Problem Booting

[clarsax]

I have reproduced this problem with two different Gigabyte motherboards, first with an EP35C-DS3R and then with an EP45-UD3R.

I have three SATA drives attached and the computer boots fine. If I add a fourth SATA drive, none of the drives are recognized during POST. The computer then freezes as it can't find a drive with the OS (Windows XP SP3). If I press the start button on my Antec 192 case, the computer will shut off. If I then press the start button, the computer will recognize all the drives and boot just fine.

I have attempted to work through this problem by replacing the motherboard battery, replacing the motherboard, replacing the boot drive, and the fourth drive (WDC Caviar 1 TB). None of these switches has permanently the drive recognition problem.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

 

[SonnyDaze]

When you add the fourth drive does it show up in the BIOS as recognized?
Are the drive settings for your drives correct in the BIOS?

 

[clarsax]

SonnyDaze

When I do a cold boot with all four of the drives properly cabled, none is identified. After I shut it down and do a warm restart all four drives are properly identified.

All are then accessible in Windows, and Windows XP identifies all correctly as to model and capacity.

If only three drives are attached, the computer starts properly from a cold boot. The fourth drive has been replaced once, without changing the behavior of the four drive system.

What I have not done yet is to change which of the three drives are present as the three drive system, and whether adding a different hard drive as the fourth drive makes any difference in system behavior.

 

[VirtualLarry]

It sounds like your PSU is underpowered. That's a classic symptom of just too little power.

 

[clarsax]

VirtualLarry

I am using a Corsair HX650 PSU.
According to calculators I have seen on the Net, a 500 W PSU should be more than enough.

That being said, why does a cold boot fail, but a reboot works fine?

 

[fffblackmage]

How old is it?

I had an old Enermax PSU (350W, I think?) that had the same problem - doesn't like cold boots, but reboots are ok (when I do manage to get it to boot). Seeing how I used the PSU for at least 5 years, I thought it might just be showing it's age and replaced it.

 

[SonnyDaze]

It sounds like your PSU is underpowered. That's a classic symptom of just too little power.

Good point. Adding that fourth drive might be just enough to underpower that PSU.

Is your system overclocked at all? That could add stress to the PSU and the system. If so, put it back to stock and try the fourth drive.

I had a Q9400 on a UD3R that was overclocked and once in a while it would exhibit the same symptoms. A notch up in the CPU voltage cured it.

 

[clarsax]

The present PSU is actually the third one associated with this computer. The last two PSU (HX650) were new.
I attached as a 4th drive an IDE HD last night without any problem. I am actually thinking the problem may be in one of the drives that I have not swapped out (one is an older Maxtor 250 GB drive).

 

[clarsax]

To All,

Thanks for your suggestions. My best guess is that the problem resided in the Maxtor SATA hard drive. It had been partitioned in three primary partitions. Ultimately, the first partition on the drive became corrupted and caused the drive not be recognized on a cold start; Windows did not recognize that partition any more.

When I disconnected that drive, all went well. Of course, I have been working to recover the files on the drive and for that I have high praise for MiniTool Power Data Recovery Free - a great utility.

 

[mfenn]

To All,

Thanks for your suggestions. My best guess is that the problem resided in the Maxtor SATA hard drive. It had been partitioned in three primary partitions. Ultimately, the first partition on the drive became corrupted and caused the drive not be recognized on a cold start; Windows did not recognize that partition any more.

When I disconnected that drive, all went well. Of course, I have been working to recover the files on the drive and for that I have high praise for MiniTool Power Data Recovery Free - a great utility.

:thumbsup: Glad you were able to get it working!