Massive Problems

[Cpt. Ford]

Ok let me begin with an apology to everyone if my questions have already been answered it would greatly be approached if you would just link me to a spot it the answer is already there, though I did try the search but it didn't provide any help.

OK so here we go...

My computer has started to make "scratching" or "skipping" sounds on start up, is this a HDD that is dieing or something worse? I've checked my fans and they are all in good condition and work properly.

I thought I found the problem drive so I reinstalled my OS to the other drive. When I attempted to take the "problem" drive out, on boot a message appeared saying "NTLDR is missing". How can I avoid this and just get the computer to boot?

Also when both drives are in the computer, a part of the boot sequence appears asking which OS to boot, is their anyway to remove this as the "problem" drive has been formatted and there are no "visible" files on it but yet it still thinks there’s an OS on the drive.

All of these problems make the computer extremely difficult to start on a cold start up. I spend 5-10 minutes restarting the compute each day because it hangs up half way through the boot sequence.

Thanks for any help you can give, and I apologize again for any repeat of questions and the length of my post.

PS: System Specs
Windows XP Pro
WinFast K7S
AMD Athlon XP 2600+ 1.92 GHz, 1.25 GB of RAM
Nvidia GeForce 6600 GT OC (currently not installed)
2 Maxtor 6E040L0 40 GB HDD's

[d0min8or]

Re: Massive Problems

the noise is probably a dieing hdd or power supply....those would be the 2 obvious noise makers.....so if you narrowed it to the hdd here is what i would do.

1. remove the old drive completely.....this can be tricky esp. if you have files on there that you need. Hopefully you regularly back-up your system and this will be of minimal impact.
2. the 'other' drive (i'm assuming that you have a master/slave set-up) adjust the jumpers on the drive so that the system identifies it as the master drive (probably what was causing the initial issue with the ntldr)
3. fresh install the OS (format the drive).
4. get a new drive to make as your 'other' drive. I have 4 in my tower...but i also have a My Book external...lots o' storage space, cheap, good back-up drive...
5. good luck...hopefully you know how to do all the above...if not PM me and i can walk you thru it.

[megawhompertoo]

Re: Massive Problems

the noise is probably a dieing hdd or power supply....those would be the 2 obvious noise makers.....so if you narrowed it to the hdd here is what i would do.

1. remove the old drive completely.....this can be tricky esp. if you have files on there that you need. Hopefully you regularly back-up your system and this will be of minimal impact.
2. the 'other' drive (i'm assuming that you have a master/slave set-up) adjust the jumpers on the drive so that the system identifies it as the master drive (probably what was causing the initial issue with the ntldr)
3. fresh install the OS (format the drive).
4. get a new drive to make as your 'other' drive. I have 4 in my tower...but i also have a My Book external...lots o' storage space, cheap, good back-up drive...
5. good luck...hopefully you know how to do all the above...if not PM me and i can walk you thru it.

all those are good suggestions. also, you may not have your current hd enabled as a boot device in your bios.

[Cpt. Ford]

Re: Massive Problems

Thanks for the help so far. I have yet to fix the problem as now I have come to suspect d0min8or's other thought of the power supply. I took out the "problem" harddrive and rebooted only to find the sound had come back. I then the other out and replaced it with the "problem" drive and the sound continued. I figured that the power supply must be bad after reading d0min8or's post as it was my only other option. I figured that initially the sound went away because the load was no longer as high when one of the drives were out, so I disconnected both my ROM drives and now the sound is gone.

I kind of figured it was something to do with power because when ever I opened a large application ie. BF2 or multiple windows and smaller apps the computer would crash or the graphics would go screwy.

So thanks again for the help, I'll be back to tell you how its going when I can get my hands on a new psus.

~Cpt. Ford

[kulamonster3]

Re: Massive Problems

You can buy a cheap PSU tester and save yourself 200-300 bucks on a new PSU, if you are not 100% sure its the PSU. Also its is not unusual for dual HDD failure....I have had it happen on 3 machines with both HDDs went at the same time or with in days of each other.

You can download HDD tester from majorgeeks.com or download PCcheck which will check all your hardware

good luck

[Cpt. Ford]

Re: Massive Problems

Well I stolen an old 250w PSU out of a P3 thats been sitting in the basement for a few years and I don't seem to be having any problems, though I am only able to run the two HDD's and the mother board. Thanks for the help guys!

~Cpt. Ford