Bad hard drive?

[190E]

Ok, guys help me out here. I am having problems with my self built computer, it's about four years old has an asus mother board, an amd athlon 2500 xp, windows xp, 1 gig of memory 128 mb video card, and a 40 gig hard drive. What's happening is I will be working on the computer for a while, or playing civilization four, and it will just up and shut down. I notice that some times when I go to start it up some times the power light will be on, but not the hard drive button. This coupled with the fact that it just randomly turns off (not the entire computer, just the hard drive.) is leading me to believe that the hard drive is bad. Can anyone confirm this for me? I'm not worried too much, because I already have everything backed up, but it'd be nice to know if I should be looking for something else.

 

[gabriel1]

Could the cable from the motherboard have come a bit loose?

 

[190E]

That was the first thing I checked, and it's in there pretty well.

 

[nsguy2]

Maybe a failing/overheating PSU?

Download a scan program from the HD's website and run a check.

 

[190E]

I also thought it might be a psu problem. I do want to build a new computer, so this might be a good time for me to do so. I think I might just start doing some research into building a new one.

 

[saaga07]

This sounds difficult to pinpoint. When a computer randomly shuts down, it's a classic problem with loose, damaged, or even mismatched memory. But, when you go to restart the computer and the power light comes on, but not the hard drive light, it sounds like the hard drive cable is either loose or damaged. Then, when you add those two issues to the fact that the hard drive just shuts down by itself, it sounds either like a failing or overheating PSU (like nsguy2 said) or a failing hard drive (like you said). But, it could also be a system wide problem with the motherboard (like DarkEmoBoi said).

If it helps any, when it comes to self-built systems, I find that completely disassembling and reassembling the system solves a good number of issues. This includes pulling even the motherboard and PSU out of the case, checking each of the parts for damage, and cleaning them out with compressed air.

 

[flood22]

It's hard to rule out a bad PSU, but if you're hearing the unmistakable sound of your hard drive spinning down (a rev down, followed by a metalic "click!" and maybe followed by a spin up) and it's not accompanied by other system parts dimming or fans slowing, it may just be the hard drive.

Whether caused by a bad power feed from a bad PSU, excessive heat, dust, etc., the hard drive is panging and should be replaced.

What kind of hard drive is it my the way? (brand? model? size?) Just wondering.

 

[mike_n_herrin]

It seems to me that if it were a hard drive failing issue, that the computer wouldn't shut down, it would just lock up. so i don't think your drive is failing.

i would also have guessed an over heating CPU. take a look at your CPU fan and heat sink and make sure they are not clogged with dust bunnies and stuff. you might want to check your BIOS and see if it keeps track of your CPU's temps and see what they are running after a few minutes of use. that would tell you what the temps are at CPU loading like when you are playing a game, but if they are high when it's not doing anything that could indicate a heat issue.

 

[saaga07]

Any update?

 

[190E]

I ended up taking it all apart, and redoing the jumper settings and bumped it up to 400 MHz front side bus, and have had no problems since. I have played my games, gone online, put it under serious pressure, and it's working still. I dunno what I did, but I guess I did something. BTW, I ate dust for this computer. lol