I have unscrewed the drive and taken it out then out it back in again, still nothing. I then ran diagnostics and it failed the confidence test. So I guess it needs replacing?

When I get a new drive will it work straight out of the box or will I have to install drivers for it?

Thanks

You will need to load your operating system on, then rebuild the drive with all latest drivers etc. Not a big problem but can be time consuming. So basically fit the new drive , put the xp disc in the fixed optical drive and boot up, the bios will find no operating system on the hardrive but should see the drive therefore will roll over to the next bootable device and find the cd. Follow the onscreen instructions

Replacing the drive is no big deal ( as you have already found out), just be careful when you remove the drive from the carrier and put in the new one, be careful of the pins, note the adaptor piece that goes from the drive pins to the slot in connections on the mother board , this fits only one way onto the drive . What I do now is take several digital pictures along the way so I always can refer to them

When I had to replace my drive last year I did not have the reinstall disk for XP ( I had it , just not with me). So I had to buy a new copy, bummer

Wish I could stop being tempted to edit !!, One thing when you have finished installing the os please first load your fire wall, and AV software, update it and then spend the time to go to windows update and get all the updates !! Hope you have a fast connection as this  can be a lengthy but vital process

Whymewhynot

Message Edited by whymewhynot on 10-17-2004 12:59 PM

Message Edited by whymewhynot on 10-17-2004 01:06 PM

Dear jongatera,

I just had a similar problem and I ran diagnostics, it showed up with all sorts of various problems.

once it failed the diagnostics and the next time it would not.

depending on the brand of HD, some of them typically make this noise, once in a while, but mine was doing just as yours.

I found it to be a corrupt file or sector, but was actually OS related, I reinstalled windows with a fresh partition and format. (it took 2 full, not quick but full formats to fix the problem),  really think the arm was sticking a bit among other things, but it does not necessarily mean the drive is bad. 3 years seems to be a short life, I have drives from 1992 that are still working as back up drives (second or slaves) I mean, and are doing well.

I think windows can become corrupt easily, especially if you use a PC or Laptop as we do, and install, un-install programs and move and delete files and folders often.

Try a reinstall, be sure you boot to your CD Rom drive for this fresh install, and do not  use quick format.

If this works you have saved yourself the cost of a drive, you will still have to reinstall software, if not, you still have to reinstall software, get what I mean?.

One important issue is can you retrieve your important data prior to formatting your drive, as you know you will lose anything on the drive.

feel free to email me at jholley@holleydesign.com, should you have any additional questions, be sure and use your user name and a subject "5000e hardrive post".

hope this helps

Luckily I managed to make a backup of my hard drive using Norton Ghost to an external firewire drive that I have. This completed about a minute before the whole thing stopped working so im hoping that if that worked, setting myself up on the new drive shouldnt be too much hassel. If all goes well I feel quite lucky that hopefully I wont have to go through the whole installing windows process. Will be ringing Dell tomoroow for a new drive.

Thanks everyone for your help and ideas :smileyhappy:

Jai

Jai,

It is worth a bit of time to try my idea, only to save a few bucks, that is if you can even get the drive to spin up at all.

As I indicated, mine was getting really noisy, and a few formats (the extra 2 times to be sure) was all it took to solve the problem.

just an FYI, I spoke with a great Dell tech today, and as I indicated, SP2 for window XP has been causing a few problems, for example.

We have 5 PC's and 3 laptops, all have been upgraded to SP2 and all worked fine, for about 2 weeks or so that is.

It seems that many are having issues with corruption of windows, after downloading and installing SP2, especially those who have been using the computers and programs for a while.

For some reason, it seems that XP operating well with a bunch of programs that work well, and have been for some time, just get mad when SP2 steps in, and we have done complete fresh installs and full program reloads on all our equipment, and since then, all is flawless. (knock on wood) LOL.

If your up to it, and you can get the drive to spin at all, it could save you a few bucks, but even so, I recommend a full re-install anyway, due to the SP2 issues, that is if your planning on using XP-SP2.

You can still pull your data files off the other drive and use them in a newly loaded invironment.

Good luck

JLH

I would be grateful if you could explain to me how a corrupt operating system can cause a HDD to report back on a dos based test that it not functioning ? If the drive refuses to spin up on boot the operating system would not even be involved !!

Regards whymewhynot