Computer Trouble

S Lowes · 17 Nov 2006 at 17:41

Hi guys

I have two Hard Drives in my computer and when i go to log in, my desktop appears and the taskbar and then the computer just crashes when the taskbar comes up :cry: . But if i turn off the computer and unplug the second hard drive the computer loads up and works

i currently have:

AMD Duron 1.6GHZ
768mb RAM
ATI Radeon 9200
Seagate 40gb Hard Drive (Main Hard Drive)
Maxtor 40gb Hard Drive (Second Hard Drive)
Windows XP Pro SP2

Anyone Got Any Ideas :-?

RailUK Forums

Daniel · 17 Nov 2006 at 17:45

I take it neither hard drive is newly installed?

S Lowes · 17 Nov 2006 at 17:46

Had both of them in for about 7 or 8 months

paul1609 · 17 Nov 2006 at 17:49

What did you do just before the problem occured?
If nothing I'd suggest there is fault with the second hard drive.

S Lowes · 17 Nov 2006 at 17:56

Nothing was touched on the hard drive, it started to happen 2 days ago so i reinstalled XP and that cured it until this afternoon when it started playing up again.

Craig · 17 Nov 2006 at 17:57

Is the second hard disk set to slave mode?

What happens if you boot to safe mode?

Daniel · 17 Nov 2006 at 17:57

Possibly a faulty hard drive.

Do you how to use BIOS, and the system setup system?

If so, disable your second HDD and run a CheckDisk on it.

Nick W · 17 Nov 2006 at 18:01

I think the hard drives are fine.

I think the problem lies with MS Window's archaic DOS style assingment of drives (c: d: etc).

My guess is that some programme is trying to access a file on "C:" but can't because the drive refered to "C:" has changed.

S Lowes · 17 Nov 2006 at 18:09

The second hard disk is set to be a slave and it still locks up in safe mode

Craig · 17 Nov 2006 at 18:19

Have you tried running without the second drive?

S Lowes · 17 Nov 2006 at 18:29

Craig said:
Have you tried running without the second drive?

Yeah, it loads up windows perfectly without the second hard drive pluged in.

devon_metro · 17 Nov 2006 at 18:31

Then why do you need it?

S Lowes · 17 Nov 2006 at 18:32

Liam said:
Then why do you need it?

To back my documents up on it, and i have Bve, MSTS installed

TheSlash · 18 Nov 2006 at 00:16

paul1609 said:
If nothing I'd suggest there is fault with the second hard drive.

Is that your highly researched, evaluated and tested final answer :?:

The reason i ask is that anybody with the slightest fault find experience could determine that the 2nd hard drive appears to be the problem :kermit:

mbonwick · 18 Nov 2006 at 17:36

Hmmmmmm.. is it possible for you to put the second drive in another computer and see what happens?
That would greatly narrow down the source of the problem!

Sprog · 19 Nov 2006 at 13:39

TheSlash said:
Is that your highly researched, evaluated and tested final answer The reason i ask is that anybody with the slightest fault find experience could determine that the 2nd hard drive appears to be the problem :kermit:

:grin:

mbonwick · 19 Nov 2006 at 19:34

Another thought....Have you tried swapping the drives around? I just read in a computer hardware forum that some drives are incompatible
IE they will work one way but not the other.
I also read that it can, in some cases, take several months to occur.

Sprog · 19 Nov 2006 at 19:51

"Computer Says No................!"

Nick W · 21 Nov 2006 at 18:25

If the computer will get as far as loading windows, why would there be a problem with the hard drive bad enough to require removal?

I will repost what I said earlier.

"I think the hard drives are fine.

I think the problem lies with MS Window's archaic DOS style assingment of drives (c: d: etc).

My guess is that some programme is trying to access a file on "C:" but can't because the drive refered to "C:" has changed."

Tom · 22 Nov 2006 at 16:11

You can change drive letters in Computer Management under Administrative Tools in Control Panel, Nick.

Nick W · 22 Nov 2006 at 19:58

Tom said:
You can change drive letters in Computer Management under Administrative Tools in Control Panel, Nick.

It is impossible to umount the drive on which windows is located!

Craig · 22 Nov 2006 at 22:23

Nick W said:
My guess is that some programme is trying to access a file on "C:" but can't because the drive refered to "C:" has changed."

That would just cause a missing resource error rather than a deadlock.

Nick W · 25 Nov 2006 at 01:03

Craig said:
That would just cause a missing resource error rather than a deadlock.

I've seen a computer with that problem just blank out on loading screen. Not even an error message.

devon_metro · 25 Nov 2006 at 10:28

Nick W said:
I've seen a computer with that problem just blank out on loading screen. Not even an error message.

And i've experienced it many a' times.

Despite it being down to power problems :mrgreen:

eos · 25 Nov 2006 at 12:02

Make sure that one of the drives is not set to 'CS' ( Cable select) via the links on the back..much more relaible to use the Master /Slave arrangement.. Make sure that there is not a conflict with the DVD , DVDRW , etc that may be fitted to the computer , that will cause conflict ( have you looped the second drive using the same cable as the DVD/DVDRW uses, ie just plugged it in.. If you have a spare IDE socket on the mother board, plug in another IDE cable -just to the second Hard Drive.

I always try to arrange IDE1 = main Hard drive (C: master) + DVDRW
IDE2 = secondary hard drive (D: ) + DVD if fitted
Use Master/slave in that order...

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