Computer keeps losing it's OS

[jyates]

Okay my computer guru friends!

A friend brought over a barbie machine looking microatx
system and wanted me to take a look at it.

It has a tekram flex atx mb in it and a 20gb hard drive
and 192mb of sdram.

The splashscreen says "SunCheer" on post.

I found that the hard drive had to be partitioned (no partitions defined when I checked it)
and formatted and I installed Windows 98SE.

Got windows loaded and shut the computer down and put it to the side for a few minutes
while I looked at another system and plugged it up and get the old "non system disc"
when it tried to boot from the hard drive. I did the fdisk command and it showed
"no partitions defined"......so I partitioned and formatted and loaded windows again
and this time it ran fine for a couple of hours and several reboots and cold boots and
eventually "no system disc" when it tried to boot.

I've seen this before where a person had too many devices on the power circuit
but I know that's not it in this case.

1. Bad hard drive?
2. Bad power supply?

Any other ideas of what would "erase" the hard drive or "remove the partition" in this case?

Thanks in advance for any and all help.

Jim

 

[Chainzsaw]

Does the HD make any funny sounds?

Was that system upgraded?

It may just be both, the HD crapping out AND a weak power supply...

Whats the specs?

Need more info...

 

[jyates]

Originally posted by: Chainzsaw
Does the HD make any funny sounds?

Was that system upgraded?

It may just be both, the HD crapping out AND a weak power supply...

Whats the specs?

Need more info...

No hard drive noises that I hear......

It's a Tekram flex atx motherboard with a celeron 700 socket 370
chip on it with 192mb of sdram.

It looks like one of those little plastic barbie cases.

I'm going to hook up a good quality ATX power supply to
it and see if it will retain the windows install.

This will make the 3rd time I've installed windows on it since yesterday
evening!

 

[jyates]

ttt

 

[jyates]

ttt

 

[thorin]

OMG I was gonna reply but then when I saw all the impatient ttts (mutliple within the day ..... actually within half a day WTF?) I decided not to.

GL,
Thorin

 

[jyates]

Originally posted by: thorin
OMG I was gonna reply but then when I saw all the impatient ttts (mutliple within the day ..... actually within half a day WTF?) I decided not to.

GL,
Thorin

Unless I'm wrong, you can bump your own threads every 4 hours.
If this breaks your rules sorry about that and you can keep your
help to yourself.

I only hope that I can be so gracious to you when you are having
a problem also.

Nice attitude there Mr. Elite member.

 

[thorin]

Originally posted by: jyates

Originally posted by: thorin
OMG I was gonna reply but then when I saw all the impatient ttts (mutliple within the day ..... actually within half a day WTF?) I decided not to.

GL,
Thorin

Unless I'm wrong, you can bump your own threads every 4 hours.

You "can" do whatever you like, posting flood control probably only keeps you from posting twice in 30 or 60 seconds. Just because you "can" do something doesn't mean you "should".

If this breaks your rules sorry about that and you can keep your
help to yourself.

I believe I did, but thank for your uh....permission er whatever.

I only hope that I can be so gracious to you when you are having a problem also.

Hopefully.

Nice attitude there Mr. Elite member.

Thanks. It's not like I wished you never found an answer or anything it was simply a statement on "netiquette'.

Thorin

 

[jyates]

Mods,
It appears that Thorin has decided to try and teach me some kind of posting
manners by abandoning posting manners himself and has wrecked my
post.

I was looking for some helpful suggestions and what I got was a posting cop
with an attitude.

This I do not need.

Thanks,
Jim

 

[ScrapSilicon]

I'm inclined to believe

1. Bad hard drive?
2. Bad power supply?

Any other ideas of what would "erase" the hard drive or "remove the partition" in this case?

its either the harddrive(test in another rig/run the manufacturer's diagnostics) or that mobo..gl

 

[zodder]

Play nice

 

[jyates]

Originally posted by: zodder
Play nice

I know how to play......the "Elite" member apparently doesn't.

Thanks for the tip there ScrapSilicon, I'll pop it on the workbench
and try a good power supply and see if the hard drive will retain
it's "memory".

What testing I've done on the HD has shown no problems in the least.

Thanks,
Jim

 

[Trey22]

Originally posted by: thorin
OMG I was gonna reply but then when I saw all the impatient ttts (mutliple within the day ..... actually within half a day WTF?) I decided not to.

GL,
Thorin

Calm down son. Maybe he was just anxious to get this resolved. It happens to everyone (wanting to knock down a problem ASAP). Regardless, no rules were broken, and impatience isn't a crime.

 

[stevty2889]

Sounds like a good chance you have a boot sector virus. Use Fdisk to delete the partition, and then do a format /mbr to re-write the master boot record.

 

[jyates]

Thanks for the tip.....I didn't think of that at all! I had a laptop do this to me a couple
of years ago.

I'll keep you helpful guys posted for sure!

 

[tkistre]

I built a PC once for someone with a Seagate 10GB hard drive in it. A few days after delivery, it did the same thing you are going through. After 3 Windows98 reloads within two months, I couldn't figure out why it kept happening, but I felt it must be the hard drive. I ran two different manufacture's diagnostic software on it and they claimed it was fine. I replaced the drive anyway, and it has been running for the last 3-4 years with no problems again. Good luck!

 

[thorin]

Originally posted by: Trey22

Originally posted by: thorin
OMG I was gonna reply but then when I saw all the impatient ttts (mutliple within the day ..... actually within half a day WTF?) I decided not to.

GL,
Thorin

Calm down son. Maybe he was just anxious to get this resolved. It happens to everyone (wanting to knock down a problem ASAP). Regardless, no rules were broken, and impatience isn't a crime.

Whatever gramps (since we're making assumptions about age and using references that we have NFC about). No one said it was a crime to bump a thread, I was simply trying to impress upon the OP that perhaps they could/should give their thread a chance to at least get close to leaving the front page before bumping it needlessly. It wasn't as if people were missing his thread it had plenty of views at the time just not many replies, therefore bumping it just serves to annoy people who have already read it and decided not to reply for one reason or another. Not to mention demonstrating a huge amount of impatience when seeking free advice (as if anyone here owes them anything).

Thorin

 

[jyates]

Originally posted by: thorin

Originally posted by: Trey22

Originally posted by: thorin
OMG I was gonna reply but then when I saw all the impatient ttts (mutliple within the day ..... actually within half a day WTF?) I decided not to.

GL,
Thorin

Calm down son. Maybe he was just anxious to get this resolved. It happens to everyone (wanting to knock down a problem ASAP). Regardless, no rules were broken, and impatience isn't a crime.

Whatever gramps (since we're making assumptions about age and using references that we have NFC about). No one said it was a crime to bump a thread, I was simply trying to impress upon the OP that perhaps they could/should give their thread a chance to at least get close to leaving the front page before bumping it needlessly. It wasn't as if people were missing his thread it had plenty of views at the time just not many replies, therefore bumping it just serves to annoy people who have already read it and decided not to reply for one reason or another. Not to mention demonstrating a huge amount of impatience when seeking free advice (as if anyone here owes them anything).

Thorin

Thorin,

My friend,

If someone bumping a thread every 4 hours or longer annoys you maybe you need
to evaluate where this anger is coming from?

This is my thread and I'll decide how often I bump it (within AT rules) and if you don't like
it you can turn your computer off or ignore this thread or whatever else tickles you. But
be assured I will post as I please whether you like it or not.

Oh by the way.....I got your remarks via the PM yesterday but you had me blocked so I
couldn't reply to you......are you mad at me?

 

[thorin]

What anger?

No one suggested it wasn't your thread. No one suggested that you shouldn't bump your thread. No one suggested you shouldn't post (whether I like it or not :roll: ).

There's no room left in my PM box, it's full of things kept for reference that I haven't had time to remove or export yet.......sry to disappoint. And as I already said there's no anger so no I'm not mad at you. Should I be? Would you like me to be?

Edited to fix a smiley.

 

[ScrapSilicon]

Originally posted by: thorin
What anger?

No one suggested it wasn't your thread. No one suggested that you shouldn't bump your thread. No one suggested you shouldn't post (whether I like it or not ;roll; ).

There's no room left in my PM box, it's full of things kept for reference that I haven't had time to remove or export yet.......sry to disappoint. And as I already said there's no anger so no I'm not mad at you. Should I be? Would you like me to be?

ignore my pm to you thank you in advance