OK, I removed the drive and put it in a USB external encloser, so far after
many hours of being on last nite and today it has not started its crap. The
only thing on that power line was my main drive and a floppy drive that was
not in use so should not have used any power. Would haveing 2 hard drives on
one power line be a problem ? It will take some moving stuff around to put it
on another line but do-able !
"Paul" wrote:
> sixpack wrote:
> > My second hard drive started what sounds like its shutting down and
> > restarting and it does it over and over again, its a click and the sound of
> > the disk spinning over and over. Nothing shows up on screen and not sure
> > where or what to check. I unplugged the second drive and the problem goes
> > away so I'm sure that the problem drive.
> >
> > Any Ideas ?
> >
> > Thanks
>
> It could be a power problem. A bad power cable (burned pins on the Molex)
> is one way. Having too many loads on a length of cable from the power
> supply, is another way (I got the spin down/spin up when I had my video card
> and a hard drive, on the same power cable.) A bad power supply is another
> possibility (+5V or +12V, on the low side, will trigger HD restarts).
>
> It could also be a defect in the disk itself, such as an inability to get
> key information below track 0. The drive has some information, such as
> the spares tables and the like, which are stored on the platters (in a
> non-user area). An inability to access those areas, could cause the drive
> to repeatedly restart. It is unfortunate that disks won't respond, unless
> they are a little bit functional, because if the drive did respond at all
> times, it could be telling you right now, what it is having trouble with.
> But they don't design IDE disks that way.
>
> To eliminate power as an issue, try the disk on another computer. Or, if
> you don't have another computer, a less useful test case is using a USB
> enclosure with the drive, if you have one. I'd prefer though, to connect
> the disk to an internal cable on the second computer, as more diagnostic
> programs may work with an internal hookup. If it stops the spin down/spin up
> thing, you can download a disk diagnostic program from the disk manufacturer's
> web site. Not all manufacturers provide software, but some do.
>
> Paul
> .
>