Storage Solutions Can hard disk failure cause pc on/off loop

[etern4lflux]

I have a core i5-2500, 8gb ram, a gtx 560, 2 hard disks (250 & 500 gbs, 5 & 4 years old resp.) on an intel h67vr (i know, poor choice for mobo, was careless) and with seasonic 620 for smps.
Anyway, I turned on my pc today, and it would just go on this on/off loop, showing motherboard logo each time.
I had received a hard drive health related warning 2 days back in windows for my 500 gb disk. I removed that, and my pc started working again.

My question is - can a disk failure actually cause the pc to loop? Or could it be a bigger problem, like power related, something with my motherboard or smps? I have never read about such a case before.

 

[kishore.chander]

Normally boot loops are associated to defective RAM or overheating. PSU malfunction can also be a cause for it. If its a hard drive failure normally the system hangs. If you have 2 sticks of RAM just try booting up with a single stick. Get to the bios and check the DRAM voltage and VCORE voltage. Post your findings.

 

[Default UserOne]

I've seen some Lenovo laptops with a boot loop that was caused by the USB connections being broken or bent. I'm assuming it causes some type of short circuit.

 

[rohan_mhtr]

Yes you can get the loop . DO you get the blue screen error ? When my seagate 1Tb HDD died on me i too got similar loops and then blue screen errors . I too neglected the HDD health error a few days prior and didn't back up my data . The bugger took away 900gb of data with it !
Check if your PC boots beyond the mobo logo with your HDD removed otherwise it may be a RAM issue .

 

[etern4lflux]

Normally boot loops are associated to defective RAM or overheating. PSU malfunction can also be a cause for it. If its a hard drive failure normally the system hangs. If you have 2 sticks of RAM just try booting up with a single stick. Get to the bios and check the DRAM voltage and VCORE voltage. Post your findings.

Fiddling with RAM didn't help. Regarding voltages I don't know which is which. Hope this pic helps -
This is without that 500gb drive. I can never reach bios settings with that one connected.

Yes you can get the loop . DO you get the blue screen error ? When my seagate 1Tb HDD died on me i too got similar loops and then blue screen errors . I too neglected the HDD health error a few days prior and didn't back up my data . The bugger took away 900gb of data with it !
Check if your PC boots beyond the mobo logo with your HDD removed otherwise it may be a RAM issue .

Yeah, if I remove the faulty disk, I am able to use my pc fine. My windows partn was in the other drive. I was just curious about the loop. Like Kishore mentioned, I expected the system to hang some time or simply not detect the faulty drive.

Anyway, have to get a new drive. Checked prices online and I see the drive makers are still screwing us over with higher prices and lower quality. I'll probably get a wd black caviar 1tb. Flipkart is listing it for 6k.

 

[bajaj151]

Yes, I had the same problem.
HDD cable was the culprit..

 

[rohan_mhtr]

Try changing HDD cable otherwise i think that your HDD is toast !