OK, so I just had my 3rd HDD in about a 6 month period crap out due to MBR corruption problems. My first HDD went out when it was about 2 years old (about November 07) so I didn't think much of it. When my second one went out not even half a year after I got it (around May 08) no one could really explain why so I chalked it up to coiencidence and getting a bad part. Fortunately it was under warranty and I got a new one, but now THAT one has even gone out and I'm convinced there must be some reason. Since its under warranty I can still get a new one but I'd like to avoid this hassle in the future and just stop the problem. The most bizarre part is that the computer runs perfectly right before this happens. no clicking, freezing, crashing, or anything. I've had it suggested that my power supply could be an issue but if that's the case I don't understand why it ever runs at all. Here's what I'm running hardware wise. Someone please chime in if there is in fact too little power or some other conflict. Mach Speed Matrix P4M800 Socket 478 Motherboard Intel Celeron 340 2.93Ghz 533FSB Socket 478 Intel Genuine Socket 478 Cooling Fan up to 3.4 GHz Ultra 512MB PC3200 DDR 400MHz CL3 (x2) Ultra Memory Aluminum Cooler (DDR or SDRAM) SILVER Maxtor 160GB EIDE HD 7200/8MB/ATA-133 (1st HDD) Replaced with WD Caviar SE 200GB EIDE HD 7200/8MB/ATA-100 PCI slots: Best Data 56K Internal Fax Modem Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy LS 5.1 Mercury TV Tuner With Remote Card AGP Slot: XFX GeForce FX 5500 256MB TV/DVI AGP Video Card CD/DVD Bays: Lite-on Black 52xCDRW/16x DVD Combo Drive LITE-ON 20X PATA DVDRW DH20A4P-04 OEM Black Internal Cooling System: Speeze Hard Drive Cooler Fan fits 3.5" Drives Speeze 80mm Front Case Fan w/ 3 & 4 Pin Connector Ultra PC Vent II w/2 LED 45mm Fans Sys.Exhaust BlK Ultra 350w V-Series PSU Black Ultra Wizard Black Mid Tower ATX Case Powerware PW3110 550 550VA/330Watt UPS (Backup Power/Surge Protector) I'm running WinXP, I use DSL, and I did start playing WoW not too long before the first incident, however I like to think I have decent security: WinPatrol (blocks unwanted startup progs & registry changes) ZoneAlarm (firewall) AVG (anti-virus) SpywareGuard (anti-spyware) I also use other things for scanning purposes (such a CCleaner), but those are all my ACTIVE protection programs. Thanks for your time, any advice is much appreciated!
I guess what I'm looking for at this point are any manual tests or diagnostic tools i can download for testing the motherboard, power supply, and anything else anybody can think of that could be causing these problems
just me but the power supply seems light for your application.bad power supply can take down a hard drive.
What size would you reccomend? I've definitely been considering that the PSU may be an issue but I'm trying to definitively nail down what the problem is (if thats possible) so I don't but a bunch of uneccessary parts.
Could be a number of things. I'm agreed that you should replace the PSU, regardless of whether it's causing this or not, it could cause you further issues down the line. Get something like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139003 you might also want to try another IDE cable. It could also potentially be the IDE controller on your motherboard, in which case you'd have to replace that. Try the first two options first though, and see how you do.
Yeah, that's the main problem that I'm having is that there are so many possible problems and I can't seem to find any way of testing that will conclusively tell me what the problem is =/. Is there some kind of program I can download to make a bootable disk for testing MoBo components(like MemTest 86+ for testing RAM)?
Unfortunately the only programs that do that can only really test for stability, they can't comprehensively check all the other components.
