Harsh Shutdown and Rebooting Dilemma

SkieStrife · 11-30-2005, 10:31 PM

I hope I'm positing this in the right place, but I think it is since it is this Win98 that is giving me the problems.

Just a quick problem that I'm having with this computer ever since taking it off of a friends hands... Whenever the comptuer freezes up or must be shut down harshly ( you know, hold the power button for 5 seconds on the ATX systems ), it will refuse to reboot for anywhere from 10 - 30 minutes. This is getting very annoying and frustrating for me...

Since I will be stuck on this 98 for at least another four weeks ( XP died a while back, watiing for comp parts & money ), I would like to have this problem diagnosed and resolved as soon as possible.

The freezing isn't so much the problem, i can fix that myself later on, but the system simply will refuse to boot (it turns on but won't boot) once it must be shutdown in the harsh manner. Sadly there is no manual restart button on the case. Even when shutdown the right way, the system may refuse to boot for 10-30 minutes if the power is restored quicker than 10 seconds after it is shutdown.

My thoughts:
I think it might be the motherboard or the harddrive... Get this, the harddrive in this thing is so big it must be put into one of the four CD drive bays. This is the first time I've been in contact with a harddrive bigger than the 3.25" form-factor. Then one of my friends said it could be the processor and/or its settings... dunno if he's right either. please help!

If you would like me to provide any system hardware information to help this along, tell me and I will get that info.

Chevy · 11-30-2005, 10:49 PM

Sounds like one of the old Bigfoot drives ...

You may have a power supply issue (heating up, not enough juice to spin up the hdd quickly) ... I would try a different one just to see.

SkieStrife · 11-30-2005, 11:14 PM

Alright, I'll try using the spare 250W to replace the 160W inside of the 98. I don't want to risk the 450W though, which is currently housed inside of new case for my budget gamer.

However, I don't trust the 250W seeing as it might've been the problem why my old e-machine died. I had some form of electrical problem, might've been a surge from the regulator box outside that blew two weeks after the e-machine, and the motherboard died because of it. Plus, the powersupply was being run to pretty much its limits with two CD drives, two harddrives, fans, etc. And like I mentioned before, I don't want to trust the 98 with my new 450W...

11-30-2005, 10:31 PM	#1 (permalink)
SkieStrife Registered User Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 2 OS: Win98	Harsh Shutdown and Rebooting Dilemma I hope I'm positing this in the right place, but I think it is since it is this Win98 that is giving me the problems. Just a quick problem that I'm having with this computer ever since taking it off of a friends hands... Whenever the comptuer freezes up or must be shut down harshly ( you know, hold the power button for 5 seconds on the ATX systems ), it will refuse to reboot for anywhere from 10 - 30 minutes. This is getting very annoying and frustrating for me... Since I will be stuck on this 98 for at least another four weeks ( XP died a while back, watiing for comp parts & money ), I would like to have this problem diagnosed and resolved as soon as possible. The freezing isn't so much the problem, i can fix that myself later on, but the system simply will refuse to boot (it turns on but won't boot) once it must be shutdown in the harsh manner. Sadly there is no manual restart button on the case. Even when shutdown the right way, the system may refuse to boot for 10-30 minutes if the power is restored quicker than 10 seconds after it is shutdown. My thoughts: I think it might be the motherboard or the harddrive... Get this, the harddrive in this thing is so big it must be put into one of the four CD drive bays. This is the first time I've been in contact with a harddrive bigger than the 3.25" form-factor. Then one of my friends said it could be the processor and/or its settings... dunno if he's right either. please help! If you would like me to provide any system hardware information to help this along, tell me and I will get that info.

11-30-2005, 11:14 PM	#3 (permalink)
SkieStrife Registered User Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 2 OS: Win98	Alright, I'll try using the spare 250W to replace the 160W inside of the 98. I don't want to risk the 450W though, which is currently housed inside of new case for my budget gamer. However, I don't trust the 250W seeing as it might've been the problem why my old e-machine died. I had some form of electrical problem, might've been a surge from the regulator box outside that blew two weeks after the e-machine, and the motherboard died because of it. Plus, the powersupply was being run to pretty much its limits with two CD drives, two harddrives, fans, etc. And like I mentioned before, I don't want to trust the 98 with my new 450W... Last edited by SkieStrife; 11-30-2005 at 11:20 PM.

11-30-2005, 10:49 PM	#2 (permalink)
Chevy Retired Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Notlob Posts: 5,452 OS: Vista Ultimate My System	Sounds like one of the old Bigfoot drives ... You may have a power supply issue (heating up, not enough juice to spin up the hdd quickly) ... I would try a different one just to see.