Thanks for the quick response. Sorry, should have mentioned already. I
downloaded the SeaTools diagnostic tool for my Seagate drive. It reports
everything as fine.

I, too, am beginning to suspect the motherboard. I will try re-installing
the drivers for the motherboard, just in case.

Martin


"DL" <address@invalid> wrote in message
news:eF05vJa4IHA.5052@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> Can be a sign of a failing drive, or mobo, use the test utility available
> from HD site, to create the boot floppy/cd test utility.
>
> "Martin C" <martinC@invalid.com> wrote in message
> news:48746aff$1_1@glkas0286.greenlnk.net...
>> This is probably not an XP issue (hence the OT in the subject line), but
>> someone here may be able to help.
>>
>> Doing nothing special (just selecting the start menu), the PC locked up
>> totally with the HDD light on permanently. I waited for an hour before
>> deciding that it was totally locked. Ctrl/Alt/Del would not work either.
>> The HDD did not sound as if it was accessing, so I performed a hard turn
>> off with the power button.
>>
>> I now have the following. The HDD light comes on immediately power is
>> applied and stays on permanently. The BIOS now cannot set either the DVD
>> ROM drive or my spare IDE HDD. The main drive is a SATA which is seen ok.
>> Not sure if this went at the same time, but certainly not a long time
>> before.
>>
>> It takes a lot longer to get through the splash screen at the start of
>> the boot (ASUS BIOS motherboard splash screen) and takes longer to boot
>> into XP, but it does get there. I can use XP as normal, but things are a
>> fair bit slower than usual.
>>
>> I have tried the following:
>> Checked device manager for items listed as failing - none (but DVD drive
>> not listed)
>> Disconnected the IDE cable from the DVD and IDE HDD - no change to HDD
>> light.
>> Replaced IDE cable with a spare - no change to light or devices
>> Tried the second IDE port (have both devices on one IDE cable) - no
>> change to light or devices.
>>
>> I cannot get my DVD or IDE HDD back and the HDD light stays on all the
>> time.
>>
>> I have yet to try resetting the BIOS and cloning the SATA drive and try
>> with the cloned drive, but thought I would try here first.
>>
>> Thanks for any help you can provide. I have looked on Google, but have
>> not managed to find a suitable answer yet.
>>
>> Cheers
>>
>> Martin
>>
>
>