PC blues =(

TMOA · 08-14-2007, 01:48 PM

Hey all,
Long time no post, been dealing with a odd issue , and hopefully you all can help me.
I recently had a power failure at my house and upon rebooting and loading the game i was playing the PC locked up and went into a boot/blue screen loop. Eventually i just decided to format, and well the sata drive just wouldn't operate right.

I eventually got the PC up on a 40g 5400rpm IDE drive I've had for years..

Anywho, i tried installing a new Seagate PATA 250gb and it would not reconize it in setup nor could I slave it in as the pc would not boot. I tried all my other HDD's and this 40gb is the only one that works ..lol

I've tested the PSU and it passed (using a PSU tester) and i know my SATA drive is either damaged or the sata 1 port got fried as it still works but has issues with some drivers and such (clicking not installing them etc).

Anyone have any ideas? Im due to get my new pc soon, but id like to still figure this issue out.

Ill be glad to answer any and all questions i can about this.

Thanks

Tag

evilsofa · 08-14-2007, 02:13 PM

I would suspect the motherboard got slightly fried.

You could try flashing the latest BIOS update for the motherboard. It's possible that the portion of BIOS that covers all but IDE drives got corrupted. But be prepared to have a non-working motherboard after that if the BIOS update fails, in case the BIOS itself has physical damage.

What CD/DVD drives do you have, IDE/PATA/SATA? Do they work right? Do you have a second SATA port that does work right?

TMOA · 08-14-2007, 02:29 PM

Hey sofa =)
I use a Maddog Multi DVD drive (ide) it works fine. I have 3 other SATA channels i could try, but could the SATA port really cause the HDD to click like it is? (it passed both the short and long WD diag tests. The media test found errors and fixed them.

I can try another port and see of it changes how it behaves. Can you swap sata cables while the pc is on? I know it sounds dumb but i have heard of hot swapable sata not gonna try it till i see your response..lol)(i use the WD cable that covers the sata power part as my only sata power plug is on my Vid card line)

As far as the bios goes im really worried...lol I dont want it to fail and then im out a pc for however long..lol. Ill try the sata and let ya know .

rhagz · 08-14-2007, 02:33 PM

If you aren't sure if it supports hotswapping, then don't. How long does it take to power down, switch ports and reboot? Just try that.

TMOA · 08-14-2007, 02:53 PM

Im responding on my sata drive O_O
I swapped it to SATA 3 and it would not boot, tried SATA 2 and boom, no wierd noise, both my audio and video drivers installed without a hitch and here i am posting ....is it really this simple?

one thing that scared me tho is after the reboot when the windows logon music played it was messed up a bit, like it would play and then a part wiuld cut out etc...bad card?

rhagz · 08-14-2007, 02:59 PM

Using onboard sound?

Sounds like your SATA port got fried. I believe they are linked, one controller can handle 2 drives.. so that chip probably got burnt.

If you have onboard sound it could have been toasted too, resulting in bad playback. Check your cable connections and if it's an add-on card make sure you didn't jiggle it loose from the PCI slot.

Failing that try other sounds, mp3s movies and/or games and see. Could have just been a one time glitch.

TMOA · 08-14-2007, 03:00 PM

Ok so if sata 1 got fried. Then that explaines why 2 worked and 3 didnt since 1,3 are possibly linked. (thats the one im on)

I will test a m3 let ya know how it goes =)

rhagz · 08-14-2007, 03:02 PM

Depends on how they set it up. They don't always have 1+2 and 3+4 being linked. Sometimes it is 1+3 and 2+4. Lot of dual channel ram is set up this way.

TMOA · 08-14-2007, 03:23 PM

Well all is well so far, also the sound glitch went away =)

Ill keep ya posted on progress. =)

Thanks guys i woulda never thought of that simple test...lol

evilsofa · 08-14-2007, 03:56 PM

Two more things that occur to me that can cause all manner of odd behavior:

1. Run a RAM test like Memtest86+ 1.70 on the off chance that your RAM got a bit fried too.

2. Does your CMOS battery need changing? This is a common problem on old motherboards. It could even explain the odd behavior if it was without power for awhile.