I might not answer all your questions, but I will take a few. Most hard drives pull about the same power, depending on speeds and brands, but generally within a logical window. Adding additional hard drives will stress a system, but typically replacing one with another should not cause any issue.
The NTLDR missing is referring to a NT Bootloader file that might have been loaded on the first sector of a specific hard drive. If the configuration changes in BIOS or if hard drives get swapped around you can get this error, but it isnt too terrible. Most power supply testers work well, I wouldnt spend a lot on one due to a specific brand, they are really only testing voltage, a simple voltmeter would work as well, I use a paladin tools one. The main issue, freezing... If you havent added any hardware, or installed any specific software recently it could be hardware as you assumed. Depending on the type of processor you have the symptoms could be going towards that. When your computer freezes and you reboot immediately go into BIOS and see if there are any temp readings that you can see real-time. If they are hotter then you would think then it could be a processor fan. Some older motherboards have small speakers built-in on the board, hard to see, but make a lot of noise. If the temp is hot, or if you have no data in BIOS for this then let your system cool down 100% and take off the processor fan, either replace it or clean it up really well. Get some thermal grease from an internet shop or local computer store. A replacement fan usually costs under 20 dollars, and comes with grease most cases. Replacing this would be a cheap fix if it were the issue. A lot of old thermal grease breaks down or gets hard and doesnt conduct heat well between the processor and fan. Check these out and let us know. Also, what model is the HP, how much memory, CPU type/speed, hard drive speeds, power supply wattage? Any additional internal cards? IE: Modem, ethernet, sound, video, usb, serial, etc. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Computer Tech Support" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/computer-tech-support?hl=en.
