Need advice on an odd computer problem

[DrSpike]

It's one that strikes at my heart - I can use my computer but every time I try to launch a game my drive clunks several times, and the computer freezes and I have to restart.

The obvious answer is my drive is borked. However to my chagrin when I put in my spare drive (which has a windows install on it already) today and installed Guild Wars I was shocked to find exactly the same thing happening. I reason that it's not likely that 2 drives could develop the same problem.

Other possibilities are graphics card, motherboard or power, though exactly how it would manifest itself in the hard drive problems I don't know.

It is anything graphics intensive that sets it off, so it could be the graphics card. I reinstalled Direct X and drivers but it made no difference. However, I think power or motherboard are more likely as sometimes there are clunks and restarts during boot up.

But I still don't see how either possibility can manifest itself in a (touch wood) perfectly working computer with a clunky hard drive when you try to do something more strenuous.

So help please!

[SpencerH]

Re: Need advice on an odd computer problem

Originally posted by DrSpike
However, I think power or motherboard are more likely as sometimes there are clunks and restarts during boot up.

sounds like a likely course of investigation

[Urban Ranger]

Re: Need advice on an odd computer problem

Originally posted by DrSpike
But I still don't see how either possibility can manifest itself in a (touch wood) perfectly working computer with a clunky hard drive when you try to do something more strenuous.

The most likely cause is the power supply. What is your system like and how big is the power supply? Does it have problems booting up?

[DrSpike]

The power supply is only 18 months old and is a high end one, as I'm paranoid about power supplies.

[DrSpike]

Btw if it were power could that make the hard drive clunk?

[Urban Ranger]

Antec? Enermax? What's the power rating?

[DrSpike]

It's a really good Antec one, one of their best 18 months ago when I got the machine.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by DrSpike
Btw if it were power could that make the hard drive clunk?

How does it clunk? Does it sound like it's trying to read stuff but fails? Do you have problems reading and writing other files?

[DrSpike]

That's just it - I don't.

There are problems on boot up if it is cold (but not on restarts) and problems when I launch games. Video files work fine, everything works fine.

The clunk is like one you get when you have a bad drive!

[Urban Ranger]

Okay, several things to test:

1. Test your old drive on another computer. This should tell you whether the HDD or the rest of the system is borked.

2. If it is your old drive, test the new drive on another computer too.

3. If both are borked, test the voltages of the power supply leads with a multimeter. The most likely component that causes HDDs to go bad is the power supply. Test with different loads (such as when you start a game).

4. If the HDDs are fine when tested on another computer, replace the existing IDE ribbon cable with a new one. Do you have another device on the same cable? If so, detach it for now.

Antec makes good power supplies, but sometimes you can get unlikely, just like Mao with his Adaptec USB drive enclosure kit.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by DrSpike
There are problems on boot up if it is cold (but not on restarts) and problems when I launch games.

Could you describe these cold boot problems in more detail?

[Urban Ranger]

Okay, I am going to sleep, so hopefully somebody else can take over in the meantime.

[DrSpike]

I am planning using my other computer to do some test, though it's going to be a pain and I thought I'd check for easy solutions first.

The cold boot problems are that it has trouble reading the drive (whichever drive is used) when switched on and takes 3 or 4 restarts. Then it works fine.

[Spaced Cowboy]

Doc, sounds like the power supply.

[Dis]

Originally posted by DrSpike
That's just it - I don't.

There are problems on boot up if it is cold (but not on restarts) and problems when I launch games. Video files work fine, everything works fine.

The clunk is like one you get when you have a bad drive!

I never had a bad drive, so I'm curious what it sounds like.