possible HDD crash

[tmskilz]

Hi,

Weirdest thing happened a few moments ago.

I usually keep my PC running 24/7, but the other night I decided to shut it down & allow it to rest.

Well I get home a short while ago today, power up my PC & I hear this loud noise coming from inside my PC, didn't sound good, so I reset the PC, the noise reappears again, so this time I decie to shut the PC down & take a look inside, thinking it was a possible loose cable hitting up against the CPU fan or case fans.

Checked & everything looked fine, powered back up & my PC wont go past the bootup screen. Just stays stuck there. I use BIOSTAR Mobo, & the PC stays stuck on the BIOSTAR logo screen, no post or anything, can't even get into the BIOS settings.

Has my HDD crashed? I checked the power source & connections on my PC, everything else powers on & seems working. Is it something else? If anyone has suggestions as to the possible problem I'd be grateful, never came across this problem before. I tried calling up Seagate Tech Support, but they're closed on wkends. I'm using a laptop to logon & post.

Thanks in advance.

[LokusT]

I suspect your HDD is at death's door and it's already begun knocking. This sound you heard I assume was like a ticking sound and from experience that's usually a sign that the hard drive's about to kick the bucket.

My only recommendation is that you buy a new hard drive

[mrbanana]

When I worked for an isp the one thing we dreadded was rebooting managed servers, especially if they had been merrily chugging away for years, for this very reason.

Your drive was probably on its last legs, I'm afraid, but until you rebooted, I guess it didn't show any external signs of failure. Rebooting a pc can 'strain' some mechanical components, whether the problem was heat or power related I couldn't say. But it sounds like it's time to rma it.

[ahat]

You could always try freezing it to recover the data briefly, just make sure you double bag it!

[tmskilz]

It keeps getting weirder, well I shut down my PC again, for about 2 hrs, came back, powered it back on & what do you know? it's working again.

Thanks for responding & trying to help nonetheless.

[LokusT]

I would sincerely recommend getting a new Hard Drive and ghosting your present drive while you can though. That horrible ticking sound is a good sign of deteioration and they generally die pretty soon after. Perhaps you could be lucky but if you've got data on there you'd rather not lose, I think it's better to be safe than sorry.