On Tue, 07 Aug 2007 19:19:23 GMT, "Dan"
<someone@sonewhere.com> wrote:


>I've had a crack at running Seagate's tools on the drive in question but it
>begins to scan and then the system freezes, so I've formatted another HDD in
>my system and installed that one in the PC in question but I'm still having
>problems. I did try to install Windows 2000 from scratch on the formatted
>drive (in the PC I'm having problems with) but again it begins setup and
>then freezes up.
>

So it's freezing with the questionable drive completely
removed? If you have another system handy you might see how
it responds to the drive, but otherwise I'd begin inspecting
capacitors and PSU. Who knows what might've happened,
something like an ESD event or the card was installed while
the system was soft-off (still partially powered).

HOWEVER, I feel the shop should address these problems, at
least return your PC to it's former working state without
the network card in it, if you're sure this all came about
as a result of their installing the NIC. I mean insist they
fix the problem at no cost to you or at least a bench
diagnostic determination of the problem for free and then
you can decide whether to spend $ at the shop for parts or
take the system home for another (shop or DIY) repairer.


>> A couple more things to try include clearing cmos, and
>> trying a fresh WinXP installation. When you were changing
>> the hard drives are you certain you had/have them jumpered
>> correctly?
>
>Tbh I totally forgot about including details of the hardware;
>
>Microstar MS6378 (Version 3) Motherboard
>Athlon XP 1800+ Processor
>256Mb RAM
>Seagate U Series 7 ST340012A 40Gb HDD
>Onboard Graphics

I'll again suggest checking the motherboard capacitors,
especially the larger ones around the CPU socket area. I
have had a similar MSI board from the same era succumb to
capacitor failure, forget the brand of caps it had on it but
they were definitely gold and green (Teapo or Hermai or GC
or something like that) before their next generation of
boards had started using (? think it was Rubycon caps). If
it is the capacitors, you might even ask them if they will
replace it, though it's no consolution if they would if you
need it operational ASAP.

>
>The fact that the machine is freezing between POSTing and loading the OS
>makes me think that this is a hardware issue as the problems seem to be
>occuring independant of the operating system, but the only common links I
>have left are the motherboard, or the power supply.
>

That will be true so long as it happens with the drives
disconnected. If you had not ran memtest86+ yet, leave a
floppy drive connected to run it or if it'll boot to USB, a
thumbdrive/etc made bootable with the DOS executible version
of memtest86+ on it.


>I've also tried clearing the CMOS but again no luck and the HDD is
>definatley jumpered correctly.

If you have a multimeter you might take voltage readings of
PSU. There are a lot more things that can potentially go
wrong when a system is being moved around (like a case
flexing and breaking some surface mount solder joints or
cracking a PCB) or subject to someone else working on it so
can't directly observe the details of the operation.

Yes, after the things mentioned it would be time to try to
isolate between PSU and motherboard. Beyond inspecting the
motherboard capacitors, you might also (unplugging PSU from
AC for at least several minutes first) take the PSU out,
open and inspect it for anything burnt, a failed fan, vented
capacitors... anything that looks wrong.



I've had rare cases where an Athlon XP was installed using
poor silicone heatsink grease which dryed up leaving
isolated islands of component, allowing the CPU to overheat,
but this is typically after it ran for quite a few minutes.
Regardless after it's been transported you might also gently
wiggle the heatisnk slightly to see if it feels firmly in
place.

You didn't mention the details of your PSU. If it is a
decent name-brand spec'd for at least 180W on the 3V+5V rail
(see it's label), I would suspect the board more than the
PSU but really it could be either. If it is something like
capacitors we can't blame the shop, but if it were the board
it is a bit suspicious unless the case is badly flexing or
some other unforseeable event.