In case I failed the solution or answer, how would you describe the noise ? and exactly when does it start? always at the same point ? if you run the BIOS settings, and left the computer for an hour or a half, do you hear it ?
On Jul 31, 4:03 pm, iconlarry <[email protected]> wrote: > I have (maybe had) an 8 or 9 year old HP desktop computer running XP. > It is my favorite computer (like an old pair of comfortable shoes). > > Lately it looks like it's near death. Here's the gloomy tale: > > Over the last three weeks the computer would freeze. Really freeze > where the only remedy was to reboot the computer. At the times that it > froze I could hear a low pitched howling sound that I could not > pinpoint. Matters got worse. It started doing the same thing during > the reboot process when loading windows. Then it got really worse. All > I got were the fans whirling, the ability to open and close the > optical drives (I have two), and the hard drive light staying on - > nothing else. No video, no ability to go into the BIOS, nothing, nada! > Here are the steps I took along the way to solve the problem: > > 1. Thinking the noise might be from on of the fans, I stopped them one > at a time to see if the noise would stop. No luck. > > 2. The computer has a motherboard which connects to the to the drives > via IDE cables which supports two hard drives; the "C" drive (100GB) > for programs and the operating system, and a "G" drive (500GB) for > data files. I disconnected the data HD ("G") from the system. No luck. > > 3. I replaced the "C" drive with its earlier version (40GB) that I had > used to clone the present 100GB "C" drive. No luck. In fact I receive > the error message "NTLDR missing." I then went back to the current > 100GB hard disk - still with the same error message: "NTLDR missing." > However, I was able to overcome this by using Hiren's Boot CD. [This > is before the total failure I referred to above.] Also using Hiren's I > tested both hard drives - they tested 'good.' > > 4. After speaking with a friend, he suggested it might be the power > supply. I had bought a new power supply to keep on hand in case the > current one got fried. After putting it in, the new power supply > turned out to be DOA. (What else could go wrong?) So I a bought a > power supply tester and tested both the old one and new one. The > original power supply turned out to test perfect. (How accurate are > power supply testers? What' a top notch brand?) The new one not so. > > Other than a defective motherboard which would necessitate buying a > new computer, can anybody suggest a fix? > > One last question, 4 weeks prior to all this happening I replace the > data hard drive "G" with the 500GB drive whereas the original "G" was > a 200GB drive. Could this have stressed the system to cause the > failure? > > Larry -- 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.
