My hard drive takes two tries to boot - what's wrong?

[rwalterk]

Over the last two weeks my hard drive would not boot properly (Western Digital 80GB IDE Special Edition w/ 8MB Buffer). It was definitely getting power, but right when Windows started to load I would hear a click, then it would stop reacting altogether. It would freeze on the black Windows XP loading screen. Upon a reboot it would work fine, but then I'd get the message about Windows not being booted properly the prior time, etc.

After about two weeks of this it finally corrupted Windows enough to keep it from booting. I went out and bought a new Seagate SATA drive and successfully loaded Windows, but now this drive is doing the same thing. :frown:

Anyone have any ideas? Is this a power supply issue?

Here's my setup:
Antec 350W PS
Athlon XP 2700+
Asus A7N8X Deluxe
1GB Patriot PC 3200 RAM (2x512MB)
Geforce 6600GT AGP
Audigy 2
Seagate 160GB SATA Drive

 

[rwalterk]

Bump... anyone?

The new hard drive with a completely new installation of XP is doing the exact same thing. Upgraded the BIOS on my motherboard but no luck.

 

[boyRacer]

Do you have another power supply you can try?

 

[mOeeOm]

Originally posted by: rwalterk
Over the last two weeks my hard drive would not boot properly (Western Digital 80GB IDE Special Edition w/ 8MB Buffer). It was definitely getting power, but right when Windows started to load I would hear a click, then it would stop reacting altogether. It would freeze on the black Windows XP loading screen. Upon a reboot it would work fine, but then I'd get the message about Windows not being booted properly the prior time, etc.

After about two weeks of this it finally corrupted Windows enough to keep it from booting. I went out and bought a new Seagate SATA drive and successfully loaded Windows, but now this drive is doing the same thing. :frown:

Anyone have any ideas? Is this a power supply issue?

Here's my setup:
Antec 350W PS
Athlon XP 2700+
Asus A7N8X Deluxe
1GB Patriot PC 3200 RAM (2x512MB)
Geforce 6600GT AGP
Audigy 2
Seagate 160GB SATA Drive

If the 2nd HD is doing same thing, sounds like a bad PSU, but since its in antec....how long how have you had it?

 

[rwalterk]

The PS is about 2+ yrs old.

 

[Bozo Galora]

computers needing a warm reboot to get going are the classic sign of inadequate power on bootup
components get weaker with time, and/or you add newer or more advanced hardware, your 350W supply is now insufficient.
you may also have had power surges or failures along the way, which doesnt help things.

time for a new quality PSU, like 500+ watts honestly rated.

 

[jjsbasmt]

I've read, and have had this happen on a friends computer, that a defective IDE or SATA cable can be a possible cause this problem.

 

[rwalterk]

Originally posted by: Bozo Galora
computers needing a warm reboot to get going are the classic sign of inadequate power on bootup
components get weaker with time, and/or you add newer or more advanced hardware, your 350W supply is now insufficient.
you may also have had power surges or failures along the way, which doesnt help things.

time for a new quality PSU, like 500+ watts honestly rated.

That's my gut feeling too. I'm going to buy a new PS today and try it.

jjsbasmt - I'm pretty sure it's not the cable because it first happened with my IDE drive and now the identical problem is happening with my SATA drive.

 

[jjsbasmt]

Please let us know when the problem is resolved and the solution. I'm always willing to learn. Thanks rwalterk.

 

[rwalterk]

Sure enough, it was the power supply. I bought a new Antec Smartpower 400 and no more problems. Thanks everyone for the help.