WD hard drive reinitializing during boot sequence

[Jeff7]

That's about it. During the boot sequence, the hard drive suddenly reinitializes itself, locking the system. Strangely enough, the DVD and CD-RW drives in the system also reinitialize when the HD does. Is this drive ready to be sent back to WD for a replacement? It is still under warranty.

 

[Jeff7]

Or could it be from inadequate power? I have a 300W Deer PSU. System list:
Shuttle AK35GTR - KT266A
T-bird 750
256MB DDR RAM
GF2 Ti 64MB
NIC
Onboard sound
TV tuner
30GB WD hard drive
8.4GB WD hard drive
16x DVD-ROM
8x8x24 CD-RW

Could that be the problem? Time for a more powerful PSU?


Hmm, perhaps not. Just tested that theory. I disconnected the CD drives and the 8.4GB HD. It booted to Windows, then the 30GB reinitialized itself, locking the system. RMA time.

 

[Paulson]

Have you run the diagnostics program?

Then you can be for sure if it's the hard drive or not...

 

[Jeff7]

I downloaded their 192KB utility first. The basic test caused the drive to reinitialize, but still found no problems. The thorough test found no problems. I'm running the full Data Lifeguard test right now. It locked up the first time it tried to run because the drive reinitialized during the startup of the utility. Ok, now it has opened to the diagnostics portion. It's the same tests as I already ran. It just reinitialized too.

Ok, just hit "Quick test." As soon as it started, the drive clicked and reset itself. But for some reason, it finds no problems. I'm getting an RMA as soon as I can. Of course WD is closed Sundays, and will also be closed Monday. Grrr...

 

[Paulson]

does sound like a problem... you can RMA on their website... it'll be prolly 2 to 3 weeks before you get another drive back too, and most likely it will be referbished.

 

[Jeff7]

2 to 3 WEEKS????!? Holy crap! That's nuts! Do they ship you a drive first if you leave them your CC number? I know that Maxtor does that so that you can transfer your dying HD to a new one. Backing this one up would be touchy, because it seems sensitive to certain actions - booting Windows seems to be one of them. Spinrite did scan the drive successfully, so standard R/W actions (Ghosting perhaps) shouldn't be a problem. But initialization or direct firmware access seem to trigger the reinit process. I simply don't have anywhere to stick 20GB of stuff that really can't be replaced easily. I have the most critical stuff backed up to an 8.4GB drive, but I have nowhere else to put this stuff that I can think of.

 

[Paulson]

I shipped my hard drive on the 14th of January...

I recieved the drive on Feb. 7th...

That's a while...

I'm sure if you call em up and give them your credit card, they'll send one out while you send yours in...

 

[Jeff7]

Just got off the phone - spent only about 3 minutes on hold; the estimate said 8 minutes, so I can't complain there. The guy was friendly and easy to understand. They have to plans; standard is user sends dead HD, they send new one. Advanced plan is, give them CC number, they send drive; then you have 30 days to send them dead drive or they charge your CC. I did the advanced plan; they said it should be here in 5-7 days. Overall, that was pretty easy to get an RMA on it. I just hope the dying drive holds up long enough to get the data off of it.