Hard drive chain reaction

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Regulus

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Ok, so, about 5 days ago, my parents tell me that they got a "Disk Read Error" on their comp, and I asked you guys for help, and you said it'd prolly be the hdd itself, which it was. So we order a new seagate 80gb hdd. Then came Wednesday, December 7. I'm browsiing the internet that evening, when the comp lags up, and freezes. I jsut figure it's the weather that's causing it, so I ctrl+alt+del, and it does nothing. I do it again and again, and nothing happens, but i"m just still like "Meh, ok, just a small prob". So I restart the comp. It's booting and after the MSI logo appears and teh core cell junk...the screen is black..then it restarts. I'm thinking "Gaaa, now what". I wait for it to get to the windows logo, but it never does, but instead, it restarts again. I'm already steaming mad at this point, cause I have school work that is due monday that is my MIDTERM EXAM grade, and I'm screwed unless I can find a solution to this mess, or I can find an alternate route. Anyways, I turn it off, and I take out the hdd...inspect it, and nothing looks wrong. I secure teh jumper in the "cable select" position, and pop it back in, but stil nothing. After a series of tests and what-not, I turn the comp on. No beeps, but instead I too get the ghei "Disk Read Error". I'm about to lost my sanity at thsi point, and my parents suggest that we go buy a new hdd. I have pretty much no other choice (as far as I can think of) but to go on ahead and buy a new one. Previously, one of my friends said to leave the hdd for about an hour, and try it agaoin to maybe fix the "Disk Read Error", or to use another hdd, set it to primary, install an OS, and copy the files from the bad hdd. So we go buy a Seagate 160GB hdd, and I plug it on in, and now ANOTHER problem has come up. I turn the comp on, and the fans and lights are on and stuff, but the power light to the monitor is blinking...just..blinking. So now I'm even more stressed than ever before. I turn it off, and check the cables, switches, etc. and I unplug and replug the VGA cord back into the vid card, and switch on. Still nothing. I'm scratching my head as I look at the inside of my comp, curious as to what on earth is going on. I take the vid card out to reseat it, but I can't, becuase the mobo is sitting too low tio the case, that the outer plate doesn't go all the way down. Great. After this, I wind up dismantling my entire comp, and replace teh broken plastic screws with the little brass screw thingys, set the mobo on them, and secure it. The card now fits good. I turn it all on, and STILL NO SIGNAL!!! I take OUT the video carsd (6600GT) and put in a 9600Pro, and it's just NOT WORKING!!! So I've narrowed it down to 3 items: the cpu, the ram, or the mobo itself. It can't be the cpu, cause it's not smoking, no signs of problems, and stuff. And I dunno if it's the mobo casue all of the otehr stuff on it seems to be working. That leaves me with one option: The RAM. Now, the RAM I have is the Corsair Value Select 1GB sticks. I do realize that RAM errors could be a cause of this, but I'm not sure. So teh 2 questions I have are these:

1. Is there ANY HUMANLY POSSIBLE WAY for me to recover the data still on the "destroyed" hdd. Like coudl I hook up 2 and get it off tat way?

2. I've had the blinking monitor light before, but this is just ridiculous. How do I fix it? I've tested other monitors, and the same problem, so it's not my monitor.

This is a desperate matter, cause if I don't get my comp fixed by sunday night, I am screwed. TWO OF MY MIDTERM GRADES ARE AT STAKE HERE.:( :angry: :mad: :(
 
1: Yes, Put that drive in as slave in another computer and copy files to a good Hard with an OS on it. The computer would have to have a master HD with an OS, then you put this one in as slave, you should be able to copy files over.

2: its Most likly Motherboard related. because of that set of events you described and the way you described it.

The priority here is the DATA, because your grade depends on it. So try slaving it in another computer and copying data over.

List all the components of the system.

Its most likly the motherboard but it could also be a bad Power supply.

RAM would be the 3rd/2nd likliest cause, so you can download memtest 86 from a good computer, burn to disk and test the memory in the vad system.

That is of course if you can even boot off a CD.
 
I think your hdd was fine at first and that either your vga card or proc were overheating. reset the jumps to what they were before and try on another computer if u can
 
My current specs are as follows:

AMD 64 3200+ Winchester core
MSI K8T NEO2
eVga 6600GT
Corsair Value Select 1GB PC3200
Thermaltake 480W
Seagate 120GB (currently "dead") Seagate 160GB (currently "alive")

EDIT: Ok, so if it is the mobo...what on it might be damaged or set wrong? A slot is burned...or..what?
 
-Sighs- Its a TT.
(Crys)

The Onboard EIDE Controllers could be bad, however since you can't replace them or anything on the motherboard you would just have to buy a new mobo.

The mobo could be suppling improper voltages to the EIDE controllers or a large list of others "things" could be bad with the Mobo that would cause this.

however!! I want you to rent or get a hold of a DMM, (digital multimeter) so you can test the voltages comming out of that Power supply.

Since you have a TT, I would Definitly replace that first, if and only if we get bad reading from the DMM. If a power supply provides to much or to little voltage on a line it could damage a HD and other parts connected to it.
 
Hey, no problemo, I was planning on replacing my motherboard this xmas anyways...this little incident just kinda motivated me to do so even more.

TT...what might that be?
 
TT= ThermalTake, I have a great passion when it comes to hateing TT power supplies.

If the problems continue after replacing the motherboard then it could be bad power supply, or bad IDE Cables.

So first thing to do would be to try the cables that came with new motherboard.

I also suggest not using cable select, just set master and slave, itll Speed up POST and boot.

Edit: In fact try differen't IDE cables now. If you have them.
 
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