Hard Drive

[robgood]

Hi

 

Over the last few months I have had the ocassional problem booting into windows.

 

Example: Use pc of an evening, shut down as normal. Next day, switch pc on and the screen is just black.

 

I can hear a noise when the hard drive starts and then stops. It keeps doing this.

 

I replaced the hard drive 3 weeks ago thinking it was at fault, but the new one has done similar.

 

Any suggestions much appreciated.

Rob

 

Windows xp home

Intel core 2 quad processor

Nvidia p5n-mx motherboard

2gig ram

[Plastic Nev]

Hi Rob, there are many different reasons for this sort of problem, so lets start with the basic, it may just be a poor connection somewhere so considering you have already replaced the hard drive you know the innards. Simply disconnect and then replace each connector to the motherboard checking that it does go back on fully, similarly all connections at the other end of cables, such as to the hard drive, the CD/DVD drives etc. This also should be done with the RAM sticks but leave the processor alone, too easy to damage or bend the pins on that. Do each connection one at a time to avoid placing one in the wrong place. It can be surprising how often this cures so many problems, just by pulling a plug out and replacing it will actually clean off oxide build up that can get between pins and the socket they go in to.

Let us know how you get on, and if that alone has cured the problem.

Nev.

[Dalo Harkin]

Also check that you are not using any Molex splitters (to the HDD anyway) as these can cause issues.

 

As Nev has said check the basics, all wires, replace HDD cables if you can, check the settings on the back of the HDD (master/slave etc) 1.5/3.0 for SATA

make sure that if you are using SATA that the new drive is plugged into SATA 1 on the MOBO and that it matches in the BIOS as the 1st boot device.

 

If you need any more help then let us know

[robgood]

Thanks for your help.

 

With my old hard drive installed, I started the pc and got the following message:

 

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt. windows root/system32/hal.dll

 

I looked this up on the internet and tried everything suggested without any luck and also did all that was suggested by yourselves, so I have now removed this hard drive and replaced with new one. Upon startup, I deleted the partition, (as I had used it previously) created a new one and installed a fresh version of windows.

 

After updating windows from windows update, I will load just a couple of programmes that I use regularly for work and see how it goes. If situation arises again, I will post on here.

 

Thanks

Rob