a problem. A single electric space heater can take up almost the full capacity of a 15A circuit.
Usually, a weak power supply has trouble booting or waking from sleep. But once the computer is running, the power supply isn't stressed as much and it will usually stay running. So, if your computer was not running before you turned on the heater, then next time try turning the heater off before you boot or wake the computer and then turn the heater on after. That might help, but I still wouldn't run my computer on the same circuit as an electric heater. And if it wasn't an electric heater, then never mind all that.
Obviously, giving your computer's internal components (hard drive or otherwise) more space for cooling is generally a good thing. So it sounds like you made a good call there.
Also, if you do have a cabling problem, and spreading out the hard drives involved unplugging them, then re-seating the cable connectors to the hard drive could have temporarily fixed the problem.
BTW, I just had a drive fail on me too. I came home from work Friday and my computer was making a loud, sickening grinding noise. Over the last 6 or 7 years, I've lost 2 IBM DeathStars with head crashes, 1 Samsung that just suddenly died, a WD where the bad blocks just accumulated, and 2 Seagates with head crashes. Doesn't anybody make a reliable drive anymore? :grr:
scarykitties on 6/10/2009 at 03:49
Thankfully, it's nothing so serious as a head crash.
The computer was running first. As it began to get very hot in the room (after an hour or two), then there was the failure.
It's possible that it's the power supply. I've got a 620W running three hard drives, a high-end video card, a high-power processor, etc. That's another thing I've been considering as the problem. Odd that it only happens sometimes, though, and then the hard drives won't boot until I re-plug their SATA cables, although I've replaced those cables multiple times, ruling out cable failure.
If I replaced the motherboard, would that mess up my Windows (7) installation, requiring a reinstall?
heywood on 6/10/2009 at 14:03
I don't know if it will mess up your Windows 7 install. I did a mobo change on my brother's computer once running Windows XP and the OS managed to correctly detect all the new hardware. I had to install some new drivers and re-activate Windows, but afterward it was fine. But generally whenever I do a big upgrade of my computer including mobo & processor, I reinstall the OS anyway just because I'm a bit anal retentive like that.
Al_B on 6/10/2009 at 19:44
Quote Posted by scarykitties
The computer was running first. As it began to get very hot in the room (after an hour or two), then there was the failure.
Just a random thought - how damp is it in your room? Going from extreme cold to extreme heat could cause condensation to build up and
could cause problems such as those you've seen.
scarykitties on 6/10/2009 at 21:27
Not sure. It's not dripping moisture anywhere, but it's not dry, either. It's... well, of comfortable humidity. I didn't notice any condensation when rummaging in the computer's guts, though.
Still, something to keep in mind. Thanks.
