PC Hard Drive Fail?

[Googlebonker]

Literally.

I would like to know if you think my PC`s Hard Drive Disk has experienced a failure.

I have a HDD that had corrupted files, probably due to the disgustingly high rate of power outages (many a matter of 3 seconds or less) we`ve experienced in this house.

I reinstalled Windows 7 onto my HDD on a second partition. If you`ve read my forum title (or whatever it is), you know we do not have cable or DSL Internet atm. I went to family members` home recently, and downloaded and updated files on my PC. Things were fine (except maybe some seemingly slow loading times and/or some program(s) and/or file(s) processing and slowing down my PC for seemingly no good reason) until I updated Windows.

IIrc, I ran into problems while I was updating Windows, including a crash. I downloaded and updated some more stuff, including FFXIV (a game, if you didn`t know). I played FFXIV, and during my first Quest, it crashed. I tried again. It crashed. I tried gain. It crashed.

I went back home. I booted up my PC, and it began crashing while I was doing other things. I booted up Windows in Safe Mode. I thought it was working well. I Uninstalled video card drivers (one of the final things I updated on my PC on that trip). I booted Windows again. It crashed again.

Later, I booted up Windows in Safe Mode. It crashed in Safe Mode. I went back into Safe Mode and ran a System Restore. It crashed during the System Restore. I tried to go back into Safe Mode. It crashed while loading drivers for Safe Mode.

I attached my parents` HDD to my PC. It was running Windows Vista. I Installed my graphics card`s drivers. It didn`t crash, even when I played videos.

Does this seem like a HDD failure to you? I don`t care too much if I need to replace my HDD, as I had most of my personal files backed up. Is it possible that areas of the second partition on my HDD were damaged without me knowing it, and I installed configuration files on a damaged part of my HDD?

[Ark22]

I read power outage and reinstalling and can already tell you it may be screwed up. BUT HEY HDD are going cheap :P

[Googlebonker]

I do have ONE more thing to add.

Why was my PC clicking 3 or 4 times when I started it up with my parents` HDD? The clicks were rhythmic, about 2 or 3 seconds apart. Was it revving up? Was it restarting two and three times? Is there another problem I`m not aware of?

[Mantiskilla]

I do have ONE more thing to add.

Why was my PC clicking 3 or 4 times when I started it up with my parents` HDD? The clicks were rhythmic, about 2 or 3 seconds apart. Was it revving up? Was it restarting two and three times? Is there another problem I`m not aware of?

Yeah thats the disc inside the drive trying to spin man. When it's corrupted or just flat out old it wears out and eventually slows down loading times, freezes your pc, or worse you'll crash (blue screen) from time to time. If you know you have some corruption already i wouldn't hesitate to get a new HDD while you still can run your current one so you can transfer files if you need em

[Googlebonker]

But why would it click with both my HDD AND my parents` HDD?

Update!

I unplugged my computer`s HDD, DVD RW drive, processor fan, processor power, 2 additional fans, and 3 RAM cards. I attached another PC`s power supply (which has four less pins, btw), and the yellow LED2 light was STILL on. o_o; There`s not something wrong with my motherboard, is there? lol

I turned my computer on WITHOUT the hard drive plugged into the computer. It clicked four times (and the power light went off and on each time)

>_>; *looked over at PC* Uhm... The motherboard stopped? Does the motherboard have an inactivity timer? The yellow LED2 went out. *flipped power supply`s power switch off, waited a bit, then turned it back on* The yellow LED2 is back on.

[Mantiskilla]

Sorry I failed to mention that sometimes clicking can be due to registry in HDD trying to figure out what's registered correctly with your BIOS. Something could be wrong with your motherboard or more importantly your BIOS or system clock. All those things can contribute to why your motherboard isn't working properly. If its the BIOS that can be reset but you have to unplug everything from your motherboard (HDDs, memory, unplug power supply, video card, etc). If it's the system clock well that can be a bit more tricky to fix

[Googlebonker]

Okay, I took off power and data transfer cords, RAM, graphics card, and the processor. I also took out the motherboard battery. All of Those were unattached for about 25 minutes. While things were unattached, I pressed the RESET CMOS button. IIrc, when I had things reattached and the power cord was in, (power attached, LED4 lit blue and LED2 lit yellow, but power button on front not pressed to turn it on) I used the RESET CMOS button again.

The LED2 is still yellow! O_O

Interestingly enough, though, it`s been at least 20 minutes, and it hasn`t crashed.

It was kind odd when I turned it on, though. It looked like it reset itself twice. The third time, it clicked four times. I reset the clock in "Standard CMOS Features," Save and Exit, and the motherboard reset. I`m not sure if it started clicking again or not.

Remember: My HDD is not attached to the motherboard, power or data. I can use my parent`s HDD to test things.

Why is the LED2 light still on? What do I do now?

[Mantiskilla]

I'm not to sure why your LED2 light is still on but every motherboard is different. I would suggest searching for your board's model # and looking up some troubleshooting questions. Maybe you'll find an answer there. Glad that the PC hasn't crashed since then though which again probably means you had a registry issue or BIOS/CMOS issue

[Googlebonker]

Thank you for trying to help, though! n_n You might be right. Maybe I`ll go to the EVGA forums.

I attached my HDD again. It seemed to be loading faster (motherboard), starting up Windows was slow, but the image and icons seemed to load quickly after the screen changed from the Welcome sequence.

Guess what happened shortly after! IT CRASHED! :O
I loaded the Setup (pressed Delete), and it crashed (without going into Windows).

Powe off, I took out the battery for about 10 mins and reset CMOS again. Battery back in, detached the HDD, and went into Setup again Set clock again. Restarted. I`m back into Setup again, and it hasn`t crashed for about 42 minutes. O_O

The LED2 light is still yellow. lol *looked in* Hey, the little thing with clock-looking numbers has "00."

It`s an EVGA X58 SLI Micro motherboard.

Update!

If I`m presuming correctly, all I will need to do is get a new HDD. I read online, and it seems my motherboard`s LED2 means that the power to the motherboard was on, which was strange considering it WASN`T on after I plugged in my power source and flipped the switch on the back of my power source on. It should have turned on AFTER I turned the power to the motherboard on.

I turned the power to my motherboard off, and the yellow light went out. I`m presuming that the HDD was somehow causing my motherboard`s BIOS and/or CMOS to mess up.

I hope I`m right.

[Mantiskilla]

Yeah that could be the case. It could be due to windows being installed on that HDD and with the reset of your BIOS the registry for windows could be off from your motherboard. Therefore in some cases re-installing windows could fix the matter. I would try that as a last resort though b/c it also could be that the Master Boot Record (which is made by installing windows) is failing which that tends to lead to Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) crashes or freeze crashes

[Googlebonker]

That`s not good. :/

I attached my parents` HDD again, and it crashed. o_o;

I`m thinking now that it is NOT my HDD. I can still replace it though, because I think it actually was damaged.

I know I can`t start my motherboard without my power supply, processor, and RAM. I can`t see Setup without my graphics card.
Now, how do I test the components of my computer to see what is wrong? If nothing else I`d like to salvage what I can from it.