Pc just quit completely

desura

Diamond Member
Mar 22, 2013
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129
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One of my hard drives is going bad so I've been starting and restarting my computer to try to get a diag tool to try and fix it.

Well, the last time I did this, it got to sea tools and said that it could not see any drives. I turned off the power of the computer.

Now, nothing is showing up. Monitor says no input. Keyboard does not light up. Fans spin up.

What is going on?
 

master_shake_

Diamond Member
May 22, 2012
6,425
292
121
disconnect the hard drive it may have halted your computer.

or your power supply has gone bad

could be a voltage issue on the 5 or 12 volt lines.
 

UsandThem

Elite Member
May 4, 2000
16,068
7,383
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Could also be a motherboard issue.

Could you list your system specs and how long you have had it?

When did the problem start?

What did you do to determine it was one of your hard drives going out?
 

desura

Diamond Member
Mar 22, 2013
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Could also be a motherboard issue.

Could you list your system specs and how long you have had it?

When did the problem start?

What did you do to determine it was one of your hard drives going out?

Msi motherboard, matx
Ivy bridge cpu
Nvidia 750ti.
3tb hard drive is main

I ran chkdsk on it all last night. It was stuck on 19% for the longest time but it completed in the morning. When I run certain programs which access certain sectors they freeze up badly. Sea tools on Windows also indicated an error, and said I could try running sea tools dos, and this is where I ran into the problem.

I recently replaced the psu so I do not think that is it. I did open the case today so I may have inadvertently shocked the mb. The mb is older and I have suspected it before, but it has run fine for the past year or so.
 
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UsandThem

Elite Member
May 4, 2000
16,068
7,383
146
Do you have another hard drive you could put in to rule out the motherboard as the issue?

If your first drive is truly dying, it might last long enough where you could clone it or at least get your files.

So to clarify, right now with your drive still connected, you can't even get into the BIOS?
 

desura

Diamond Member
Mar 22, 2013
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Well, it works again.

I shut off all power, disconnected power cord, unplugged the CMOS battery for five minutes. Put it all back together and it works again.
 

UsandThem

Elite Member
May 4, 2000
16,068
7,383
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Well, it works again.

I shut off all power, disconnected power cord, unplugged the CMOS battery for five minutes. Put it all back together and it works again.

Make sure to back-up any data you need from that drive. Something in your computer is probably on the fritz, and the next time it might not come back.
 

desura

Diamond Member
Mar 22, 2013
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Make sure to back-up any data you need from that drive. Something in your computer is probably on the fritz, and the next time it might not come back.

Thanks.

The problem I run into is that when OS's encounter bad sectors, they get obsessed with getting the data off of them...for hours. Why isn't there a program which quickly moves past bad sectors?
 

UsandThem

Elite Member
May 4, 2000
16,068
7,383
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Thanks.

The problem I run into is that when OS's encounter bad sectors, they get obsessed with getting the data off of them...for hours. Why isn't there a program which quickly moves past bad sectors?

Yeah, it just comes down to what exactly is going on with the hard drive. Your drive could have so many it is throwing off chkdsk. It could be a mechanical issue, physical sectors, logical sectors, or any combination.

It sounds like it is time to take the old drive out to a field of alfalfa and bunnies, and shoot it in the back of the head.

I am old and that last part was a reference to the book 'Of Mice and Men'. ;)
 

desura

Diamond Member
Mar 22, 2013
4,627
129
101
Yeah, it just comes down to what exactly is going on with the hard drive. Your drive could have so many it is throwing off chkdsk. It could be a mechanical issue, physical sectors, logical sectors, or any combination.

It sounds like it is time to take the old drive out to a field of alfalfa and bunnies, and shoot it in the back of the head.

I am old and that last part was a reference to the book 'Of Mice and Men'. ;)

I can't believe my hard drive just up and quit on me!

No, really, the hard drive is only a few years old. And it still mostly works. Oh well, guess it's going to be a archival drive for a while.
 

piasabird

Lifer
Feb 6, 2002
17,168
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If the hard drive is bad it might also indicate a bad power supply. Hard drives are pretty cheap for a 1 tb drive.
 

UsandThem

Elite Member
May 4, 2000
16,068
7,383
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There is a reason why I see a lot of people not being big fans of Seagate. ;) The only new HDD I had die on me without warning was a Western Digital

Cut your loss and save your time: Get the data you need, RMA it if it still under warranty, and pick up an inexpensive SSD or HDD. Hopefully you will just be able to clone it before it fully goes out.

You just get to the point where you know the ship is going to sink. You can stay on the ship fruitlessly trying to plug the holes, or you can simply get into the life raft and say "screw it".
 

Torn Mind

Lifer
Nov 25, 2012
12,086
2,774
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Buy true enterprise level drives or budget two drives and a rigorous backup regiment.

Physical sectors on drives go bad, but the OS remaps them until there are no more spares to go around. If the drive is physically damaged though, the disk is damaged immediately and there is no way to remap the data.
 

desura

Diamond Member
Mar 22, 2013
4,627
129
101
Hmm, managed to update the firmware on the drive somehow and deleted the file which was getting the computer stuck. Had to restart into safe mode to get rid of that file.

Computer is really slow to boot up, and has been for a while.

I look forward to getting the class action settlement.
 

MongGrel

Lifer
Dec 3, 2013
38,466
3,067
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Hard drives made after the 2011 Thailand floods often seem to be of worse quality than those made before those floods.

I even had problem with Seagate drives way prior to that myself.

Maybe I was just unlucky.

Actually, I use only WD, for HDD's myself awhile now for storage, but they are always Blacks or some old RE3's that have held up for many years.
 
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desura

Diamond Member
Mar 22, 2013
4,627
129
101
So it seriously looks like the drive is fixed.

Like, it works great again.

This whole thing started when bittorrent would seize up and crash when downloading a certain file. That file wouldn't allow itself to be deleted either.

When I finally did delete it, and update the firmware on the hard drive, it all works fine again.

Explanation?
 

Torn Mind

Lifer
Nov 25, 2012
12,086
2,774
136
So it seriously looks like the drive is fixed.

Like, it works great again.

This whole thing started when bittorrent would seize up and crash when downloading a certain file. That file wouldn't allow itself to be deleted either.

When I finally did delete it, and update the firmware on the hard drive, it all works fine again.

Explanation?
Sounds like you got malware, you naughty boy. :sneaky: lol

Sometimes, a torrent download is laced with malware.