Help...Help ! Mian HDD has just died on me... i Think

[ooseven]

Specs
-----------------
OS = Win 2000
CPU = 2800 + Athlon
GFX = Inno (/me vomits) Geforce FX 5200
RAM = 512 mb 333
Motherboard = ASRock 8X AGP slot


Drives
------------------
2 x Seagate 20 gig HDD
1x 3 ½ floppy
1X DVD LG Read only drive
1X CD burner linked to a skuzzy card


(yeah I know I have no chance of running HL2 L)



Is it possible for a “DEAD” hard drive to cause the following…

You see my main computer fails to start up… its currently running Windows 2000 and I haven’t had a problem till I check my BISO to see what the CPU clock speed was running at….looked and noted it was slower than what it should be… (it’s a 2800 athlon running at just over 2000).

Noticed it After the Aquamark 3D score gave piss poor

Anyway I then exited the bios without saving or altering any options and proceeded with the boot up…. Once Windows was loaded I got a message saying that the windows detected a new piece of hardware



Symptoms


Computer fails to detect Master (C drive) and D (drive) on start up…

Further more when loading the BIOS…. F2….

The system runs very slowly… it takes nearly a full minute to by pass the failed Auto detects (master and slaves) to get to the bios and when I do… the wrong processor is listed… it’s the wrong speed 1182 :eek: and further more I can’t set it to auto detect…

Further more if I load my Defaults I still get Jack Sӣt on the old boot up.

Ok so I took it to a local computer shop and asked for help…. After about an hour I get a phone call telling me that my HDD is Fooked as they disabled the master (C drive) by unplugging it and everything appeared to be fine…

Anyway my question is…

Can a Damaged or DEAD HDD cause this kind of conflict with the Bios and Drive Auto detect when you switch on your PC ?

They have offer to replace the main drive with a 40 Gig for £40….but then the reinstallation of Everything will be up to me..

Also are they BullSh$ting me when they say they can’t even rescue any of the data contained on the OLD HDD?

[videoholic]

I don't really no much about computers. I wish I could help.


I just know how happy you get when you have a problem and you see that someone responded.

Then the let down.. Oh it sucks, don't it?

+1

[ooseven]

Thanks Vid...

+1 too :p....

Anyway this whole situation has put a dent in my saving up for an ATI X800 :(….

IF the HDD isn’t the problem and its something else…. I might as well say Goodbye to having the card of my dreams for the launch of HL2 :crying:

[GigaShadow]

Sounds like your HD is toast. Sorry :(

[ooseven]

Dman.....:(

Ah well i supose I am going to get a bigger main drive out of this...

Also i can give my old one to my Brother... he has the nack of resurrecting old drives..he still might be able to salvage some of my data stored on that drive.

[THX]

On an old PIII 800 system I have the boot up goes VERY slowly and hangs all the time. I found out it was because the Floppy drive was no good, I unplugged the cables to it and the system booted up just fine.

Best thing to do is to put the Seagate into another computer as a slave and see if you can pull any files off of it. Usually there are signs a HD will fail, like a shrieking noise or just piss poor performance. There are utilities here (http://www.seagate.com/support/seatools/index.html) that should be able to tell you the condition of your drives.

Good luck, losing your main HDD is never fun, which is why more and more people are cooling their harddrives and/or doing RAID 1.

[§ôµÏG®ïñD]

err your clock speed is fine. Its a 2800+ not 2.8ghz. It runs alittle bit over 2gig (barton core)

[QuDDus]

Seagate I hate those mofo's had the HDD for three years and the bitch quit. Never again will I buy one.

[§ôµÏG®ïñD]

I've still got a seagate hd that’s 5 years old. Not a single prob, also got a 80gig one for about 2 years now. No problems, brother has still got one that’s over 5 years old. No problems.

I'd say yours was just dodgy or usererror. I'd only go SG or WD

[THX]

I'll only buy Seagates now. Very quiet and well built. Any HD will fail if it's in a heated environment for a long period of time. I have a 92mm fan aimed at mine.

[Living-In-Clip]

Seagate's are excellent drives - just because you had one fail, doesn't mean it is a bad brand. There are always bad drives for any brand. You have to look on a whole the amount of failed drives vs the manufactored drives and when you do that, you will find that Seagate has a very low amount of defective drives.

[L i L K u B B s]

I can't really help on your matter ooseven, sorry don't know that much yet. But I do have a question for anyone else... I'm getting a new system for school and am wondering now should I get an extra HD just incase the main one decideds to falter?