Is this a hard drive problem or not?

indyagent · 03-02-2009, 06:22 PM

I am running vista home premium on a custom computer

3gb ram
Pentium 4 3.2
256 AGP graphics card

two hard drives
C: 75GB IDE
D: 75GB IDE

Two disc drives,
E: DVD burner 18X
F DVD drive

Lately what has happened is that in the front of my computer (so it seems) I get a pop followed by a whirr (like something starting up) then the computer freezes for a few minutes. Some times it does it only once and many times it is constant and i cannot use the computer.

I was told this may be a hard drive issue so i bought at 500gb drive but i wanted to make one last attempt to save a few files that i hadnt saved to this point, so i plugged in the computer with the side panel off and it runs perfectly. both times in the last week i have had the side off the problem never occurs or at least i dont remember it doing that, today the computer would take 20 minutes to get to the desktop because of the popping, whirring noise then freezing and it was impossible to use.

now its running great?

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Randy

**TriggerFinger** · 03-02-2009, 06:36 PM

Hi Randy,

Something you can try... d/load something like Hitachi Drive Fitness test (see HDD Diags link on my sig) and burn the ISO file into a blank CD. Instructions on how to do this is can also be found as linked on HOW TO BURN AN ISO... also on my sig. Now put the CD in your CD/DVD drive, boot your computer from the CD drive (you may need to change boot sequence/order to make this happen). Run some diagnostics on both drives. That way you will know if your drives have a hardware fault or not.

03-02-2009, 06:22 PM	#1 (permalink)
indyagent Registered User Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 1 OS: windows xp	Is this a hard drive problem or not? I am running vista home premium on a custom computer 3gb ram Pentium 4 3.2 256 AGP graphics card two hard drives C: 75GB IDE D: 75GB IDE Two disc drives, E: DVD burner 18X F DVD drive Lately what has happened is that in the front of my computer (so it seems) I get a pop followed by a whirr (like something starting up) then the computer freezes for a few minutes. Some times it does it only once and many times it is constant and i cannot use the computer. I was told this may be a hard drive issue so i bought at 500gb drive but i wanted to make one last attempt to save a few files that i hadnt saved to this point, so i plugged in the computer with the side panel off and it runs perfectly. both times in the last week i have had the side off the problem never occurs or at least i dont remember it doing that, today the computer would take 20 minutes to get to the desktop because of the popping, whirring noise then freezing and it was impossible to use. now its running great? Any suggestions? Thanks Randy

03-02-2009, 06:36 PM	#2 (permalink)
TriggerFinger Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: USA Posts: 11,846 OS: Vista SP1, XP SP3, PCLinuxOS2007	Re: Is this a hard drive problem or not? Hi Randy, Something you can try... d/load something like Hitachi Drive Fitness test (see HDD Diags link on my sig) and burn the ISO file into a blank CD. Instructions on how to do this is can also be found as linked on HOW TO BURN AN ISO... also on my sig. Now put the CD in your CD/DVD drive, boot your computer from the CD drive (you may need to change boot sequence/order to make this happen). Run some diagnostics on both drives. That way you will know if your drives have a hardware fault or not. __________________ DBAN - Memtest86+ - BartPE - Linux LiveCD - ImgBurn - HDD Diags - Disk Copy HOW TO BURN AN ISO FILE Last edited by TriggerFinger; 03-02-2009 at 06:41 PM.