Paul
snip

The floppy version of Memtest86 has no reason to go near the IDE
controller. If you used the ISO CDROM image, then the BIOS has routines
in it (INT13 routines?), to bootstrap code off an IDE device.
Maybe Memtest86 uses INT13 and the BIOS in both cases.
OK, I've re run Memtest86 as I was doing Saterday when it died. The IDE
light did not blink this time and 2.5 hours of testing and no error's, as
there was error's before (about 1 hour 45 minutes in) I guess that shows the
bad power was going into the board at least to a small effect. I plan to
overclock it a bit and re-run the test.

I did have one problem but I think it's more of a damaged file in the game
then hardware, at least I hope. While playing Far Cry last night it kept
locking up with a message that the video card had stopped getting signals
(ATI 8500 LE) and wanted to send a problem report to ATI. CPU temp was up
about 120F and it re-booted. I'll re-install the game as soon as I get a
working DVD drive. One additional issue with the damaged parts, my MS
Office 2003, Far Cry & Splinter Cell Pandora's all are on DVD"s so I'm stuck
till then or barrow more from my parents till the end of the month. In the
mean time I'll re-install Directx and the newest ATI driver pack and try
again.


You are assuming here, that the damage was caused by accesses to
the IDE interface. I don't see any reason to suspect that. Since you
mention a burnt smell, this could be purely a power supply problem
that killed a bunch of stuff. The logic on the drives is done with
+5V, and maybe that is the voltage that went out of spec. (+12V
could probably take a bit more abuse, as the motor and actuator
would get power from there.)
As this supply has a -12V issue, wouldnt that mean they were exposed to
"bad" 12V and possable that's the reason the lights were flickering?
And that exposure cause the damage and issue mentioned above?


more snip

As you've been doing a lot of testing on the components, it sounds
like that hasn't happened so far. Only the DVD drive sounds a
bit scary.
Yes, it and the 40 GB drive and the video issue mentioend above at this
point looks like it. Now to see what they say about replaicing the parts.




Maybe the power supply wasn't the
part at fault, and it got hot because of an overload coming from
something plugged into it.
Well, I did have a lot connected but that's why I got a 520Watt. Before
it
died it had 4 Hdd's/2 cd-roms/video It ran in that configuration almost
24/7
for over 38 day's before it quit. It quit while running Memtest86 so it
wasnt really doing all the stuff it does when running Windows. I just
started having problems with it the saterday it died. The night before I
watched Xmen 2 on it.

I've measured the power comsumption on my computer while running
memtest86, and it isn't the hottest test you can run. In terms of
total power, on my puny Radeon 8500 equipped system, I find 3DMark
draws about the same current from the wall as Memtest86.
I'll have to download 3dmark and run it. What are your spec's? so I can
compare.


On a P4 system, the processor uses +12V for the motherboard Vcore
switching supply, so any processor intensive activity can draw up to
8 amps or so from +12V. The DIMMs generally draw a smaller amount
of power, at about 5W for an active DIMM. On a single channel, only
one DIMM can be kept active at a time, so the total power of all
DIMMs is less than N*5W. The DIMM circuit could be a small switcher
as well, and run off +5V. That isn't enough current to worry about.
I'm running a matched set of Kinsgston 512Mb's in dual channel.


Maybe the Powmax isn't good for as much +12V as it claims ?
Tomshardware.com has had the odd article on PSUs and whether
they live up to their specs or not.
I guess after I do this bit more testing I'm going in search of rticles
about powmax's.

sniped

Hmm. Doesn't look good for the DVD player. In the BIOS, do the
brand name and model number of the drive show up in the IDE section
of the BIOS ?
Yes, An interesting point here, in XP Hardware property's, the video card
properties sheet say's it cant get info from the "CDS". I forgot to go ask
what that was over in the ATI newsgroup.

To get that info, the BIOS has to be able to draw
a few bytes of data across the cable, and that will help determine
whether it is completely dead.

No idea on the wiggly video. It really should either work or just
be dead.
Well, every now and then the screen streaches out horazontaly tot he point
that the cloxk and the start button are outside the monitors area then pop
they flash back in. I have the refresh rate set high but it's been that way
for a long time without issue. It normally runs from 80 to 100 hertz and the
Optiquest V95 has been rock solid since i got it back in 96 or so.


For a disk drive, I would try to find a program that checks the disk
surface for CRC errors. A "scandisk" or "chkdisk" type program probably
does more than that, and all you really want is something that just
reads every sector.
I've run a couple, found a lot of lost files and two director's. Looks like
I'm in for a reformat and reinstall as soon as the dvd issue is resolved.


Disk drives contain spare sectors per track, and for a simple failed
sector, the bad one will be "spared out" by the controller. That is why
most of the time, you cannot observe problems happening to your disk.
(The level of sparing or problems can sometimes be observed by running
something like HDTach or another disk benchmarking program. If the
"bandwidth" versus "position of the head on the disk" plot is not
smooth, the valleys in the plot could be indicating a large amount of
sparing activity, which would slow the disk down. This really depends
on whether the spare sectors are on the same track or somewhere else in
the same cylinder. I don't know what sparing policy is used on today's
dense disks.)
I hope to check it again after the re-format and find it's just some bad
files from the loss of power.


If CRC errors show up now, it means a previously recorded sector is
damaged. A worst case scenario, would be the head writing over the
embedded servo information, but chances are that would give some other
kind of error. If the CRC errors are all over the disk, then maybe
the disk heads or head amplifiers got damaged by an out of spec +5V.
No, only a few, most of the disk read's good and Norton found the missing
files and dir's and created files on the root for them.


If you have valuable data on the disk, the first thing to do is
try to make a bit by bit copy of the disk, to another disk. Then,
you can do whatever kind of testing you want to the questionable
disk. For example, some disk manufacturers have a test program that
they insist users run, before returning a disk under warranty.
Yes, I have Maxtors and WD's programs, ran already, all but the 40 GB are
ok.

Those
programs generally don't test the entire surface of the disk, but
may pop up a fancy error code, indicating a hardware failure of
some sort. If you are certain all valuable data on the disk is
backed up, you could try reformatting it, and then see what shape
it is in. If the electronics are damaged, the disk will probably
hang with the drive LED lit, while attempting the format.
I did this with the 40 GB and now on bootup Smart drive say's it's going to
fail and I should replace it asap. All the rest but the SATA are ok now.


Based on my comments, I think you can see that I don't expect your
drive to be good for anything but a paper weight. Something I've
done with the last two disks I bought, was make multiple copies
of the same ~1GB file to the new disk. I fill it right up with
big files. Then, I use a file checksumming program, to read and
generate a checksum for each file. All the files should be identical
to the original file stored on another drive. That is an application
level test that the disk is working. If you can pass that test a
few times, then maybe the disk is a "keeper".
I'll have to look for this program but with smart drive saying it's bad I'll
just replace it. Save the worry on that point.


Many people claim that modern motherboards don't use -5V and -12V.
At this minute the DMan card is in the very last PCI slot, the one by the
wi-fi slot and it has 4 voltage indicater's. All are lit green including
the -12V and -5V.

Some of the RS232 level shifting chips, used for COM ports, now
generate the necessary voltages internally, so they no longer need
-12V. While there could be some crazy function running off the -12V,
I doubt it. I think your PSU had more than that wrong with it when
it died.
I'll find out if NWCA refuses to replace the part's as my Dad was an
electrician in the military and the local shop will test it for the hourly
fee. I hope there honest and just do the right thing. Funny there moto is,
accoring to there website, "NWCA's mission is to make your satisfaction our
first priority" and right now I dont feel very priority. I sent them a
letter to that effect yesterday.

snip

If the PSU smoked or flamed out, then
you don't need to waste your time on it.
Well, for now I dont but if they dont respond I'll need fact's and
documentation for the courts.

snip

I'm sorry I cannot be of more help with regard to test programs.
I haven't had enough experience building PCs to have collected
programs like that. I've used some of the nice tests that
come with Sun computers, and I've even written test code for
the computers my former employer used to build. Since I've been
pretty lucky with my home PCs, I haven't had need of anything
more than memtest86, prime95, cpuburn, and 3dmark2001se.
Just filling a disk up with files has so far been a "good enough"
test for me.
Well Paul, I'd have to say youve been a real help! Just to have someone to
talk this issue over with, compare notes and backup my direction on the
problems is great. That's why I posted in the first place. Ops, I hear some
thunder in the distance, time to shut down.
Later
ME