[peterrex]

I was installing a new dvd deck and when I started it up I got a long beep. I turned it off and checked everything, noticed the jumper might be wrong, moved it to slave. rebooted and same long beep. Alarmed I uninstalled the deck entirely and tried to boot. Same long beep. I checked the fans and except for the one on the board with the ABIT logo (which I think is intermittent anyway, but not sure) all seems normal. I checked all connections and can see nothing out of place or disconnected, can't see any malfuntioning fans either. What is a long beep and no short beeps? I can't see it specifically listed on the beep code pages for Abit. The board is a KV7. Suggestions? Everything had been fine. Thanks Peter

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You probably moved one of the ram modules or the video card when you installed the drive. Take the modules and card out. wipe the contacts clean with a soft cloth or paper tssues, clean the slots with a brush and reinstall. Seat the parts firmly in place but do this carefully. The modules should be locked in plaxe by the sidw levers (or whatever you call these locks).

[The Skeptic]

You probably moved one of the ram modules or the video card when you installed the drive. Take the modules and card out. wipe the contacts clean with a soft cloth or paper tssues, clean the slots with a brush and reinstall. Seat the parts firmly in place but do this carefully. The modules should be locked in plaxe by the sidw levers (or whatever you call these locks).

[peterrex]

-Thanks I'll give it a shot and let you know. Ciao, Peter

[peterrex]

Well that did work, mostly. I can now boot up and I get the choice of the two operating systems that are on two different drives and were both functional before I requested your helpl However now the older of the two installations is strange. The reason for all this is that originally there was the one that is now strange and it must have been FAT32 because I can't see the drive from the other one (the newer) which is NTFS. The newer was installed due to an apparent virus attack that I probably brought on myself. So when the malfuntion occurred I decided to try an end run around the problem by installing another drive with a new installation of Windows. I was not given the chance to format in FAT32 so it was installed as NTFS.
So much for history. When I completed the new install on the new drive I couldn't see the old one and realized it must be due to the FAT 32 and NTFS conflict. But when I fired it up, I was given the option of both operating systems and I was able to access the old drive and see all my files fine! I was delighted. I decided all was well and I would install the new dvd drive. Then the problems you have heard started and I was stumped as to what was going on.
Since I did in fact clean the card connections and reseat the video and RAM it has started up fine, except now there is trouble accessing the older drive and I get error messages about possible disk errors and possible viruses and so on. The other drive has many partitions and the OS is only on one of them. I'd like to rescue the desktop files if possible but otherwise I can manage due to the various other options I have. How shall I proceed? The other drive is an SATA and I wonder if that is what I should have put the second OS on with FAT 32 in order to access the old drive partitions. How you like me now? Ciao, Peter

[Ztruker]

There is no FAT32/NTFS conflict in XP. It should be able to see either from either.

Sounds to me like you have a hard drive problem. Try downloading the drive diagnostic utility from the HD manufacturers web site. Create a bootable CD or diskette and run it for awhile, see what it tells you.

[peterrex]

Will mysteries never cease? The older OS access was clearly unstable for a time but then it suddenly appeared with the desktop intact and so I did a bunch of serious house cleaning, backing up and virus scanning and it seems to now behave its self to my great relief.
What is still a problem is the access to a sizable USB hard drive. That access seems to have become intermittent and unreliable and I can't quite figure out why. I get an error message that Windows does not recognize the USB device. It was doing fine and is not all that old. How to gain access at least one last time to back it up? Any ideas? Thanks, Peter

[Ztruker]

Peter, just went through this with my external 250GB USB drive, it was very flaky.

I finally removed it from the external enclosure and check it over carefully and found a pushed in IDE connector pin on the drive itself. Very carefully pulled this back and then mounted it as a slave drive in my computer and was aboe to get everything off it I wanted.

I then tried it in the external enclosure again and it would not work. Tried a new 350GB in the enclosure and it works fine so something still weird with the 250GB drive.

Since it worked so well as a slave, I'm going to put it back as a slave and move the 160GB drive it's replacing into my external enclosure.

So, long story short. Take it out of the enclosure and check it over very thoroughly then try it as a slave internally.

[peterrex]

God I am really stumped as to what causes these issues but once again, I solved the USB problem by going online and seeing someone had posted the recommendation to plug the power cord into a non crowded (not a power strip) location. I did this and the USB storage unit suddenly "reappeared" when I rebooted. What kind of voodoo is this anyway? What arcane forces have this kind of influence? I am baffled, but at least I can back up now, I hope. Thanks guys. Peter

[Ztruker]

That means low voltage. Sounds like your power strip has too much plugged into it. I would get another and split the cords across the two.

I have a ton of stuff plugged into my UPS, including a power strip. Sounds like I should check mine for low voltage as well.