computer help: IDE HDD and SATA DVD drive: why does the computer freeze up on start-up?
February 26, 2008 6:58 AM Subscribe
Would IDE HDD and SATA DVD drives confuse each other on boot up? How do I tell if my dvd drive is mucked up?
My dvd drive finally crapped out on me after 2 years, so I went out and got a new one. While looking, I saw the SATA one wasn't any more expensive than the Ultra IDE one, so I got it. I'd bought a SATA HDD and a IDE one for storage when I built the rig 2 yrs before, though the SATA crashed and burned about 4 months after I got it. Living in Japan and the warranty being for the US, a $50 HDD wasn't worth the hassle to mail it back to be checked out and all that, so I made do with my IDE one.
Anyways, after getting the dvd drive, things were going ok for a month or so, then it started freezing quite a bit and I'd have to restart. Eventually, it got to the point that the computer would freeze on the XPC splash screen and not do anything. Upon booting, it will show the graphics card info, then go to the Shuttle XPC splash screen and freeze. On a normal boot, it would then try to boot from the dvd drive, but since there's never anything bootable there, it moves on to the HDD. After unplugging the dvd drive, everything works AOK. So it's probably something to do with my dvd drive. Do you think it's a bad drive, or are the SATA and IDE confusing each other and something's messed up? Any suggestions are much appreciated.
My dvd drive finally crapped out on me after 2 years, so I went out and got a new one. While looking, I saw the SATA one wasn't any more expensive than the Ultra IDE one, so I got it. I'd bought a SATA HDD and a IDE one for storage when I built the rig 2 yrs before, though the SATA crashed and burned about 4 months after I got it. Living in Japan and the warranty being for the US, a $50 HDD wasn't worth the hassle to mail it back to be checked out and all that, so I made do with my IDE one.
Anyways, after getting the dvd drive, things were going ok for a month or so, then it started freezing quite a bit and I'd have to restart. Eventually, it got to the point that the computer would freeze on the XPC splash screen and not do anything. Upon booting, it will show the graphics card info, then go to the Shuttle XPC splash screen and freeze. On a normal boot, it would then try to boot from the dvd drive, but since there's never anything bootable there, it moves on to the HDD. After unplugging the dvd drive, everything works AOK. So it's probably something to do with my dvd drive. Do you think it's a bad drive, or are the SATA and IDE confusing each other and something's messed up? Any suggestions are much appreciated.
just brainstorming here:
maybe check the bios settings and make sure there's not some hidden boot order setting that's mucking things up?
if not, since it's a shuttle, maybe check the Sudhian SFF (small form factor) forums? there's a big shuttle community there. (forum link)
posted by sharkfu at 8:48 AM on February 26, 2008
maybe check the bios settings and make sure there's not some hidden boot order setting that's mucking things up?
if not, since it's a shuttle, maybe check the Sudhian SFF (small form factor) forums? there's a big shuttle community there. (forum link)
posted by sharkfu at 8:48 AM on February 26, 2008
That sort of SATA/PATA miscommunication wouldn't happen slowly. It just wouldn't work when you installed it.
Probably the DVD drive is misbehaving and not handing over boot control to the hard drive quickly enough.
posted by gjc at 8:47 PM on February 26, 2008
Probably the DVD drive is misbehaving and not handing over boot control to the hard drive quickly enough.
posted by gjc at 8:47 PM on February 26, 2008
Response by poster: Sorry I didn't clarify more in the OP: I'm running WinXP on a little shuttle box. The splash screen is what comes up during the boot process right after the graphics card info at the very beginning, kinda like Sony's Vaio or whatnot, right before it tries to boot from a drive.
I'll try the bios settings, sharkfu, and see if it changes anything.
posted by Jhoosier at 9:56 PM on February 26, 2008
I'll try the bios settings, sharkfu, and see if it changes anything.
posted by Jhoosier at 9:56 PM on February 26, 2008
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by thomas144 at 7:56 AM on February 26, 2008