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New SATA drive causing problems *Solved was Y cable not SATA*

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Danadcorps

Member
I have an Asus A7n8x Deluxe Mobo, 2x512mb ram, AMD XP 2800+, Saphire (128 or 256...don't remember)mb ATI Radeon Vid card, Netgear Wireless card, 2xide hd's (160gb and 300gb), 1xSATA hd (Seagate 320gb) with w partitions (one with XP Home) and the other with 270gb of space, a dvd-rw, and a cd-rw. Btw, the wireless is disabled in network connections.

This was all working perfectly well until I put in a new SATA drive (same exact model as the other SATA). First problem happened when I formatted it. I left it on for the night and when i woke, the comp was frozen on my screen saver. Rebooted and XP wanted to check the disks, I let it and it went to the "Windows is loading" screen (not the one with the logo) where my hd clicked and the comp immediately frooze.

Rebooted and tried it without letting it scan the disk. it worked.
Tried again doing the same thing. Click and freeze. (same procedure 2 diff results...wtf?)
Tried it again but this time i made the mouse active while it was loading and it worked (honestly didn't think this would work). *Note Hd did click at the loading screen. Went to the bathroom and when i came back, froze on my screen saver.
Tried it again using same procedure (minus the bathroom trip) and it worked again. HD did click at the normal time. Properties->tools->error-checking (of the new hd). Clicked and made the powering-up sound (twice separated by about a few minutes). Error-checking still going will report results when its done.

What could be the underlying problem?

update:
K well when i came back to check it out, the screen was frozen at the end of the checker (just said that it was finished).
Tried rebooting ->click n freeze
Tried rebooting without the new SATA->click n freeze
**what would cause the original fully functioning hard drive to start clicking and freezing?
Tried rebooting without the new SATA->click->move mouse->started up

The clicking noise occurs after the checkdisk(on windows startup) when the screen is baby blue saying it is starting windows.
 
I am guessing that you are talking about the old SATA drive. Goddamnit. Would that also explain why it transfers files normally to one of my ide's but can't transfer anything at all to the other ide? would it also explain why its clicking and making the powering on noise every couple of seconds right now (I'm burning everything from the drive to DVD's as I speak).

Would SeaTools help fix it or do I just need to send it in RMA-style?
 
This was all working perfectly well until I put in a new SATA drive (same exact model as the other SATA).
Click to expand...
Seriously, why would you think it was the old drive when the problems happened after you installed the new drive?
You say the drives are the same. Look at the drives manfg numbers. Is one SATA1 and the other SATA2? If so, you may need to change your thinking?
 
I thought it was the old drive because of the following:
1. The same issue happened previously when I had 2 SATA's in RAID 0 (one of which was the "old drive"). I RMA's the other drive and the "new drive" (the one from Seagate) is the one I just put in.
2. The "new drive" is not even connected to the system right now and I am still having these issues. The clicking followed by a powering up noise is still occuring. It has frozen at the exact same position described above. However, right now it is working (thank god I have time to transfer all my files now!) but is continuously clicking and making the powering up noise (very disconcerting and annoying).

I will take out both drives to check out the manfg numbers. As for if they are SATA1 or 2, they are both SATA2 but I put the jumpers to handle SATA1 (my mobo doesn't support SATA2...its old).

I will put my two ide's in my bro's system to make sure they are working properly (pretty sure they are but the whole issue with not being able to transfer files from the 160 to any other drive is pretty disconcerting) and are not the ones clicking.
I will test the "old drive" by itself to see if it continues to click and freeze.

Update1** While transfering files I noticed something strange so I ran a little test:
Tested transfer rates from each drive to the next (drives in test: 160ide, 300 ide, 320 sata) Everything involving the 160ide took 20mins and the rest (300 to SATA and reverse) took 1 min. Could the 160ide be problematic as well? As i said before I will try to test the ide's on my bro's computer tomorrow.

Update2** K, well I started it up with the "new drive" alone. It went through the scandisk thinger at the beginning and went through to windows just fine. No clicking, no freezing yet. I'm going use it like this and try multiple restarts throughout the day. After that i'll add the "new drive" and see how that is. I'll keep adding a drive leaving the 160ide for last (the one i suspect of foul play).
 
haha took me a second to get that 🙂 It made me chuckle.

Well after using the "old drive" for a few hours and it working perfectly I have come to the conclusion that it is fine.
I also added in the "new drive" and once again, no issues so far. I think the problem lies either with the 160ide itself or with my power supply (when i took out the molex for the 160, one of the pins for the molex was stuck in the 160). My powersupply is a Coolmax V-500 (was free after rebate) **EDIT** Holy sh*t this thing got HORRIBLE reviews.

If any of these symptoms are indicative of a power supply problem, could you guys give me a recommendation? I was looking at the OCZ StealthXStream 600 from tigerdirect. The 6 molex and 3 sata's would be the exact amount of connectors needed (no need for the two Y cables I have right now)

**Edit** K well I think I've narrowed it down to a faulty Y cable. Tested with both SATA's ->fine for over 2 days. Tested it with the ides(one at a time on the faulty Y cable)->stalled at Windows startup. Tested 300gb ide without the Y cable -> works (hasn't stalled yet at all). Going to test the 160 ide without the Y cable.

Works fine. Good thing my new Power supply is coming this week (has enough connections so i don't need the Y cables).
 
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