Faulty power supply affect hard drive/computer performance?

[Schmutz]

Hello all, I made a post regarding the performance/failing of one of my hard drives

The conclusion we came to has unfortunately not resolved my problem and I am beginning to think my Power Supply may be the culprit

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Before I go into details here is my current Hardware:

Q6600 @ 3.0GHZ
GIGABYTE EP45-DS3R
6GB PC2 6400 800mhz (2x 2gb/2x 1gb)
Nvidia GTX 275 896mb (requires 2x 6 pin power adapters)
Asus Xonar 7.1 soundcard (requires floppy power adapters)
Windows 7 x64
Jeantech 1000W PSU (modular PSU. 4 PCI-E nodes and 8 nodes for other devices...)
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500gb HDD (operating system)
1tb HDD (data)
1tb HDD (data)
2tb HDD (data - added recently)
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My original problem (in brief)

Upon accessing certain files in one of my 1TB drives, I hear a distictive "click/lockup/halt" sound and then the entire system crashes (first the drive will become inaccessible, then windows explorer will crash, followed by the mouse and eventually a BSOD after a minute)
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I bought a new 2TB a month ago to replace what then I thought was a failing 1TB drive. Since, the problems have become "random" and happen across all four drives (1tb, 1tb, 500gb, 2tb)

I am now considering my PSU the culprit (Jeantech Absolute 1000w) It seems logical to me. Sometimes while performing tasks which put stress on several HDD's at the same time my computer is "choking", running as fast/smooth as it should but with sudden freezes (with those HDD "click - stop - restart" sounds)

Booting into windows is failing from time to time (freezes on the "starting windows" screen, or DISK BOOT FAILURE, Insert system disk!. The PSU is modular - could certain "plugs" in my PSU are faulty? I haven't tested this extensively but in some cases when the computer is not starting up at all, using different power ribbon cable combinations seems to help. Also I had to remove my DVD drive completely when I first installed the new 2TB I bought and I don't think my computer will start at all with it plugged in anymore (so my PSU MUST be having a hard time coping with all the components?)

If it is of any relevance, I use an Nvidia 275GTX which requires 2x PCI-E 6 pin power connections, 4 hard drives (power is supplied via THREE modular ribbon power cables - two HDD's share power from the same ribbon cable) lastly worth noting I use an asus Xonar 7.1 sound card (requires floppy power connector...)

several symptoms suggest the PSU, any thoughts?

 

[Punkid]

a 1000Watt shouldn't have any problem coping with the components that you have, i would recommend that u borrow a power supply from a friend and try it out on your computer, maybe the power supply is old and is not supplying proper voltages on all the rails....

 

[Schmutz]

I have been doing web searches, "Jeantech" who made my PSU aren't a respected component manufacturer. This gives me hope that the thing has started to malfunction and a replacement will fix everything... I'm going to try my secondary computers PSU and see how things go

 

[Schmutz]

The secondary computer PSU did not help, same stalls/crashing as before so I can rule out PSU now

well, this was going to be a lose - lose situation either way but I have figured it out. My system drive (500gb) was causing the problem. I have formatted the 2TB drive and installed windows 7 onto it, everything is now functioning correctly. Now it is time to rebuild the previous 2-3 years of programs/configuration/settings on my computer!

I am slowly extracting precious files from the faulty 500gb drive, with frequent blips along the way (losing access to the drive/transfer speeds of >1mbps). I've just restored my firefox links/favourites/settings, yay. My vast itunes library of apps and music will be tricky no doubt, I will have to look into that.

Fingers crossed things don't start crawling again. I'm aware there is a small chance my problems may have been caused by corrupt system files/faulty PSU(or motherboard?)... it seems very unlikely - time will tell :suspiciou

 

[thosspot]

Convinced power supply a problem

Not completely similar problem but I have been having problems with my USBs, and shutting down (just hangs at shutting down then blue screens) for about 2 months and am now convinced it's my power supply -- either the power strip, the outlet or my entire house. Computer's mostly functional otherwise. But I'm finding that when I go elsewhere with my computer -- meetings, travel, etc -- everything works perfectly. But as soon as I walk back into my office and plug in my computer, the USB's stop working; nor can i shut it down without ending up at the BSOD. power supply btw is the only thing i plug in.

I have an HP EliteBook, windows 7 64-bit

it's either that or my office is haunted by some sort of ghost that doesnt like USBs or clean shut downs or me.

Thanks

 

[dtek516]

I have a toshiba satellite c855 and I had problems 4 months in...sent it in on warranty...etc etc..long story short, my wife had stepped on the cord right where the input is and bent the tip. It finally gave out, bought a new one, all week the computer has ran flawlessly!!! So, IMHO, yes.
The reason, if you have faulty power, it doesnt get enough power to run all the components..including the ram and HDD. It may run, but if the HDD or ram isnt getting enough juice, it will lag in attempt to compensate,

 

[mailpup]

Gee, dtec516, this thread is nearly three years old.