Faulty CPU or HDD or what?

Dear all,

Anybody assist on this problem

Crucial 512M memory

AMD 2300+ processor

Gigabyte 7VM400M-RZ baord

Radeon Graphics

Maxtor 40GB HDD


Using XP Pro

Ok - Built this system originally with a PC Chips M848A board. However it had an intermittent problem in that it lost the HDD drive when powered down and wouldn't reset until it was redetected in the BIOS.

Assumed it was the Motherboard so I got the Gigabyte.

Now I have another similar intermittent problem. If I clock the processor to 133/166Mhz It losses the HDD - as in POST message Primary master HDD failure. If I do manage to get it into XP if I access something like a Data CD I get three beeps (dee der dee der dee der) and a total crash out.

If I clock to 100Mhz, system detects everything fine and seems to work OK for a while. But if I disconnect power for a couple of seconds eventually the same fault as Primary master HDD failure will occur again.

I have used the Maxtor diagnostics software and the HDD passes all the tests.

Any ideas out there I have run out of them and just want to take a sledge hammer to the lot of it !!!!! ranting.gif

 

That sounds as if you're cycling the power rather quickly. Not a good idea. It can mess things up.

Does your problem appear when you turn the power off and keep it off for 30 seconds before you re-connect the power?