mattynufc

Frst of all, not sure if this is the correct area as I am not entirely sure it is a HDD issue.

The story goes, my brother decided to build a computer blind - buying parts sourced from eBay, Amazon etc with a basic idea of what he wanted going for the highest specification for the budget he had. The PC consists of:
Gigabyte S-Series GA-P31-DS3l
Intel 3.12 ghz dual core
512 nvidia graphics
500w PSU
Startech fan/heatsink
Seagate 500GB HDD SATA
DDR kingston 2x 2GBs

I have looked over his computer and checked all the connections etc which are fine (The PSU didn't have a SATA cable so I bought a 4pin to 15pin sata converted and connected it that way).

When trying to install the operating system (Windowx XP 64x) it crashes at the same point.
Troubleshooting:

• I have tested it with an old IDE hard disk drive also and it crashes at the same point.
• I have removed the memory and put in the memory from my working desktop PC - no luck, crashes at the same point.
• I formatted the HDD using a Windows ME bootdisk with the fdisk utility.
• Tried a 32x version of XP (using 64x as brother says that is the correct OS for the motherboard).
• Had a look in the BIOS and all are set to auto.
• When using a HDD (IDE) that has an OS installed it will boot to the Windows loading screen the the PC reboots itself and it enters in a loop.

I am by no means an expert, however I am fairly advanced with computers in general - but a little less technical when it comes to hardware issues.

Your input will be greatly appreciated. I understand it is likely to be a defective part however it is trying to source the defective part. My incline was it is the HDD however since it can format the whole HDD without issues it makes me think otherwise.

mattynufc

Quick update.

I removed the jumper on the back on the SATA drive to allow it to run at 3GB/s as opposed to limiting it to 1.5GB/s. This at first looked like it was miraculously going to work however 9 minutes from completing installing windows it crashed. I have tried it 3 times since and experience the same issue.

It looks as if it is a bad sector on the hard disk but not sure of how I can test this - or it is an issue with the memory of which I am also not sure how to test.

I am presuming it isn't the fan (one because it runs, two because the desktop would over heat when left on for hours and then turn itself off.) It could be the processor but also unsure how I can test this?

Thanks,

Matt

mattynufc

And yet another quick update - unsure if these are helping or making it worse!

Using Ubuntu I tested the memory which passed fine (used 2 different sticks as well to test)
Also tried to boot from a Ubuntu CD (not installing it on HDD) and it crashed when loading.

mattynufc

Right seems like I have managed to work this one out by myself lol

The problem was with the CPU - I swapped it with mine (also running an Intel Duo Core) and it worked fine. Managed to installed Windows XP 64x. Swapped my CPU back with my brothers and added a bit more thermal paste - all seems to be fine now.

Next bit of advice I seek - would too little thermal paste have caused the above issues? Would you reccommend claiming on the warranty despite it seemingly working fine now? (Also, are you allowed to after adding thermal paste?)