Haaaallllp!

[Lost]

OK.  Need help from anyone who knows anything more than I do about computers which means all of you...LOL!

Sometimes my computer refuses to boot up and says:

"PRI HDD Error"

So far I've been able to use the "reset" button to get it to start.

It stopped doing it for a few weeks so I thought all was okay.  Now it has decided to throw fits again.

My son says he can take it apart and tighten the ide cable to solve the problem. 

He's pretty good at fixing all kinds of things but letting a 14 year old take apart my computer makes me a little bit nervous.  LOL! (I admit he could be right but with the expense involved I prefer to take my time in deciding.  His record in the past is either immense accomplishment or...Ooops!)  I don't care for the Ooops part. 

Unfortunately if it crashes Lost will no longer be able to post.  A new computer is out of the question for right now.

I did have one local technician say that for $100 he can replace my hard drive, that he thinks it is going...??  Son adamantly disagrees. 

I thought I'd see if anyone here had any thoughts first.  Maybe someone else has had the same problem?

Thanks!

Lost 

NOTE:  Son also claims this is why I keep getting knocked off line and for no reason the computer just stops working and needs rebooted.  (Doesn't happen too often, more lately.)

 

[waterwizard]

Your son could be right. It takes no time to take the cover off and push the cable back into the hard drive. I've had to do that before.
Trust him this time.

 

[Lost]

Computer is suddenly going very slow. Taking several minutes to load a post or do anything at all. Arrgh!

 

[lithium.]

It could be two things the hard drive is bad or going bad or the IDE cable is bad. But I believe its the hard drive.

 

[Lost]

Originally posted by seesaw
It could be two things the hard drive is bad or going bad or the IDE cable is bad. But I believe its the hard drive.

So you don't believe it can be a loose IDE cable?

   

 

[lithium.]

It could be but "
"PRI HDD Error" " looks like a hard driver error. But you could open the cause and push in the ide cables and see if that fixes the problem.

 

[Athlon4all]

Something is causing the Primary Hard Drive not to be fully detected, and seeing how it someties works and sometimes doesn't, I would agree with everyone else that some cable is loose. I would not woory about him breaking anything. The cable itself costs >$5, and It is veryr unlikely he could damage anything else.

EDIT: And aboyut the HD going, well, a Scandisk run could help answer that. I would for sure check the cable first then see, if the problem persists, then it is likely that the HD is going.

 

[Lost]

Thank you for your help!

I will let you know what happens.

RAR!

(I do regular maintenance: scanning and defrag)

 



  

 

 

[Lost]

I've been on-line for about 30 minutes now and not one problem today.

Arrrgh! (LOL)

Yesterday nothing worked right!

I am highly suspicious that the teens of the house overheated the computer while I was out yesterday!

 

[Lost]

Update:

I let son take computer apart and clean it. He said that the cable definitely needed tightened. Hopefully there will be no more problems.

Thank you for your help.

Lost

 

[TheBear]

I just wanted to reinforce the idea of a bad IDE cable. If pushing it around and "tightening" it changes the symptoms, I would definitely replace the cable.

 

[Lost]

I had it in for service. Son thinks they didn't put the cable back in tight.

Also, found out I had a software conflict.

It looks as though everything is okay....for now. LOL

Thank you everyone for your help. I will definitely be asking for more in the future.

 

[Lost]

Originally posted by TheBear
I just wanted to reinforce the idea of a bad IDE cable. If pushing it around and "tightening" it changes the symptoms, I would definitely replace the cable.

Hi Bear!

The "PRI HDD Error" came back two days ago.  I remembered what you said.  I obtained a new IDE cable and changed them yesterday.  My son found a "glitch" on the old one....I'm hoping that's the problem.

Something strange though, now some of the desktop icons are different colors! 

Will wait and see now if the obnoxious error goes away or if Lost has to buy a new hard drive.

Thanks again! 

 

 

[Lost]

Update:

No errors since changing IDE Cable.

"Houston, I think we have lift off!" LOL

Thank you everyone!