Frustrated!!!

monoman

monoman

New Member
hi, I am new to this forum and have a question:) :

I have just received a new 250MB SATA hard drive (maxtor) and conected it to my PC ( I have connected the internal power connector to my PSU, and connected the serial data cable to the hard drive and SATA 1 slot of my motherboard: ASUS P5RD1-V)

my problem is that when I turn on my PC, it starts to boot up, displaying the normal boot up routine on the monitor, and after about 30 seconds it turns itself off. The 'kettle lead' (power cable) is securely plugged into the back of my PSU, and connected to a surge-protected power point.

at first I thought maybe something in the system was overheating, and was running some kind of safety shut-off routine to turn off the PC. so I took out all my fans and CPU heatsink and cleaned them of dust and made sure they are all properly connected; they all work fine in the breif 30 seconds or so that the PC is on for.

then I thought I should try booting up with my motherboard CD inserted, and still no luck.

I have tryed entering setup (pressing 'Del'), and it starts to load the setup screen, then turns off.

I am really frustrated after buying this new hard drive:mad:
has anyone had this same problem/ knows how to solve it?

any help greatly appreciated, thanks in advance,
monoman
 
Hard to tell, sometimes adding a sata drive to a IDE will mess your boot order up and you have to go into the bios and set your boot order to boot to one or the other. But to just restart, it could be the extra drive put your P/S over the edge. How many watts does it have and how many amps on the 12V rail?
 
hello, thanks for quick replies,

to strangle hold:

this is the only hard drive in my computer, My old one was faulty, so i sent it for warranty and have just recieved this brand new drive from maxtor. it doesn't give me the option to go into bios, it shuts down before i get the screen with the 'enter BIOS' option. I will check the wattage of the drive just in case and get back to you

to Rambo:
you have a very good point, I haven't even tried that yet, give me a minute and ill see what happens...

thanks both
 
ok, the PSU supplies 19A on the +12V rail (isn't that quite alot?)
there is no clear wattage rating on the HDrive, it just says:
"+5V 0.72A" (=3.6W)
"+12V 0.52A" (=6.24W)

also the same problem occurs without the HDrive connected, so surely it must be something else in the system? I first suspected the motherboard, but do you think it could in fact be a problem with the PSU?

regards, monoman
 
monoman said:
ok, the PSU supplies 19A on the +12V rail (isn't that quite alot?)
there is no clear wattage rating on the HDrive, it just says:
"+5V 0.72A" (=3.6W)
"+12V 0.52A" (=6.24W)

also the same problem occurs without the HDrive connected, so surely it must be something else in the system? I first suspected the motherboard, but do you think it could in fact be a problem with the PSU?

regards, monoman
Click to expand...

Check and make sure that the CPU fan is securely in place. I had an emachine that I replaced the fan on, and when I didn't have it on correctly, the machine would start and stop just as quickly.
 
It looks like it's a new build. I'd check if the CPU heatsink is well seated, like cybergomer said, and you should of applied some thermal paster with it. It's a vital need for the CPU life.
 
hi ihuser, it turns out that the heatsink was loosely attached to the motherboard like cybergomer said, and i have now attached it securely, and my computer is up and running. the hard drive works fine too:)
I found out that i needed to replace the thermal compound on the heatsink, but do not have any money at the moment to buy any. It seems to be working fine at the moment even without it, but when i get some money i will definetly invest in some, for when i start using the CPU to its full capacity.

I have another problem now though, regarding XP service packs...
i tried to install the usb 2.0 driver from asus cd, and it told me i have to download service pack 1 or above for windows. I have installed sp1a of microsofts website, and it still does not give me access to the files on my usb stick (even though it detects the hardware). what should i do?

(last time i had my computer running, it automatically told me that sp1 and then sp2 was available, saying that i should install them, which i did with both. now, i have had no such messages appearing so i have done it manually)

thanks to all for helping,
regards,
monoman
 
You should either install the driver manually, by going in to the advanced driver installation.

Select your USB controller in Device Manager. Click Reinstall driver. Go in the advanced search properties and browse into the USB directory on the CD. It's easy to do. If you need more help, I'll give you a hand :)

Glad the heatsink was the problem :D
 
monoman said:
I found out that i needed to replace the thermal compound on the heatsink, but do not have any money at the moment to buy any. It seems to be working fine at the moment even without it, but when i get some money i will definetly invest in some, for when i start using the CPU to its full capacity.
Click to expand...

What? You're NOT using any thermal compound? I would highly advise you to stop using your computer until you get some.

What temperature is the CPU running at?
 
chances are he has the pre-applied stuff that comes with most new heatsinks. ive never had any problems with that, and have never used therman paste either.
(although my latest pc's processor blew up, but thats unrelated :P)
 
The pink thermal pad that came on my heatsink chocked my CPU. It wasn't transferring it and when I wanted to remove that pad to apply the paste, the CPU took off with it.
Rambo said:
What? You're NOT using any thermal compound? I would highly advise you to stop using your computer until you get some.

What temperature is the CPU running at?
Click to expand...

Actually, it will run okay, but not actually to a good state. I've seen my CPU up to 88C the last time without paste. It's idling at 36-45C now.
 
I dont know what temp my CPU, I don't have the program installed for feedback.

There was still some thermal compound on the heatsink when i took it off, in fact it was stuck to the processor quite tightly. there was only a very thin layer of it on the heatsink, and on the processor, and i think it was silver-based compound.

after that i just pushed the heatsink back on with no extra thermal compund, and made sure to push it tightly onto the CPU so that the material would spread out evenly between the surfaces.
 
hi ihuser,
where is the device manager in XP? i cant find it from the control panel,
thansk:)

ok i found it now

ignore this post, ive sorted it out now (my usb stick got a lock switch on it, and it was locked!!! stupid mistake lol)
 
Last edited:
Oh, yeah. Lock switch is actually a good thing, but I find it rather useless even if someone steals it. All they do is flip a button.

Anyways, glad you got that sorted now :D
 
yeh it would be good with some biometrics built in or something, a little thumb scanner lol too big though maybe?
 
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