Dead Hard drive or not?

[Peerob]

I have a spare AOpen Mobo MX 46-533V. So I decided to put in an older second hand (ebay) 20Gb hard drive and memory.

6 months ago - memory, mobo, cdr etc were all working fine. I built a new super system leaving me with these parts.

Anyway, i decided to build a second system and installed the 20Gb hard disk but couldn't load windows, I got loads of error messages resulting in one messages saying hard drive could be damaged. Rubbish seconds I thought. So I bought a brand NEW 40GB Maxtor and this is doing the same. At first it loaded windows up to the point where the blue bar scrolls accross the bottom and then it freezes. I tried to delete the partition and then reformat and re install windows. Now all I get is bad partition message, disc may be damaged etc. This can't happen on 2 discs, can a faulty installation somehow damage the hard disk beyond repair?

Any ideas?

 

[SNGX1275]

I've had bad RAM do that before, not with the faulty hd errors, but with inconsistent install behavior.
I suggest downloading memtest86 as well as drive diagnostic tools for your hds. Run them both (seperately) and you will likely find your culprit.

My bet is on the RAM either being bad (or mixed brands/timings), or not liking your motherboard.

 

[RealBlackStuff]

You could also replace the flat IDE-cable between mobo and HD.

 

[SOcRatEs]

just a thought

realblackstuff
You could also replace the flat IDE-cable between mobo and HD.

This has happened to me as well, there were two holes in the cable that were very hard to see. (same spacing as the pins that cable plugs into on HDD)
Also make sure of what kind of cable;
standard ide or ata udma (66/100/133).
G'Luck

 

[Peerob]

You could also replace the flat IDE-cable between mobo and HD.

Done that! I am trying memtest86 sometime today and there is a maxtor test for the hdd.

Is it at all possible to damage the hdd merely by trying to install windows?

PS I have reset all defaults and cleared CMOS = no luck. mmmmmm...

maybe new mobo but then this cheap project is turning out to be more exoensive than I thought

 

[Peerob]

memtest86 - fine!
powermax - fine
dead mobo?

error message now:

windows could not start properly because the following file is missing WINDOWS\system32\config

It could be the PSU? or the mobo?

I will have the shell out for a new mobo first

 

[Peerob]

I bought a new MSI mobo and all works fine.

Loads great!

The old AOpen Mobo must have been dead.

Thanks all :bounce: