The Mother Board

[martyp]

Hi all,

I'm hoping to get possible ideas on this issue I'm trying to fix for someone. I work in IT support myself and I'm thinking my last option here is going to be swapping out the mobo or possibly HDD although it seems more likely the mobo.
Basically, the PC goes through BIOS and gets to a hard drive error 'run setup', no F1 option though. I went into the BIOS and it sees the primary (IDE) HDD when I go in and select Auto as something like 'WD HD ROM' as opposed to the specific model of HDD that it would normally show. As well as this the HDD doesn't appear in the list of boot devices when selecting boot order. It shows 'Disabled' where it used to show the HDD. I also tried setting the CD and Floppy drive as 1st and 2nd in boot order but it wouldn't boot from either. Microsoft indicate this is a damaged BIOS. After switching off the power to the PC off and back on a few times it would then boot. I could go into the BIOS and it would then recognise the HD model and it would also display in the boot device list ok. At that point XP failed due to a corrupt registry so I repaired that ok and also fixed the user profile which had also got corrupted.
I made a bootable flash disk and flashed the BIOS to the latest version as well once it recognised the FDD and CDROM to boot. It then also worked ok for S.M.A.R.T. and said the HDD was fine in POST. All seemed well but then today the PC's done exactly the same thing after being powered off overnight, the HD run setup error.
I thought it could be a HD issue but then why would it fail to utilise the other boot devices?
My other thoughts were using the clear CMOS jumper, replacing the CMOS battery, test the PSU voltages etc or just swap out the mobo. I didn't think it would related to the CMOS battery as it holds the time and date info in the BIOS fine.
The HDD isn't that old so I would be surprised if that was playing up already.
Any thoughts anyone?

PC by the way is a Packard Bell iMedia 5118 (Cosmos mobo/P4)

[evasive]

[martyp]

Many thanks evasive, I did notice that a couple of capacitors next to the CPU where bulging a little at the top but no corrosive appearance at the top. The fault was easily noticable when I opened the case...
click...click...click...click

Another failed HDD (mfr date August 2008!)

I'm trying now by chance to boot the thing and see if I can recover data off it.

[evasive]

you want to check the PSU for faulty caps as well if you got a failing mobo and a killed harddisk.

What exact model is that harddisk?
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