HDD shutsdown machine at start up.

recently my machine decides to shut down as it is starting up. the farthest is gets is to the Windows XP startup screen. it's not a heat issue because it doesn't even have a chance to get warm. I proceeded to strip down all of the devices down to the motherboard. USB ports disconnected HDD, DVD, floppy drive.... everything out. the machine starts up fine. I can enter the BIOS and it doesn't shut down on it's own. now with only the HDD plugged in the machine shuts down on it's own. is there anyway to salvage the HDD or is it shot? it's a Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 200GB SATA drive.

any help out there?

 

no so fast there partner, windows could be screwed up with a virus or trojan, etc., just fixed one like that, it would get to XP login screen and reboot over and over again. d/l seatools and test the drive using a 1.44floppy or bootable cd, directions are on the site.

 

Will it allow you to boot into safe mode?

 

here's the weird part. I tried only connecting the power to the HDD. and it shuts down before I can even get to the BIOS.

 

can't get to safe mode.

 

Try a different power connector from the PSU to the drive.

 

Your Problem and My problem sound the same my friend. I can only add to this by saying that my CPU was fine and then I got the automatic windows update and I had to restart computer to finish install. Once the Reboot occurred, it got to the Black Windows XP loading screen and after a few seconds of loading, Reboot, process repeats, Reboot, Process repeats and so on.

 

mine doesn't automatically reboot...

 

I tried both SATA power connectors from the PSU. same results.

 

DID YOU TEST THE DRIVE WITH SEATOOLS?

 

http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?locale=en-US&name=Serial_ATA_(SATA)_Troubleshooter&vgnextoid=85a34a3cdde5c010VgnVCM100000dd04090aRCRD

 

so I tried the drive on a power supply on a machine in the office, and it didn't shut down the machine like it did mine. so I'm apt to say that there is something wrong with my power supply. maybe it just doesn't like the SATA. I don't know.

I didn't bring the SATA data cable so I couldn't read the drive. I just heard it spinning and not making any weird noises. tomorrow I'm going to try to read it.