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Hard drive clunking, now seems dead



 
 
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  #1  
Old February 5th 04, 03:54 PM
Robert Downes
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Default Hard drive clunking, now seems dead

I just built a new machine. (This is the fourth I've put together.)

Into it I put a Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9. The machine booted fine to the
BIOS, found all the hardware, and I began to run the Windows XP install.

While XP was making the second partition, the drive started to make a
strange clunking noise, unlike any normal drive noise I've heard. But
then the partition completed and I assumed things were okay.

I installed Windows XP without hearing the noise again, then a load of
device drivers, with several reboots, and things seemed fine.

Then, while installing the Mozilla web browser, the noise returned, a
clunking, choking noise. And this time it didn't stop. Windows became
unresponsive, then froze, then the machine rebooted.

Now any attempt to boot the hard disk gives me:

DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER.

Does this mean the hard disk is a dud and needs to be returned? Was it
something I've done during the machine build? Could the problem be
caused by some other component being at fault?

Thanks for any advice you can offer. My brother (whom the machine is
for) is gonna be very upset when I tell him something's wrong.
--
Bob
London, UK
echo Mail fefsensmrrjyaheeoceoq\! | tr "jefroq\!" "
  #2  
Old February 5th 04, 05:05 PM
Cerridwen
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Robert Downes wrote:
I just built a new machine. (This is the fourth I've put together.)

Into it I put a Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9. The machine booted fine to
the BIOS, found all the hardware, and I began to run the Windows XP
install.

While XP was making the second partition, the drive started to make a
strange clunking noise, unlike any normal drive noise I've heard. But
then the partition completed and I assumed things were okay.

I installed Windows XP without hearing the noise again, then a load of
device drivers, with several reboots, and things seemed fine.

Then, while installing the Mozilla web browser, the noise returned, a
clunking, choking noise. And this time it didn't stop. Windows became
unresponsive, then froze, then the machine rebooted.

Now any attempt to boot the hard disk gives me:

DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER.

Does this mean the hard disk is a dud and needs to be returned? Was it
something I've done during the machine build? Could the problem be
caused by some other component being at fault?

Thanks for any advice you can offer. My brother (whom the machine is
for) is gonna be very upset when I tell him something's wrong.


"It's dead, Jim!"


  #3  
Old February 5th 04, 11:06 PM
philo
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Posts: n/a
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"Robert Downes" wrote in message
...
I just built a new machine. (This is the fourth I've put together.)

Into it I put a Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9. The machine booted fine to the
BIOS, found all the hardware, and I began to run the Windows XP install.

While XP was making the second partition, the drive started to make a
strange clunking noise, unlike any normal drive noise I've heard. But
then the partition completed and I assumed things were okay.

I installed Windows XP without hearing the noise again, then a load of
device drivers, with several reboots, and things seemed fine.

Then, while installing the Mozilla web browser, the noise returned, a
clunking, choking noise. And this time it didn't stop. Windows became
unresponsive, then froze, then the machine rebooted.

Now any attempt to boot the hard disk gives me:

DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER.

Does this mean the hard disk is a dud and needs to be returned? Was it
something I've done during the machine build? Could the problem be
caused by some other component being at fault?



I had a maxtor diamond max quit after about 6 weeks...




  #4  
Old February 6th 04, 01:08 AM
DaveW
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Posts: n/a
Default

It sure sounds like the harddrive died. As for external causes, does your
Power Supply have adequate output to drive all your components?

--
DaveW



"Robert Downes" wrote in message
...
I just built a new machine. (This is the fourth I've put together.)

Into it I put a Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9. The machine booted fine to the
BIOS, found all the hardware, and I began to run the Windows XP install.

While XP was making the second partition, the drive started to make a
strange clunking noise, unlike any normal drive noise I've heard. But
then the partition completed and I assumed things were okay.

I installed Windows XP without hearing the noise again, then a load of
device drivers, with several reboots, and things seemed fine.

Then, while installing the Mozilla web browser, the noise returned, a
clunking, choking noise. And this time it didn't stop. Windows became
unresponsive, then froze, then the machine rebooted.

Now any attempt to boot the hard disk gives me:

DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER.

Does this mean the hard disk is a dud and needs to be returned? Was it
something I've done during the machine build? Could the problem be
caused by some other component being at fault?

Thanks for any advice you can offer. My brother (whom the machine is
for) is gonna be very upset when I tell him something's wrong.
--
Bob
London, UK
echo Mail fefsensmrrjyaheeoceoq\! | tr "jefroq\!" "



  #5  
Old February 6th 04, 01:20 AM
Robert Downes
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DaveW wrote:
It sure sounds like the harddrive died. As for external causes, does your
Power Supply have adequate output to drive all your components?


Got an Antec TruePower 550W in there, because I did some research and
found that the TruePower is a popular and highly regarded product.

The drive is an SATA, by the way.

I tried installing Windows again, but now Windows can see the drive and
its partitions but will no longer attempt to recognise it as a valid
volume. chkdsk fails to detect the drive at all.

It looks like the drive is well and truly dud. I bought the drive from
overclockers.co.uk and after describing this situation they informed me
that the email is being sent to their support team.

Are the retailer liable for a hard drive that fails on the day it
arrives? Does anyone know if overclockers.co.uk are the sort of people
that will honour such a replacement without quibbling?
--
Bob
London, UK
echo Mail fefsensmrrjyaheeoceoq\! | tr "jefroq\!" "
  #6  
Old February 6th 04, 02:21 AM
Cyde Weys
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Robert Downes wrote:

Then, while installing the Mozilla web browser, the noise returned, a
clunking, choking noise. And this time it didn't stop. Windows became
unresponsive, then froze, then the machine rebooted.



"The 'ard drive - she cannae do it, Keptin!"



  #7  
Old February 6th 04, 03:01 AM
kony
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Default

On Fri, 06 Feb 2004 00:20:58 +0000, Robert Downes
wrote:

DaveW wrote:
It sure sounds like the harddrive died. As for external causes, does your
Power Supply have adequate output to drive all your components?


Got an Antec TruePower 550W in there, because I did some research and
found that the TruePower is a popular and highly regarded product.

The drive is an SATA, by the way.

I tried installing Windows again, but now Windows can see the drive and
its partitions but will no longer attempt to recognise it as a valid
volume. chkdsk fails to detect the drive at all.

It looks like the drive is well and truly dud. I bought the drive from
overclockers.co.uk and after describing this situation they informed me
that the email is being sent to their support team.

Are the retailer liable for a hard drive that fails on the day it
arrives? Does anyone know if overclockers.co.uk are the sort of people
that will honour such a replacement without quibbling?


They ought to take it back if it failed then, and that's the route I'd
take, since RMA to Maxtor might mean you get a refurb'd drive back...
IIRC they do not guarantee that you'd get a new one, though you might
since it's a current model.
  #8  
Old February 6th 04, 03:04 AM
Cyde Weys
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Trent© wrote:


On average, 60% of the drives that are returned for this kinda reason
have nothing wrong with them.


Yeah, but with all that clunking he heard, if it previously had nothing
wrong with it, it does now.

  #9  
Old February 6th 04, 06:16 AM
Cyde Weys
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Trent© wrote:

Yeah, but with all that clunking he heard, if it previously had nothing
wrong with it, it does now.



The 'clunking' occurs when you install an OS...as it often checks for
the presence of various drives.


I know what sound you're talking about, and that sounds more like rapid
access than clunking. When he said it sounded like clunking, I was
thinking in my head that a drive arm was spinning around wildly inside
the drive case, smashing up the platters. Normal drive access sounds
are not clunking to me.



  #10  
Old February 6th 04, 08:43 AM
kony
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Default

On Fri, 06 Feb 2004 00:16:17 -0500, Cyde Weys wrote:

Trent© wrote:

Yeah, but with all that clunking he heard, if it previously had nothing
wrong with it, it does now.



The 'clunking' occurs when you install an OS...as it often checks for
the presence of various drives.


I know what sound you're talking about, and that sounds more like rapid
access than clunking. When he said it sounded like clunking, I was
thinking in my head that a drive arm was spinning around wildly inside
the drive case, smashing up the platters. Normal drive access sounds
are not clunking to me.



I "think" when the drive can't read, it resets itself, the arms/heads
return to the home position before retrying... if it keeps trying
that, it is the typical clunking sound. I could be completely wrong
though.
 




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