Multiple hardware problems: CPU, HD conflicts

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ASKER

I just noticed that the CPU is also running at 1.4 as opposed to the default 2.8 in computer properties.
I dont feel comfortable with bumping it back to 2.8 because I really don't want any more data loss.

Even if i were to replace my CPU tomorrow, with these symptoms, should I expect some data loss on the HDs due to the damage to the CPU?

.. Man i hope its not the CPU but it seems to be looking more and more like it.

THANKS!
-Paul

ASKER

I took the battery out and reset as instructed .. all the windows settings seemed to come back and everything booted up fine, no problem .. however in the computer properties, the CPU is still running at 1.4

should the reset have detected the stock 2.8 speed?, should I manually go into BIOS and change it to 2.8?, the last thing I want is data loss of the precious information on the C drive.

Thanks!
-Paul

Good Gracious ... Are you sure no one swapped the Processor ? If you are sure the Processor is a 2.8 GHz please have the setting to 2.8Ghz, But before that I would advice you to take a Look at the Processor by taking it off the Socket. Its hard to believe its a 2.8G Processor as you bough the system 2 years ago.

NOTE : The Processor maybe a 1.4 Ghz. Confirm that.

Please do let me know the outcome.

Cheers
Sinu

OK, if the system is Working alright now, leave it at 1.4G . The processor would not corrupt your Hard Drive ( 99% of the time it won't ). But its a Wise Idea to begin the Data Backup now.

Cheers
Sinu Thomas.

ASKER

maybe year and a half ago, or slightly less, would be more accurate .. its a 2.8 for sure.

It actually automatically was set back to 2.8 upon resetting. eveything seems to be fine right now, no freeze ups .. all thats left is to connect the two other drives i have in my case (I disconnected them during this episode).

I actually tried to flash the BIOS right after the main computer crash a few months ago when i attempted to overclock the CPU. I'm sure that that was the problem as now my computer SEEMS to be running fine .. knock on wood.

I'm assuming that if it runs fine now on the C drive and DVD drive only, then it shouldnt have a CPU problem running all 3 HDs and DVD drive.

I'll probably go get a new 450 PS tomorrow just to eliminate that possible problem.

Thanks for your help Sinu!, let me give it a few days and connect everything up .. if its all good, then i'll accept your suggestion.

Thanks again!, i'll keep updating in here if anything else comes up.

-Paul

No Worries Mate ! I am glad I was ofhelp you ... :)

Cheers
Sinu

ASKER

I tried hooking up the other HDs.

I'm still running into problems when hooking up that third HD as slave under the master DVD drive on the Secondary IDE channel. When that third drive is plugged in, the slave drive on the Primary IDE channel is not recognized in pre-windows boot up or in windows. Very strange.

Anyone know of any limits as to how many drives one can have? or total storage space limits? Could it be the power supply is insufficient??

I'm guessing that the fact that the third drive is the slave under a non-HD drive is what is causing the problem, you think simply making the third drive the master on the second IDE channel and switching the DVD drive to slave would help? .. I would have to buy a new cable to do this and would like some feed back before i drop 10 bucks on it. I would troubleshoot this issue more, but my setup is somewhat cumbersome and not very versitile.

Let me know!, Thanks!

-Paul

SOLUTION

Callandor

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SOLUTION

Lenney97

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ASKER

Putting both the DVD drive and 3rd HD on cable select didnt help anything ..

I think my next step is gettin that extra long IDE cable and making the HD Master and DVD Slave.

I'll update on what happens.
Thanks!
-Paul

Getting an extra Long IDE cable would'nt help solving the problem. Why don't we try changing all the Drives to Cable Select Jumper configuration ( "CS" ). This way the Drive gets assigned to a configuration in the way the Cables are connected. If you plug the drive to the last Drop, then it becomes a master in that Channel. If you are connecting it to the middle drop, then it becomes a Slave in that channel.

Since your Motherboard is almost 2 years old, It may find difficulties Finding all the High Capacity Drives. My advice is to have your Bios Updated and definitely the problem would be resolved.

Hope this Helps.

Cheers

Sinu Thomas.

ASKER

So this is what happened.
I got a longer IDE cable and hooked up everything like this:

Primary IDE channel Master: HD with OS and storage
Primary IDE channel Slave: HD storage
Secondary IDE channel Master: HD storage
Secondary IDE channel Slave: DVD drive

basically swapped the two drives on the secondary channel so the HD was the master.

Everything is detected now! and evetything seemed to be running fine for about 5 min. until the computer locked up and required a manual reboot. so I reset and everything was detected as before, booted up fine, CPU was running at stock 2.8 speed and, again, within a few minutes, while opening an application, it froze and required a restart. Seems that it may be locking up when opening programs or accesing the Primary IDE channel Master HD (C:) .. because thats the only drive with apps on it.
Every single time it has froze, the HD activity light is still on and never goes off until I reset even though there doesnt seem to be activity sound from the HD

I've had two suggestions from friends but there may be other solutions you could offer me:
-- Install "Intel Applicaton Accelerator" (however it seems my chipset version is not compatable with that program in the brief moments i looked through the readme)
-- Update the BIOS as XSINUX suggested above (i ran into problems doing this before because i was unsure exactly how to flash the BIOS, update BIOS etc etc etc.)

Please let me know if you have any insight into these problems .. This is my main system and i need it functional at all times, this annoyance is very frustrating.
I've increased the point value and will distribute/split points to anyone who can help me resolve this.

THANKS!
-Paul

ASKER

I flashed the BIOS to the latest version (Drives are the same setup as above). upon rebooting, the system ran SUPER SLOW and didn't recognize the slave on the primary IDE channel, but recognized everything else .. the whole time, one of the drives was constantly turning on and off (i could tell by those distinct spinning sounds) and the HD light was blinking on and off in, what seemed to be, a set rhythm .. eventually, the system locked up after 2 minutes of trying to open "My Computer".

I unplugged the DVD drive completely (Slave on secondary IDE channel) .. rebooted .. and now i'm typing here. The machine runs like a dream without the DVD drive on the same channel as the HD, or rather, without the DVD drive plugged in at all; everything seems fine.

Now how do I get that damn DVD drive in here too? .. I dont know much about RAID arrays but could I put the DVD drive on a PCI IDE controller card?

PLEASE LET ME KNOW! THANKS!
-Paul

Now whats the DVD Spec ? I will send your the DVD Drive Firmware ! Try that too !

We got a Long way from no post , no boot , no Slow System and now god knows what !

:))

Cheers
SInu

If there is no Problems with the IDE DVD Drive , The Drive can be connected to a PCI IDE Controller Card. But this look like a problem with the Drive Itself. Probably you can update the firware of the DVD and see.

Note : You cannont Connect a DVD Drive on a RAID Controller Card.

Cheers
SInu

ASKER

Its funny you should mention the PCI IDE Controller .. I just got done setting everything up like this:

Primary IDE channel master: HD with OS and storage
Primary IDE channel slave: HD storage
Secondary IDE channel master: HD storage
Secondary IDE channel slave: EMPTY

PCI IDE controller:
Primary IDE channel master: DVD drive

I figured that if everything worked fine without the DVD drive, and I know its not the drive because i had to use it earlier today (worked fine) .. then it must be because its on the same cable as an HD. I read somewhere that there could be massive slow-downs and other conflicts with that setup. only option at that point was the PCI IDE controller.

As of right now, there are no conflicts and problems whatsoever (its only been like 10 min though). Everything was detected and all other hardware is working correctly.
I just hope it doesnt start freezing up again.

Thanks for all your help everyone!! .. I'm going to monitor this setup for a few days and then distribute the points.

THANKS AGAIN!!!
-Paul

Oh well I said You cannot Attach the DVD Drive to the RAID Controller Card.

I also Mentioned that you can connect the DVD Drive to the PCI IDE controller. Now that all is working fine... You are a Great Champ with lots of luck

Cheers
Sinu.

ASKER

BAH! .. I spoke too soon.
System locks up regularly now, however i'm not as concerned as I was before because i have some interesting causes to the freezing.

I was down there while the computer was on, just checking to make sure everything was tip top before i put the cover back on, and i touched a grouping of the power cables near the lowest portion of the case, as soon as i touched them i could hear the HD stop spinning, and then i noticed that all the fans in the lower portion of the case stopped spinning also. I looked at the screen and the system had locked up, red HD activity LED was stuck on also, exactly as when it froze before.
I could not pinpoint which connections between these power connectors was the culprit .. it seemed that by jiggling any one of the connectors could make the HD loose power, even jiggling the back of the HD's power connector itself. It seems that if i dont touch anything down there or make any sudden movements .. the system runs fine for a while and eventually freezes.

This is obviously an issue with the power though and due to the isolation to the bottom of the case, i'm thinking theres only two possibilities??

-- Power supply is failing and cannot supply power to the furthest portions of the case where there are numerous fans and HDs
-- a loose power connector/connectors are breaking the circuit in the bottom portion of the case

So i'm pretty sure now that lock-ups are caused by the HD's actually loosing power. I'm going to monitor with a hardware monitoring program to watch for voltage differences; would that be the way to isolate if it was the PS itself failing or a loose connection? How could i determine that?

Thanks!
-Paul

:))))))))))))))))))))))))

SOLUTION

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ASKER

So basiclly I just want to know two more things:

-- How would I know if it was the PS itself that was failing as opposed to a fan or power connector?

-- Could I have suffered data loss from the constant on/off power to the HDs?

THANKS!
-Paul

SOLUTION

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Panther713

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ASKER

Thanks everyone for your help! .. My computer has been running with absolutely no problems since trying your suggestions.

Thanks again for the time and effort you put into helping me fix those mutiple/complex problems!
-Paul

Points have been distributed.

Glad to help you out !

Panther713

Glad to hear your system is up and running... That's the important thing.

ASKER

Ok,

So its been a while and i've let my computer run on multiple HD's .. taking the time to try and troubleshoot the problem.

I'm quite confident that its not the actual HDs that are causing the problem .. the only other option is the CPU or Motherboard thats shutting off the HD (onlyt the OS/C: drive is shutting on and off), but if the CPU was failing, would that cause only the C: drive to shut on and off?, i would think this is a motherboard/IDE controller problem from common sense, i wouldnt think that the CPU would have no control over the power to the HD.

I suppose it could be the RAM as well ..

Are there any methods for testing the CPU, motherboard, and IDE controllers? Please let me know!!! Thanks!

-Paul

Hot cpu tester : http://www.7byte.com/
cpu stability test : http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,7146,00.asp
AMD cpu test : http://www.wintotal.de/softw/index.php?rb=1038&id=470

motherboard and all : http://www.passmark.com/download/index.htm

ASKER

yeah .. i tried Hot cpu tester - clean
cpu stability test - clean

new motherboard has been installed and problem persists ..

all HDs have been run through every software diagnostic i can find - all clean

every hardware diagnostic i've run - clean

i put the suspect HD into a different computer running the same OS (Windows XP) and it runs fine, no problems .. no switching/clicking on/off.

it seems that whatever HD i use as the primary drive (master) in my broken computer ends up failing/switching on and off. it seems that its not the HDs themselves, its not the motherboard.
whats left .. memory and cpu? must i replace every piece of hardware in my entire case to find out what the hell is wrong? .. i cant afford to purchase any more un-needed components.

i cannot begin to tell you how frustrating this problem has been for me .. we are approching (2 weeks) the 1 year anniversary of this question.

any advice would be very much appriciated.

in this case, if you have still warranty, have a mobo replacement.