Dell 4600 being stupid

[shovenose]

Got this as a freebie - It would either make terrible beeping noises upon startup (turned out to be girinding from the hard drive not a beep from the mobo), then not boot up at all. Or BSOD after trying to load (safe mode did the same thing).

The hard drive is a HDS722580VLAT20. I put it in their computer about 2-3 years ago, loaded XP on it, and apparently the computer worked fine more many months. Then they moved it to a different house and it apparently hasn't worked since - probably physical shock causing failure...

So, whatever I dust out the PC, replace the PSU with a recapped FSP/SPI just in case the PSU is causing problems (a little rusty and dusty but no bad caps but I still replaced it), put in a Maxtor IDE 100GB drive. Pop in my Server 2003 drive, do an NTFS quick format, and get a bunch of file copy errors. I skip failed files (despite) dire warnings that setup might fail if I did it...

Anyway, needless to say, I got a BSOD after it restarted to run setup. So I remove the drive, set is from Cable Select to Master, now I'm doing a non-quick-format and hoping it works. However, I'm concerned there might be another problem with the PC since it's being stubborn installing the OS...

EDIT: still file copy errors. What can I try? I'm going to try to put the Shitachi back in...
All caps look OK.

Edit2: Shitachi drive isn't making too many weird noises, and is doing a non-quick-format right now.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Dell 4600 being stupid

Memtest

[shovenose]

Re: Dell 4600 being stupid

Now that's a good idea - didn't think of that!
If this won't install I'll try that...

Could the DVD drive be faulty?
The CD drive under it won't read at all... weird...

[ratdude747]

Re: Dell 4600 being stupid

bad caps? the 4600 was notorious for bad psu caps (they made a top xx list for the worst computers ever made over the issue).

hope you can fix it, as my mom has a 4600, and with a better/fixed psu, they are great boxes... lots of usb, good audio, SATA, agp 8x, and 4x ddr (for a dell, that is nice, better than 2). they are also both prescott and HT compatible (I put a 2.8 ghz 533 prescott in my mom's, runs nice).

[shovenose]

Re: Dell 4600 being stupid

Well, I'm running memtest86 bootable CD as we speak (type?)
PSU was checked for bad caps. None, however, due to rust and dust, I put in a re-capped tested-good SPI(FSP) 250-watter...

It failed even with the formatted 80GB Shitachi.
I doubt both HDDs are bad in the same sector(s?)
The first file to fail copying to the HDD was authm.somethingorother both HDDs...
bad CD/drive?


The 4600 have pretty good CPU support, and yes I like a 4 memory slots (unusual on these Dells)
I've got a 4600 as Server #2 in my closet running Windows Server 2003 - a bit on the slow side by reliable as fuck...


EDIT!: Memtest looks fine. I cleaned my Server 2003 CD and am trying again...

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Dell 4600 being stupid

Yup.
A bum CD or drive would be my next guess.
Might just be a case where 'that' drive doesn't like 'that' CD too.
.

[shovenose]

Re: Dell 4600 being stupid

My Windows Server 2003 disc might be bad. Lubuntu installed w/o a hitch.

[c_hegge]

Re: Dell 4600 being stupid

Could also be that the drive is unusually sensitive to scratches. I've seen that a lot of times. Try installing windows with another DVD drive.

EDIT: You supplied a Deathstar?

[shovenose]

Re: Dell 4600 being stupid

EDIT: You supplied a Deathstar?

[ratdude747]

Re: Dell 4600 being stupid

EDIT: You supplied a Deathstar?

its hitachi, not IBM... I am quite happy with my 40gb one...

(edit- I saw his other thread, his may be a different story.,.. mine was a 2005 model, is a 2003).