[JTFL]

Hi

My PC often freezes and then refuses to start up again, and the problem seems to be connected to the hard drives.

I have two HDDs (as below). After a crash, I notice that the BIOS often fails to recognise one of them (or rather, it recognises it, but describes it as having 0GB). If I then turn the PC off, unplug the drive, and plug it in again, that usually fixes the problem (at least for a while).

I've tried scanning and defragging the disks, as well as other things (e.g. cleaning the registry, updating drivers etc). but it hasn't helped. Adding a further 1 GB of RAM helped for about a month, but then the magic wore off.

I don't understand why unplugging and re-attaching the drive when the computer is off should help. Is it a dodgy connection? Any ideas would be really welcome!

Thanks!
Jamie


Advent T9202
CPU: Intel Pentium 4 550J (3.4 GHz)
Motherboard: MS 7046
Memory: 2GB DDR RAM - (2x 512 MB - PC3200 and 1 x 1GB)
Hard Drives: 2 x Seagate ST3200822AS 200GB SATA
CD Drive: Artec DHM-G48 16X DVD-ROM Pioneer DVR-108DB DVDRW
Video Card: Radeon x1800 GTO
Sound Card: CMedia CMI9880L
Network Card: VIA Rhine III VT6105 Creatix 405 PCI 802.11g wireless

[Triple6]

I would download and run Seatools to test each of the two drives: http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/sup...loads/seatools

I would also recommend replacing the SATA cable to the drive that is experiencing the issue and if possible to use a different power connector from the power supply as well.

[JTFL]

Thanks Triple6. I've already tried SeaTools (and it tells me nothing is wrong - but then, given that I have managed to get the PC to boot so as to be able to run the scan, presumably at that point nothing is wrong).

I'll try replacing the cable and see if that helps.