need failure diagnosis help: drives disappear (1 Viewer)

[tomtom21000]

TV-Server Version:
MediaPortal Version: 1.0.0.0RC4
MediaPortal Skin:
Windows Version: Windows XP, SP2
CPU Type: AMD 3500+ Venice
HDD: Samsung Spinpoint 160GB + 400 GB SATA
Memory: 1GB RAM
Motherboard: Asus A8V-E Wifi on board + passive NB-cooler
Video Card: MSI NX6600TD 256 Mbit PCI-E passive
Video Card Driver:
Sound Card: onboard ALC850 AC''97
Sound Card AC3: ---
Sound Card Driver:
1. TV Card: Hauppauge PVR USB2
1. TV Card Type: analog
1. TV Card Driver:
2. TV Card:
2. TV Card Type:
2. TV Card Driver:
3. TV Card:
3. TV Card Type:
3. TV Card Driver:
4. TV Card:
4. TV Card Type:
4. TV Card Driver:
MPEG2 Video Codec:
MPEG2 Audio Codec:
h.264 Video Codec:
Satelite/CableTV Provider: cable
HTPC Case: HFX Media PC passive Imon VFD
Cooling:
Power Supply: Silverstone 300W fanless
Remote: Imon-pad +Hauppauge 34 button
TV: Toshiba LCD 42" WL66Z
TV - HTPC Connection:

O.K. guys,

I could need a little help with failure diagnosis.

I have this wonderful HFX case, but since some month I have trouble with disapearing drives.

And it is very hard to change anything on the system because the case is extemely heavy, I have to undo alle the wiring and inside it is hard to remove anything for exchange. This leads often to the situation that you have to remove everything in order to reach the according srews. For this reason, I'd like to be more sure about the right step to do.

What happened?

My 2nd 400GB HD disapeared. I changed it for another one. It worked O.K for some time.
Now my DVD-drive disapeared. Somtimes it would be there again after one or more restarts. But that wasn't the case now for at least 30 restarts.
Also my new hard-drive started to disapear. This can even happen during watching a video from this drive. Also, when running my update from the external drive, there are often windows messages about data-losses.

So, I am fairly sure, that the drives are O.K.
But what can cause this? The controller, the motherboard, the cable? What should I exchange.

Any help is very appreciated!






tomtom


To see my system-details, please

look into "my system"

or here https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/completed-htpc-projects-61/noise-less-fan-less-htpc-2659/

 

[Paranoid Delusion]

So this is currently affecting 2 drives, am i correct.

Would be strange to have two go down simultaneously, can you confirm whether ide or sata, if ide, and they both use the same cable, would suspect that first.

Secondly I might suspect a driver corrupted, so if you have a Windows image to restore, might be tempted to do that.

Third, your really unlucky and have 2 faulty drives, last 6 months have had a seagate HDD fail twice (same one, brand new) and a LG DVD Rewriter go west 2 weeks later as well, so its not in the realm of impossible.

good luck with finding the cause.

 

[flokel]

For a passively cooled pc my guess is that something overheats (maybe the southbridge),
put some fans into the case and check if the problem still exists.

edit:

looked closer at the pictures:
your SB has no cooler at all ?
Besides I'd never cool a pc completely passiv,
via heat pipes you may keep the hottest parts adaquately cool,
but every mosfet, capacitor, ic relies on a little air flow.
Using a good fan you can achive this without raising the noise level.

 

[tomtom21000]

Thank you for your help. Just to inform you about the solution:

It was the cables. 3 weeks after my repair everything still works again as it should, so I think the problem is solved!

Problem 1 was a sata cable which was too loosely connected. I had another one with an metal clip that gives a tighter hold for the connection

Problem 2 was the other sata cable for the HD. Problem there was that the sata connetion of the motherboard was exactly under the cable plug of the power supply so I cut off the upper half of the sata connector and bent the loose wires which caused problems (did not remember this Now I let the connector intact but bent the whole connector to go to the side of the power supply plug. Doesn't look very trustfully either, but seems to work.

BTW, flokel: A completely silent HTPC is really a great thing. It has a very high WAF, which is important
There is a 92 mm emergency fan that starts when the temperature exceeds a defined value. In rare cases it starts but in general the heat conduction of the case is really good.

tomtom

 

[flokel]

BTW, flokel: A completely silent HTPC is really a great thing. It has a very high WAF, which is important
There is a 92 mm emergency fan that starts when the temperature exceeds a defined value. In rare cases it starts but in general the heat conduction of the case is really good.

As said, active cooling does not have to produce noticable noise,
a (3,5") hard disk is always louder than a good, slow running fan