Losing data

[mistanapesis]

Jetway 266A motherboard
900mhz Athlon
40Gb Maxtor 2x20Gb partitions (master)
10Gb Seagate (slave)
160Mb ram 1x128, 1x32
Voodoo 4500 PCI Graphics
Lite-on 50x Cd (slave)
Lite-on 24x10x40 Cdrw (Master)
Windows ME

My problem is some times the computer seems to lose files, seems like a virus to me but I have checked that and comes up clean. programs become corrupt, somtimes I need to reinstall graphics drivers or other files that have just vanished. I have only just built this, never had anything like this problem before. Sometimes BSOD because it can`t find files that should be there have gone. Any info or ideas would be very welcome.

 

[fenix]

Does this happen with both hard drives ? Maybe reseating or replacing the IDE cable might correct this. And hopefully you are using an 80 wire cable rather than a 40.

 

[mistanapesis]

The new motherboard came with its own IDE 80 cable and the other is 80 too. The Hard disk is also new (40gb)slip in to 2x20gb. The old hard disk I had (10gb)was put on as a slave. Computer runs fine for most of the time then completely unexpectedly if you reboot it it says it cant find files, like drivers for video for example. Dosent happen often and at first I thought, i`ll just reinstall them, but it has happened more than once now with different files. not just video drivers. I get the feeling the files are becoming corrupt on shutdown.

 

[stoneman4]

Hi mistanapesis;
An overloaded power supply will cause the problem you are having. This might well be an issue with two fixed disks and two optical devices in a fast Athlon system.

If possible, swap out the power supply with a unit of at least 300 watts. The Enermax units are good, in my experience. You may see immediate improvement.

Cooling is going to be an issue with that configuration, too. Two fixed disks, two opticals and that old Voodoo are going to run warm. I'd definitely have a rear panel exhaust fan - in addition to the one that's in the power supply.

If your CD's are noticeably warm to the touch coming out of the drive, consider moving them down one bay and installing one of those drive-bay cooling fans in the top bay.

Good luck with it; it sounds like a nice system.