The Great "Beat the Amber Hardware Issues to Death" Thread (split)

[Matagast]

Aloha Everyone,
I plan on setting the 2 HDDs in a RAID 1 configuration when i put this system together. It was a detail I left out of the original quote I put together. Sorry about that.

Update on the old compuweb:
The HDD's NTFS partition table is pretty scrambled. so far I haven't been able to recover anything other than scrambled files. I've been trying to use "GetDataBack for NTFS". When using the drive for an extended length of time it puts my computer into a hard lock.  It is quite frustrating.  The drive is a 120GB western digital.  The drive fails the western digital Diagnostic utility also fails the HDD S.M.A.R.T. Capability check in the bios.  I've almost lost all hope.

The other reason why we are building a new system and not just replacing the HDD is that the moboard is almost shot.  Most of the capacitors on the board are swollen and leaking electrolyte which causes the system to be polluted with dirty power and makes it increasingly unstable. This may have been part of the problem that caused the HDD corruption. Its not worth sinking any cash into an e-machine.  I will post a photo tomorrow of the mother board, along with some screen caps of what the file system looks like.

Oh yeah the the model of the e-machine is T2825 [emachines.com] for the people that wanted to know what she was running.

Let me know if you need any other information on anything.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Oh, that capacitor problem. I had four motherboards (bought as a group) all do that on me.

Not pretty. And yes, that probably did cause much of the other problems. Either that or both were caused by the same thing, but that's less likely - power spikes tend to take out the protective diodes, rather than the capacitors...

*cough* not that I really know that much about this level of stuff :-) Good luck with the raid...

[Gornemant]

Oh, that capacitor problem.

Dell GX270, I had this problem soooo many times >.< the worst was to actually FIND where the problem came from the first time with just "random crash or won't start when cold" description, weird thing was that all hardware tests went on no probs... and then you open the case and spot a bunch of capacitor slightly swollen... blargh [/mylife] 

[rt]

wow, that emachine wasn't a total piece of junk .. usually celerons inside. Sounds quite trashed inside 

Not trying to start the whole 'save the data' thing again. But I have a simialar spot on a hard disk that when accessed by any windows utillity (scandisk, defragmenter, disk check) locks up the computer. Ontrack EasyRecovery Pro got the data for me, but sounds like your drive is likely in a lot worse shape though (this drive still lives and passes test). A few people recommend Gibson's 'spin rite' for hopeless situaitions too if you are looking for options (sadly no demo version of that software)

TIA for the photos of the carnage 

[Aridas]

I've been trying to use "GetDataBack for NTFS". When using the drive for an extended length of time it puts my computer into a hard lock.

Could that be an issue with the drive itself? if so, you might end up just having to save it for a rainy day, and by rainy I mean raining money, so it can be taken down to the expensive people who do all the crazy stuff that normal guys like us aren't allowed (or safely capable) of doing... I'm probably just doing early morning rambling without thought though, but keep it in mind anyway.

[xHaZxMaTx]

Would you believe me if I said July was National information back-up month?

[JousterL]

A few people recommend Gibson's 'spin rite' for hopeless situaitions too if you are looking for options (sadly no demo version of that software)

TIA for the photos of the carnage 

It's spelled SpinRite. I've used it quite extensively. The problem is: That's for if her hard drive had developed a ton of bad sectors, or something was unreadable. It won't do anything for 'soft' problems (I.E. Involving the File System).

Now if the soft error is because it can't read the file system partition table because there's bad sectors lurking... you may be in luck with the program.

[Vidar]

The other reason why we are building a new system and not just replacing the HDD is that the moboard is almost shot.  Most of the capacitors on the board are swollen and leaking electrolyte which causes the system to be polluted with dirty power and makes it increasingly unstable.

Get rid of the mobo, now. Give it the screwdriver of d34th just to make sure it won't inflict itself on anyone else. Don't try to use the HD with it, you'll just cause more damage.

Add one more reason to build your own computer rather then buying a pre-build model: pre-build computers are full of cheap (as in 'not good')  hardware.

[Azlan]

Wow, you all weren't kidding about the title "Beat the Amber Hardware Isues to Death"... this thing is still going... like the free Cyrix MII I have, overclocked, watercooled and...slow.