I've had two systems in the past couple of months with 40gb drives that had
the same problems....one moment the drive is found, next time it's not.

In each case, the drives could not complete a scandisk from DOS or XP --
drives had bad sectors making the computer incapable at times of
auto-sensing their size.

In one case, the drive was making the "klunking" sound of drive heads
slamming down or against the side of the drive -- drives needed to be
replaced.

Can you complete check or scandisk without hanging at X%  ?

Does the drive sound different from what you remembered when it was working?

--gary tennesen
[log in to unmask]

p.s.  you should go to your drive's manufacture website and see if they have
any diagnostic software and look up your warranty for free replacement.




----- Original Message -----
From: "John Brooks" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, May 14, 2004 6:58 PM
Subject: Re: [PCBUILD] PC not booting properly


> Thanks for the two responses I received. Unfortunately they didn't solve
my problem.
> After my original post the computer worked with no problems for 5 days,
but today when it wouldn't boot up for a period of about two hours. At the
moment it is working.
> The boot order is CD, Floppy, then HD.
> Replacing the battery made no difference.
>
> One thing that puzzles me about this is that the PC doesn't seem to crash,
shut down, or hang up. Instead it just seems to be operating but for some
reason the boot process doesn't advance. I have also had two times when it
quit working after Windows was loaded and working.
>
> I am convinced that the problem is not related to the Windows OS because
at times it will not even get as far along in the boot process as looking
for a bootable CD or an operating system. Instead it shows the "Compaq
Screen" for several minutes and the reboots itself. At other times it may
start to load Windows and seems to be busy and doesn't gets beyond the
WindowsXP Splash Screen. This splash screen shows the Windows Logo with a
small bar type indicator that is constantly showing a motion from left to
right but it doesn't  go beyond this point.
>
> It acts as if it is working slooowly. Is it possible that the processor is
slowing down? That may sound crazy but that is the impression I get.
>
> Another thought I have is some sort of a power supply problem. Can I check
the power supply with an old inexpensive VOM meter? Probably not since I
don't know what the proper voltages would be.
>
> Any thoughts on the subject would be appreciated.
>
> John Brooks
> [log in to unmask]
>
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