Hard Drive Problem or ...?
Elvis @ Sat Nov 11, 2006 8:45 pm
the fan is the only moving part inside a power supply. If it work then this is not the cause of the crashing sound.
Banff did you try your 160gb hdd in another computer?
kal @ Sat Nov 11, 2006 9:45 pm
Even if the CMOS battery were dead, the computer would still boot.
To me, this sounds mostly like a heat problem, but as Elvis said, if the PSU fan is working, it's not the cause of the crashing sound. In my experiance those sounds usually indicate hard drive failure, and it doesn't always do it on every computer.
On another note, do you have a video card? If so, check the fan in that one. An overheating vid card can also cause system instability.
Other suggestion: Beep codes. When you turn on your computer and everything works fine, if will usually beep once. If something goes wrong that the mobo can detect, it will usually beep with some other pattern.
Finally, have you tried the HDD's in the secondary controller's on the mobo? I've had primary controllers fail on motherboards as well, but even then the computer should still boot and just give you a hard drive read error during the POST test.
If I had to hazard a guess, and because your HDD's work in other computers, I would say it has something to do with overheating the PSU or processor.
Elvis @ Sat Nov 11, 2006 9:59 pm
If you have two IDE port on your motherboard try the IDE2 port and then try running your 80g hdd has master just for the heck of it.
Sugestion put your 80g hdd in slave in your other puter and used a software like Speed fan to check the S.M.A.R.T data on that drive that will give you a clue about it's performance and fitness.
A+
Scape @ Sat Nov 11, 2006 11:08 pm
Banff Banff:
-Mario- -Mario-:
Scape Scape:
It's your power supply. I had this happen to me a year ago. DO NOT BOOT WITH THE FAULTY SUPPLY. Every time you try your risking fragging your OS and possibly your hardware/motherboard as well.
If it wouldn't have been of the bad noise, I would have recommanded that you check your C-MOS battery.
THe power supply was my next guess!
The cmos battery is up to par. Tested to 3.03volts.
How long was the test? Make sure it can hold a constant rate. The noise makes me think your heads are crashing on your drive. If so you may be looking at a reformat. Back up as much as you can.
Banff @ Sat Nov 11, 2006 11:49 pm
Scape Scape:
Banff Banff:
-Mario- -Mario-:
Scape Scape:
It's your power supply. I had this happen to me a year ago. DO NOT BOOT WITH THE FAULTY SUPPLY. Every time you try your risking fragging your OS and possibly your hardware/motherboard as well.
If it wouldn't have been of the bad noise, I would have recommanded that you check your C-MOS battery.
THe power supply was my next guess!
The cmos battery is up to par. Tested to 3.03volts.
How long was the test? Make sure it can hold a constant rate. The noise makes me think your heads are crashing on your drive. If so you may be looking at a reformat. Back up as much as you can.
The test was fine and I see Mrs. Banff wrote 3.03 lol , it was actually 3.30v, its an expensive Digital Multimeter I use it alot , anyway you are right I may have to back everything up and reformat . I'm just going to clean everything and check for overheating PSU or worse .Thanks I'll post how it all goes tomorrow .
Banff @ Sat Nov 11, 2006 11:54 pm
Elvis Elvis:
If you have two IDE port on your motherboard try the IDE2 port and then try running your 80g hdd has master just for the heck of it.
Sugestion put your 80g hdd in slave in your other puter and used a software like Speed fan to check the S.M.A.R.T data on that drive that will give you a clue about it's performance and fitness.
A+
Sugestion put your 80g hdd in slave in your other puter and used a software like Speed fan to check the S.M.A.R.T data on that drive that will give you a clue about it's performance and fitness.
A+
I'll definitely give that a try Thanks
Banff @ Sun Nov 12, 2006 12:03 am
kal kal:
Even if the CMOS battery were dead, the computer would still boot.
To me, this sounds mostly like a heat problem, but as Elvis said, if the PSU fan is working, it's not the cause of the crashing sound. In my experiance those sounds usually indicate hard drive failure, and it doesn't always do it on every computer.
On another note, do you have a video card? If so, check the fan in that one. An overheating vid card can also cause system instability.
Other suggestion: Beep codes. When you turn on your computer and everything works fine, if will usually beep once. If something goes wrong that the mobo can detect, it will usually beep with some other pattern.
Finally, have you tried the HDD's in the secondary controller's on the mobo? I've had primary controllers fail on motherboards as well, but even then the computer should still boot and just give you a hard drive read error during the POST test.
If I had to hazard a guess, and because your HDD's work in other computers, I would say it has something to do with overheating the PSU or processor.
To me, this sounds mostly like a heat problem, but as Elvis said, if the PSU fan is working, it's not the cause of the crashing sound. In my experiance those sounds usually indicate hard drive failure, and it doesn't always do it on every computer.
On another note, do you have a video card? If so, check the fan in that one. An overheating vid card can also cause system instability.
Other suggestion: Beep codes. When you turn on your computer and everything works fine, if will usually beep once. If something goes wrong that the mobo can detect, it will usually beep with some other pattern.
Finally, have you tried the HDD's in the secondary controller's on the mobo? I've had primary controllers fail on motherboards as well, but even then the computer should still boot and just give you a hard drive read error during the POST test.
If I had to hazard a guess, and because your HDD's work in other computers, I would say it has something to do with overheating the PSU or processor.
I'm guessing and fearing you could be right , I'll probably get in there and really gut it out tomorrow and run a heat test . Everything seems fine on the visual but we put in a video gaming card for the boys so the puter does take abuse and there is no shortage of lint on the fins but hopefully its not too late and the damage is done . Thanks I'll let you know how it goes .
wildrosegirl @ Mon Nov 13, 2006 1:21 pm
I'm FAR from a computer genius, but...I had similar symptoms a few years back with my old comp. After replacing nearly everything and running every antivirus/spyware program known to man, we traced it to a faulty power source. Might be worth investigating.
Brennie @ Fri May 11, 2007 10:31 am
Did you resolve the problem???
I have the same problem with my emachines C2825 PC. No response from the power switch on the front. I had recently installed a second hard drive and a usb keyboard so I assumed I had overloaded the PS (250w). So I installed a new 450 watt PS. Now PS fan and CPU fan stay on when I turn on the rear power switch but still no response from the front switch. Hard drive warms but doesn't boot - works fine in other PC. No response from CD or DVD drive either. Video card heats up but monitor doesn't come on.
Can it be the front power switch? Or the CMOS battery? Or is my mobo fried?