Hardware problem or virus?

Hi guys,

Ive got a problem, and im not quiet sure if its a virus or a hardware problem.

Okay the problem is my computer will turn off randomly throwing an error saying no bootable drive found.

Okay to fix it i would alway just wiggle (or take out and put back in) the IDE plug on the harddrive, This would fix it and the computer would boot.
Okay but it kept getting worse and worse happening more often and often and i started to get some bad sectors on the harddrive then it wouldnt boot at all even after the wiggle. Okay so i did a full format of the harddrive and the problem went away for a very long time.. Then after it happend again (i happend to have bought a new hdd by this time) i just unplugged the drive with the problem and installed windows (XP) on the new SATA hdd. Okay after a while same problem!?.. So now im thinking is it possibly a virus... i guess it could be something wrong with the motherboard (dirty connector or something) but i went to IDE to SATA which are diffrent plugs so it should have fixed it?



Any ideas?

 

Some more info,

Ive got Intel pentium 4 Dual core 2.8ghz

2gb ddr2 ram

Asus P5LD2 Deluxe Mother board (Intel 945P, Intel ICH7R chipset)

2 x 300gb HDD (sorry ive forgot the brands if you need me to look i can pull em out)

And running Windows XP (all updated)

Outpost v4.5
Karpesky 6 personal

Umm yeah i think thats all that could be relivant

 

Welcome to Wilders fatdunky.

This is an intermittant problem, so be prepared to trial and error.

How often does it happen?

Next time it does it, try just rebooting without touching anything.

Try a new cable.

You are not using a SATA-to-PATA adapter are you like the RocketHead100?

You could try updating the motherboard BIOS. Make a backup of the BIOS first.
Wouldn't hurt to back up your data either.
Check motherboard forums for similar issues.

If your motherboard has multiple HD controller chips, you could hook it up to the other controller.

Possible flakey power supply.

Possible temperature issue, check if all fans are operating normally, especially the chipset fan.

These are just some things.
Try only one at a time.

 

I can't add much to Devinco's advice other than to say it does not sound like a malware problem, it sounds like you've got something killing hard drives (unless you were just unlucky enough to get a bad drive for the replacement, which is entirely possible). If you start losing a bunch of sectors on the newer drive, you might see about RMA'ing it to get a replacement (I assume it's new enough to still be under warranty).

Since Devinco mentioned the power supply, I might also mention the power itself. If the electrical wiring in your house isn't that great, ie your lights flicker a lot and such, then one thing that could help is a UPS. These often do line conditioning, which could really help. Dirty power like that can definitely hurt your computer.

A new cable very definitely sounds like a must in this scenario, however, and is very cheap.

 

Cool thanks for the advise guys, I'll try those. =)

 

Hey guys,
Ive tried a new cable and all that still getting the problem.
tried not touching anything after a crash and it wont restart says "unbootable drive..ect..ect"
Ive checked all fans are working.. But my chipset doesnt have a fan, (just a tall heat sink). The heat sink it hot, but not burning my hand hot heh.
Umm power supply. Well i guess ill have to buy a new power box to test that out. But otherwise the power to my house seems allright (no flickering lights ect)
I'll try the motherboard update next..

But yeah still getting the problem

 

Temp problem. Get a fan on that CPU HS.

 

Well my acutal cpu has a fan. By i ment the errr.... umm other smaller chips that are built in with the mb that usually have a fan/hs on them. (i thought they were called chipset).

But anyway im getting a fan to put on it anyway, Anyone know a good way to make a fan stay ontop of a heat sink?