[BC] A puzzling computer problem

[Neal Newman]

  WOW  I just had the same thing happen on 2 PC's here at My Home.
  so now I have 2  that are totally dead and wont bootup or turn on  
the monitor.
  Freaky .. my machines were also about 5 years old.
On Dec 5, 2005, at 10:56 AM, Kevin Trueblood wrote:

> Something very odd just happened to me, and I'm starting to wonder  
> something:
>
> Is it possible for a hard drive to corrupt a motherboard and/or  
> power supply?
>
> Here's the scenario:
>
> I bought a Western Digital 80GB drive for a computer a while back.   
> It took a few times cloning the drive since I couldn't get the  
> computer to boot from it.  After running FDISK /mbr it booted and  
> has worked fine for about a month.  Last weekend the computer it  
> was in completely died.  Wouldn't even power up.  After it sat for  
> a few days for kicks I started it up.  Well, it powered up, but the  
> BIOS froze before even scanning for drives.  This computer was  
> about 5 years old, and was in failing health anyway.
>
> Yesterday I acquired a faster 1.7Ghz machine that has a little more  
> muscle behind it.  It had a 60GB drive already in it with Windows  
> XP, and I booted it up and worked great with Windows XP.  Because I  
> had a lot of software and files on this 80GB drive that I didn't  
> want to copy and reconfigure on a new computer (the 80GB has  
> Windows 98SE) I wanted to use that drive on the new computer.  I  
> got all the drivers that I needed so Windows 98 would run on that  
> new machine.
>
> I install the hard drive and it boots up great.  However, the  
> Windows 98 splash screen shows and it locks up.  Weird.  So I  
> double checked the settings and went to boot it up again.   
> Nothing.  It powers up, but I get no screen and no activity.   
> Double weird.  I remove the 80GB hard drive and hook the 60GB that  
> came with it up.  Now I get a
>
> BEEEEEEEEEEP
>
> BEEEEEEEEEEP
>
> BEEEEEEEEEEP
>
> BEEEEEEEEEEP
>
> BEEEEEEEEEEP
>
> That's a power supply error, right?
>
> It only did that once.  The rest of the time it powers up but then  
> hangs without even turning the monitor on.  I see the Network card  
> link light in a steady on, off, on, off, in the same rhythm that  
> the computer would be beeping.
>
> Considering that this happened to a second, perfectly good  
> computer, only after I installed a hard drive from dead computer  
> makes me wonder if something is wrong with that 80GB drive that  
> could cause it to fail.  But is that even possible?  Could it  
> corrupt the BIOS?
>
> I'm at a loss here...any insight from the brain trust?
>
> Kevin Trueblood
> Director of Operations
> AAA Entertainment Radio Group - Bloomington, Il
> Program Director
> WYST/Star 107.7
> 309-888-4496
> kevint at aaabloomington.com
>
> _______________________________________________
> This is the BROADCAST mailing list
> To send to the list, email: broadcast at radiolists.net
> For sub changes, archives and info on this other lists: http:// 
> www.radiolists.net/
>