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Hard Drive Problem

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I received a message on my computer a few days ago “your computer has become unstable”. I tried to restart my computer but it will not start up again. I tried to put on a start up disk and it’s not even reading that.When I turn it on it begins to beep over and over again until I turn it off. Do I need to replace my hard drive, motherboard or the cable?

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Reply To: Hard Drive Problem

In reply to Hard Drive Problem

You definitely have some sort of hardware problem going on.

You need to begin by decipherins what the BIOS beep code is telling you. To do so, check out this article and download:

“Download our updated BIOS beep codes list for desktops”
http://techrepublic.com.com/5100-6255_11-1043759.html

Reply To: Hard Drive Problem

In reply to Hard Drive Problem

First off count the long and short beeps then contact the motherboard manufacturer or system maker. They can probably tell you what the system is reporting as bad.
if that fails: unplug the CDROMs and Hard Drives, Then try to boot from a bootable floppy. If good, reinstall devices 1 at a time untill the problem reoccures and you have located the bad device. If Bad, unplug the floppy and try to start up the computer if you dont get the same beep codes the floppy may be bad. Plug the floppy back in if error is still the same. Next, look at the memory as the possible culprit. remove all but a minimal amount of memory and reseat the remaining memory. Try to boot the system. Add memory back untill the problem reoccures.
I hope this helps some.

Reply To: Hard Drive Problem

In reply to Hard Drive Problem

Based on how your system failed, my first suspect is the CPU.

Likely caused by a failure of the CPU cooling fan.

Open the case and look at the CPU fan.
Does it spin freely by hand?

If it does spin, does it make a grinding noise?

If the CPU fan spins hard, or makes a grinding noise when you spin it, you need a new CPU fan / heatsink.
And most likely, a new CPU.

The next suspect would be failed RAM.
It is a lot easier to swap in new RAM than to try and test your existing RAM.

Finally, this could be a latent failure from a voltage surge such as can happen during thunderstorms.

Chas

Reply To: Hard Drive Problem

In reply to Hard Drive Problem

First things first, unplug the cpu from the chasis, open the cpu cover, and make sure everything is secure in connection, like the IDE cables, the processor, the ram, make sure the little battery is too, i know its not that but you cant be to carefull, all that does is backup the addresses and such. check to make sure the PCI and or AGP ect are secure in connection. just check all the connections you can, but groung yourself first and try not to touch the main connections.

Reply To: Hard Drive Problem

In reply to Hard Drive Problem

check your memory chips.

Reply To: Hard Drive Problem

In reply to Hard Drive Problem

How old is the unit, what you describe is called a “Catostrohpic Failure of an Elder Unit”, the common solution is to replace the whole thing.

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