dreamweaver79 wrote:
> I have been having the following trouble starting regularly about a month
> ago. When I go to start up my computer from cold (after not using for several
> hours, like overnight), then, almost as soon as I press the power button, I
> hear a sort of click sound from the HDD, like the read/write head is
> disengaging (or having trouble first reading), or has skipped, or something.
> It may do this two or three times, then it freezes, and I get the message on
> a black screen to insert boot media, or to press Ctrl+Alt+Delete to reboot.
> Other times it will just hang, or freeze when trying to first load Windows XP
> (due to not being able to read the HDD for some reason). When I reset or it a
> few times, then it will begin to load up normally.



You are unbelievably lucky not to have experienced a catastrophic
failure before now. While this streak of luck holds, you might want to
contemplate a trip to Las Vegas or purchasing a lottery ticket. ;-}



> Once it can begin loading
> Windows XP (Home), then all is fine, and I have absolutely no problem
> whatsoever for as long as the computer is on. No further hard drive problems,
> either, at all. When I go to warm restart, it also will reboot without any
> problems whatsoever. It is only upon cold boot. I did not install any
> hardware when the problem began occuring. Just an upgrade to Zone Alarm,
> which I undid to test if it had affected my computer, but I still got the
> same problem even when going to my original version. My computer is a Compaq
> Presario, 3 GHz, 250 GB HD, about 2 years old (and no Windows XP install disk
> came with it BTW).
>
> Could any of you give me any suggestions on this problem, and if anything
> can be done about it (and how)?


Your hard drive is failing. Replace it immediately.


> Could it be a corrupted boot sector or boot
> files?


Not as such, although the hard drive's physical problem could easliy
and permanently damage the portions of the drive on which such
information is stored.


> Could it be an error in CMOS or something?


No.


> Or a HDD problem?


Yes, yes, a thousand times, yes! Other than a couple of fans and the
CD/DVD drive, the hard drive is the only computer component with moving
parts. When moving parts start making abnormal sounds, it means that
those parts are no longer moving properly and/or according to design.
It means that those moving parts are hitting or rubbing something that
they shouldn't. In your specific case, it sounds like the armiture that
moves the hard drive's read/write heads in and out are bumping against
the outer edges of the rapidly spinning drive platters. Once the PC
warms up a little, some part expands enough to allow the armiture to
clear the platters. There is no solution for this other than to replace
the hard drive.


> Etc.?
> Should I just get a different hard drive,


Yes.

> .... or can this be salvaged?


No.


> Seems it
> would be a shame to trash this hard drive .....


The hard drive has already trashed itself; it's only a matter of time
before it trashes all of your data, as well. And new hard drives are
awfully inexpensive.


--

Bruce Chambers

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