Problems with 200GB Hard Drive

I recently got a Maxtor 200GB internal hard drive, which came with it's own adapter card. When I first installed it, I had a problem, but it worked fine for 2 months after. Now, this problem is back and it happens every day. The problem I have is that the computer seems to lose connection with the hard drive. So when I try to access it, it does nothing and causes a brief freeze every 30 seconds or so (as if it keeps attempting to access the drive). The only thing I can do is restart the computer. I checked the drive temp to make sure it's not overheating and it seems fine. Any ideas what might be causing this?

Also on a related topic, is there a way to re-initialize hardware without restarting (sort of like restarting a network connection)?

I'm using windows 2000 with service pack 4. The hard drive is a slave formatted FAT32 with a single partition.

Thanks,

Keith

P.S. I just want to mention, that the majority of the time, the drive DOES work.

 

Hi kiethki,

I would try pulling and reseating the connections. When you have the adapter card out you could clean the connectors (you can use a soft pencil eraser, I use conntact cleaner).

Try removing the adapter card in Device Manager and have Windows redetect it. Check for updated drivers for the card.

Run Maxtor's "Powermax" utility.

Do you have a good power supply? Could you be approaching it's limit? Use the power calculator (handy site):
http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/

Matt

 

Matt,

Thanks for responding. I haven't tried it yet, but I think you're right. Last night, I found out that my CD-ROM, which is also attached the same adapter card, causes the same problem. I'm going to try replacing the card, then I'll post my results later.

Keith