The case of the achy-breaky shaky hard drive

[mendhak]

This one's about my dying, ageing, practically falling apart, 8-year old.

My 8 year old computer that is.

Every once in a while, the computer will just lock up. Whatever's on the screen, remains on the screen. The mouse doesn't move, it doesn't respond to keyboard shortcuts.

It was a fluke, but I discovered that I had to whack the CPU cabinet hard, or shake it a bit to the sides really fast. I would then hear the sound of a hard drive whirring to life, and normal functioning of the computer would resume. As if nothing had happened! (Don't ask how)

So it's pretty obvious that it's a problem with the hard drive. But what is the problem exactly? What is causing it to lock up? And why does it start working when I do a Soprano on it?

And most importantly... how long before <gasp> it dies?

[Lightning]

Proberbly the "engine" of you HD is broken, it might never really stop, but it can be that is stops at this moment. I would buy a new HD put it in the old PC. That works and you PC should work for another 8 years (or so)

[wossname]

Open the case and wait for the problem to occur again, then carefully wiggle the power and data cables into the hard drive.

Or if that doesnt work do what they had to do when the Apple II came out, Hold it about 18" off your patio and then drop it. But since IBM compats are so much better, you may have to hurl it out of an upstairs window.

[wossname]

By the way, is this the same machine that had the dodgy fan?

If so, then I think its time for the captive-bolt gun and the screens.

[mendhak]

It sure is. Dodgy fan, memory slots falling apart, mother board more ancient than the pyramids, an upside-down power terminal (long story), a floppy drive in a permanent state of "lights on", and I found an icthyosaurus fossil in there yesterday too.

I believe I'll be trying out the Apple 2 solution as soon as I get all my data backed up.

Then I'll honor it with a proper burial.

[wossname]

Viking Longboat style or a bin-liner in the alley?

I've got a bugle if you want to do the "Last Post" (Last Power-On-Self-Test).

*wossy grins in satisfaction at his feeble pun*