Problem Swapping HDD's

sassums

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I have a desktop I build about 3 years ago, it was built with a 75GB 10,000 RPM raptor HDD.

I have been having issues with the computer locking up and freezing to the point where you cant do the "Ctrl, Alt, Delete" or anything, the whole thing is just frozen. It will sometimes blue screen, then the screen will go black and the hard drive sounds like it speeds up, or the fans kick in. Or it will just lock up to a black screen and beep at you until you power it down.

The problems have been getting progressively worse as time has gone on from one in a while to almost one every day. I can't seem to figure out the problem, I thought it was graphics, but it will do it when I play games on max settings, or real basic games.

I decided it was the HDD, so I plugged in a 1TB Western Digital Black HDD into Sata slot 1, while my main raptor HDD is in slot 0. I used Acronis to do a full clone, after it was complete, the computer booted up from the new HDD no problem.

I decided to pull the old one out, and put the new one into slot 0. When I turned the computer on again, the Bios did not recognize the HDD as being present, the only HDD the computer recognizes as being in slot 0, is the old drive.

I can plug the new one into slot 1 and it will boot up fine, but not slot 0. Why does the old smaller hdd work on slot 0, but not the new one?

Does it matter what slots it is in, or is it fine to leave the new drive as the primary on slot one? Can i plug in an extra hdd into slot 0 for storage?

I was told it was possibly the motherboard causing all the crashes, especially now that it isn't recognizing hdd's. Any suggestions?

Could it be the Motherboard doesnt support 1TB drives?

Suggestions?
 
Solution
Well, can you get (buy or better, borrow) a spare PSU and try that to see if the problem is fixed?

The fan speed-up thing is probably a symptom of a complete reset. When the system is first turned on the BIOS's several fan controllers all start up at full voltage (speed) to get the fans moving. A few seconds later they revert to using the actual controller algorithms and slow them down under normal control. Something is causing a sudden complete reset, but then the machine fails to actually boot up. This also could be from a PSU problem.

A further thought. Many PSU problems from a few years ago were caused by capacitors that degraded after the unit was working OK for a few years. But the same problem also affected some capacitors on...

Paperdoc

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Yes, this could well have been a HDD problem that you have solved, as long as you leave the new HDD in SATA1. It really does not matter which SATA port it is plugged into, anyway. But if you really want the new HDD on POrt 0, the root of your latest difficulty may be in the Boot Priority Sequence setting. At one time it was set to use the old HDD, and then you probably changed it to use the new one instead. BUT although the BIOS screens will show you those resources in terms of the drive name and size, in reality it keeps track of them in terms of SATA port number. So the last setting you made was to boot from SATA port 1, which is supposed to have on it the new drive. But then you moved the drive, and the BIOS did not figure that out - it is still trying to boot from Port 1!
Try this. Go into the Boot Priority Sequence setting place in BIOS while the new drive is connected to SATA 0, and delete all the boot device possibilities except your optical drive, Save and Exit. The machine will try to boot from the optical unit and fail. Reboot back into BIOS again and go to sequence setting, and this time add as the second device possible the new drive now found on SATA0. Save and Exit, and it should work.

As an alternative thought, IF all this starts to malfunction again, I'd take a close look at the PSU. Sometimes the failure pattern you describe is due to a progressively failing component in the PSU, and not in the HDD.
 

sassums

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I don't think it is a HDD failure anymore, I plugged the new HDD into Sata 1, with the old drive in Sata 0, but told the Bios to boot up from the new drive. The computer crashed while running off the new HDD. This time it simply froze, no noise nothing, the screen locked up like I had taken a picture. I had to hold the power button to shut it off and start over.

Other times it will blue screen, but disappears too quickly to get an error code.

Other times it will simply go black and you'll hear the fans go into a higher speed (Not sure what that means)

And other times it will go into a black screen, fans will spin up quicker, and then it will beep a few times until you shut it off.

Not sure what the issue is..

AS far as getting the new HDD into Sata Port 1, when I have it plugged in, there is nothing found, and then the computer goes to a black screen and sits there.
 

Paperdoc

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Well, can you get (buy or better, borrow) a spare PSU and try that to see if the problem is fixed?

The fan speed-up thing is probably a symptom of a complete reset. When the system is first turned on the BIOS's several fan controllers all start up at full voltage (speed) to get the fans moving. A few seconds later they revert to using the actual controller algorithms and slow them down under normal control. Something is causing a sudden complete reset, but then the machine fails to actually boot up. This also could be from a PSU problem.

A further thought. Many PSU problems from a few years ago were caused by capacitors that degraded after the unit was working OK for a few years. But the same problem also affected some capacitors on mobos in the area of the voltage regulators. These are typically near the CPU. The most common symptom in either the PSU or the mobo was cylindrical capacitor cans with tops bulged up, rather than flat. You could look in both places for such a symptom.
 
Solution

turk_1000

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If it does not crash with ONLY the new drive connected, but it does crash if both are connected then it most likely is the old drive that is the problem. If a bad drive is connected on any port it will usually hang the system. Like Paperdoc was suggesting, connect just the new drive to slot 0. Go into the BIOS and check that it is seen in slot 0. Check the boot sequence and make sure it is seen there. You should be able to get it working in slot 0.
 

sassums

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I just put the new PSU into the computer, but I knocked the cooling mechanism off the CPU, so I had to put that back on, is there anyway to monitor the heat. I am worried it will get too warm or overheat. I don't do any overclocking or anything like that though, I just am worried there isn't enough thermal paste.

Anyway like I said the new PSU is in, and both hdds are connected, I am using booting from the old hdd, with the new one in sata slot 1. Well see what happens.

Also what is this process:

coreFrameworkHost.exe, it is calssed under username: system, I could just be paranoid, im not sure, it seems to spike when I closed the Firefox or open it.

Also it seems that when I click to open firefox, the hdd makes a lot of noise like it is thinking too much to load the program. It just seems like the few seconds it's taking to load firefox is longer than it normally is, paranoid maybe, I'm not sure

In regards to plugging in the new hdd and only the new hdd into sata port 0, I've done that and the bios and boot sequence do not show the drive. It doesn't appear at all. I'm not sure why the boar isn't detecting the new drive in port 0 but it does detect it in port 1.
 

Paperdoc

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Your mobo may have come with a utility on its CD of software that will run under Windows and give you a constant on-screen display of temperatures, including the CPU temp. If not, at minimum there ought to be a place in the BIOS Setup screens that shows you such temps. Now, that is not ideal because just watching that screen puts VERY little load on the system, so it's like the idle state. But certainly if that screen shows rapidly rising temps in such a state, your cooling system needs fixing fast. On the other hand, if that screen says temps are good when you just watch it, then you should exit Setup and run normally for a while, then reboot quickly into BIOS Setup and check what the temps are after running for a while.
 

sassums

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Well the new PSU went in on the 2nd, and the computer just crashed for the first time today, on the 7th. This time the screen went totally black, it beeped 3 times, and all the fans went into a high speed setting and it just sat there, I had to hold the power button to shut it off again.

Any other suggestions?

It seems to only do it on a game, could it be a graphics card issue?

Once I replaced the PSU, the MOBO recognized the new HDD right away (before it wasn't seeing it), should I unplug the HDD I thought was going bad and see what happens? I have that set as a secondary drive.

Are there any programs or tools out there that test for failing parts?
 

sassums

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I am still experiencing issues with the computer freezing, eventually going to a black screen.

Sometimes it does that, and beeps 3 times, and goes black.

How can I determine if it is the Motherboard or if it is the graphics card causing issues?