Two hard drives leading to same problem?

S

suki243

New Member
Well, over spring break I installed McAffee, big mistake, anyway, it slowed my system down like hell, then it required me to reboot about 20x after each update. I was like fine. Then after finishing all the updates it tells me that I have to reinstall all of it cause the last update was no good and it might be a virus or somthin. I was like ok. I ran internet antivirus and found one. I reinstall and this time after the first update I can't log into Windows. I am like wtf... after days of trying, no go. So I reformat. Ugh. It works for a few days but im starting to hint at hdd is dying, I hear clicks and extreme freezing and stuff. So a few days after the reformat it dies. O.k. I went to buy a new HDD, Reinstalled XP, etc... and then it works fine until about 3 days ago.
I could tell it felt a little slower but I just tried to ignore it. However, today I get a message saying to run chkdsk or somethin i couldn't read whether it said chkdsk or clndsk. it was like a yellow bubble thing on the left. Anyway, I assumed it was chkdsk, so i get my xp cd and log into windows recovery, type chkdsk and it says the following:"The volume appears to contain one or more unrecoverable problems."
I was like DAMMIT not again! So i try to get back into windows and the blue windows like nice looking chkdsk comes up. It says 21004,21005,21006,21007 are messed up or somethin then it deletes 32683,33096, replaces them, I log into windows. I restart windows and go back into chkdsk it says volume looks fine but pust /p to check anyway, i type it but nothin happens.
So My question is. Is this hdd gonna die on me too? Is it my Xp cd thats bad? I dont know, but I do know that reinstalln programs is a pain in da @ss. And if I have to reformat for the 4th time this month I'm not going to be a happy camper.
Thanks in advance for the help
 
I am only guessing at this but I think it maybe a power supply that is on its way out. A dip in power maybe causing could be causing windows to schedule a check disk because of dip in power would cause the HDD to slow down abit and windows to say Houston we have a problem here. Check the disk for errors. That's one guess. Another guess might be a memory problem. Try unseating memory sticks and then reseating them to clean the connections. I hope you figure it out because I never had this problem YET!.
 
If you are running multiple dimms try running each separately or memtest to see if there are any errors found. If the power isn't dropping you could simply have a bad cable. Try air cleaning everything out and throwing a different cable in there to see if that's the problem. I doubt if both drives are failing with one being new. But if you have had a good number of hard shutdowns the first may have develeoped bad sectors.
 
well, the first one was fine until I attempted to install McAffee, then it didn't let me log into windows any more, I reformatted and it all went downhill after that. It then started to make clicking sounds and people said it was dead, so I got a new one and now this happens. Today, my computer is totally messed up, i went to turn it on today nothing. I tried to run chkdsk and it says one or more errors was found and they are unfixable. In terms of memory, the memmory worked fine before.

About watts, I have noticed that in asus's utility manager thing it would give me this blinking type of thing indicating that wattage dropped however that was 2 years ago and I simply dismissed it. I don't know what it was cause I dont have the program any more.

Baisically i'm starting to give up on the computer. It's been giving me a hard time for the last year, I am sick of reformatting every other week. I've gotten to the point to abandon this computer and go buy a laptop.
 
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As Pauly mentioned it could be a supply problem or a need to update the bios. Have you downloaded the last available updates for that model board? An overheating issue of some type would be another concern since no memory faults were discovered. Even the chipset or cpu is concern due to the age of the system. Utilities like SpeedFan and others if you don't have a hardware monitor in the bios itself would be a good idea at this point.
 
Before it went down for the first time I had flashed bios because of a sound card issue. If I were to do what you guys are saying, please give me steps.

1. reinstall xp?
2. flash bios?
3. wait?
 
Unless you are using a WinFlash utility you would simply download the latest update and use the manufacturer's flash utility from a boot floppy or even a bootable cd made up. The fact that all this started after you performed the bios update just before these problems started occuring suggests a possible partial if not bad flash of the bios at that time. A reflash with the latest available along with looking into an overheating problem are the main ideas to work with here.
 
I can retry reflashing but what I meant to say is that I had issues with sound when I installed the mother board so i had to flash bios (and to my knowledge it was successful), then over spring break I attempted to install McAfee and then it screwed up copy of windows so i had to reformatt, etc... How can I check if its overheating? when computer was running and I asked people about this issue the computer reported the temp in the cpu with not full but a medium amount of work as 41 C
I might be considering the power because a few months before the hdd died the motherboard died, I previously thought it was because I found a loose screw at the bottom of the case, but I dont know.
 
I think it may be a power issue also, that sounds about correct- my Windows, with my old 430watt, would repeatedely tell me to check things, cuz they werent getting enough power.
 
I think we are getting some where now. A good bios flash is a very good idea. A new power supply will cost but can always be used on a new build if you decide to go that way. I would have a blast trying to figure this out. A good problem keeps my hobby alive. Fixing these things are where it's at. The choice is yours. Hope you get to the bottom of this. Good luck!!
 
The fastener could have been dropped at anytime without ever touching any of the solder points or contacts with the board and just sat at the bottom of the case. I've seen that happen.. I'm just wondering if the board is grounding out to the chassis in some way. That will pull things right down. A good visual look over of the board to see if you have any bulged out or leaking caps is another idea to consider. Then you could have bad cap in the supply as well. These are just a few other ideas to throw your way.
 
Just to give you guys more information, the psu is 500w so its enough I believe. I moved my moniter downstairs to use on my other computer so as soon as I take it up I will re-flash bios. and then see if i will be able to long into windows. If not then I'll try to reformat.

I'll try to post some pics of te board I have yet to see any bursted caps.
 
If its a new 500watt, then it should be fine, but if you have used it for a long time, say a year (or even less), then it may be failing.
 
When was the last time you blasted the dust and dirt out of the case? If you have a ton of crap built up inside that be causing a few things. Supplies also get loaded with dust and dirt from sitting around unused. In order to see any leaks or bulged caps you have to get in there with a small magnifying glass and something like a pen light to have a close look over the board. Another thought of coarse would be the chipset itself if the update and reformat of the drive still fails.
 
Speaking of power supplies I hope that I didn't jinx myself but, just the other night I gave my daughter one of my computers to replace an old Dell she had. I built it about a year ago. She surfed the net and played a few games on it. Then took it home. The next day she calls and tells me that she connected everything and when she pushes the on button nothing happens. I told her that she has got to plug it in. Well I went over to check it out thinking when she took it home she maybe accidently turned off the switch on the power supply. Everything was connected right and the switch was on. The power light on the mob was on. I pushed the on button and nothing. I took it home with me and checked to make sure the leads from the switch were connected and that the switch worked. It was either the mob or the power supply. I had a spare power supply laying around so I took hers out and put in an older one. Well it took off like a computer with a new power supply. In my case it up and died but they usually show signs of falling. A power supply that is on its way out can cause alot of weird things to happen. The one that died was only 1 year old.
 
Power supplies don't always give you indications of being ready to quit though. I've seen bite the dust when you go to powerup and "nothing happens". Often it depends on who made it and how it was built. I've seen some 10yr. old supplies r.i.p. without any warning. Gee my first Antec 300w to replace some AST piece of 250w still hangs around here somewhere.
 
Well I have built alot of computers but I am still learning. Today I recieved my new 500 watt power supply and power supply tester. With the responses to this thread I have learned a about something that I was only guessing at. I hope that the problem with the hard drives is found. I still have a lot to learn and on forum is where I can that knowledge.
 
Well when you have a problem with a build a forum like this is the place to come. This is about the best I've seen to date where everyone tries to offer some good advice rather then slamming each other. In this field there is always one more thing learn no matter how long you have been it. Somebody comes out with something new and that can leave you stumped at times.
 
I am glad that I found this place because I know I will always be able to get help when I need it.
 
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