HDD problems?

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Woden

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I just bought a 250gb WD HDD yesterday, and I installed it. The first problem i had was that when i turned it on all that happened was the fans, neons, and a continuous beep turned on and nothing was displayed on the monitor. I opened it back up and found that the temperature gauge in the front of the case had come unplugged, but would that really cause the computer to refuse to start? I then turned it back on and it came up like normal. I then continued on to install xp home edition on the drive, but while it was partitioning the new drive i started to hear clicking coming from my computer. I got a blue screen soon after the clicking started, and it restarted the computer. When it started back up the windows xp install cd couldn't find the hard drives although they were listed in the bios. I restarted again and got the same result. I came back a couple hours later and turned it on and it started up like normal so i continued and successfully installed xp. Then this morning I attempted to install linux on my old 80gb WD HDD and during the installation i started to hear the clicking again so i shut down my computer hoping that doing that would stop it from having the same problem with not being able to see the hard drives. However, when i started it up about 2 hours ago it could see the drives in the bios but it wouldn't boot from the new drive that i had installed xp on. Is my new hard drive bad? My old one? Or something else?

This may be off topic but im not sure if it could have an impact on all this. Every once in a while i get a message on startup from the MOBO saying that the overclocking on my processor failed. Not sure if this has any bearing on the hard drive problem though.

This computer has been nothing but trouble for me since i bought it used from my parents coworker about a month and a half ago, but up until now it was all software problems rather than hardware.

MOBO: Asus K8v SE Deluxe
HDD Master: 250gb WD2500JBRTL <--NEW
HDD Slave: 80gb WD800?????
Video Card: GeForce 6800 GS
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ overclocked
 
When you went to install Linux on the old 80gb drive did you unplug the new 250gb? You might find out which drive is making the clicking sound as well as not having done anything to the XP mbr there. Boot from the XP installation disk and go to the recovey console to enter "Fixboot" and "Fixmbr" commands there to see a new mbr written. That shoudl get XP going again.

Having one drive unplugged and listening for the clicking then will point to the drive failing if it is a drive read/write head slapping against a platter inside. Those are only held above the disk by air flow as the platters spin. Bad 250gb or failing older 80gb?

(The 3000+ is far from a good model for ocing by the way. I would run that at stock. For ocing on a Socket 939 board you will want to look at the FX line or something like the 4200+ X2 or 4600+ X2 models.)
 
Thanks, I will try that. About the over clocking, I wasn't the one who built the computer I just bought it from my parents coworker who's husband ran a game shop that let you come in and pay by the hour to play games on their computers. When I got the computer It didn't have CD or DVD drives or even an operating system installed so I have had to do everything myself, with no experience in computer setup, the hardest thing I had to do before this was figure out why our CD drive wasn't working on our then new Dell (it wasn't plugged in. STUPID DELL!!!!). It has been like a very long crash course in how to get a computer up and running. I spent $250 for the computer and an old 19" monitor, $10 for a 15.4" flat panel from my moms work, $40 for the DVI-D cable for the flat panel, $125 for XP Home, and now $100 for the hard drive. I thought it was a good deal to begin with, but now I'm going insane just trying to get it to work. I just want to be able to play my games and learn to use Ubuntu without something causing my computer to stop working.:(

Forgot to add there is a message popping up now whenever I try to boot from the 250gb HDD. It says that the NTLDR or something like that. I looked it up and it says its the Windows NT loader so if it's missing does that mean I'll have to reinstall windows? No big deal if I do since I just installed it and have no files on it yet.
 
That last error is you master boot sector is corrupt. You should try what eyeCpc said and try your setup with only one hard drive at a time to see if it's the drives that are the noise. Then when you get that resolved reinstall windows. When you do a reinstall just do a quick format if the 250Gb hard drive is still good.
 
If the message is saying that the NTLDR is missing that usually is seen when something doesn't fully copy to the drive during the installation like you had just performed or was knocked out later after Windows has been running for some time. Being that this was a fresh install a quick reinstall should see that corrected fast.

Once you are familiar with Windows and how things work you can use other methods for expanding the file off of the installation disk or simply from the I386 folder were all files are compressed in archives there. Fortunately since you are now getting lessons on Windows anyways try the steps seen at the link here for restoring or replacing the NTdetect.com and NTLDR files. NTLDR is missing
 
That did it. Thanks eye. Haven't hear any clicking from the new one which is the only one hooked up right now so it was probably the old one going out.... which means I bought the new one just in time. I'm just going to leave the old one disconnected and have a friend give me a different comp to put linux on.
 
For testing to see if the older 80gb is going toast on you sometime unplug the primary and try installing anything whether distro or Windows and listen closely for the clicking there. That can be done with a side cover for a more distinctive id of just where.

But with the problems you have been seeing that will probably confirm the answer even more. I once saw a Seagate go quietly on an old Packard Bell those years back but so far never had a WD go here. But at least you can grab a new drive at good prices now seen.
 
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