After reinstalling xp on my pc I got the Invalid Disk error. I put the tower
on its side, opened it and reseated the IDE ribbon for the hard drive,
restarted the pc and it loaded first time with no problems. I set the tower
upright and the pc restarted on its own, I got the Invalid Disk error again.
After several attempts at reseating the IDE I discovered that the pc will
only startup when the tower is on its side. Has anyone ever came across this
before, if so is there a remedy to it besides keeping the tower on its side.
I have checked everything inside the tower, there doesn't seem to be
anything amiss.

"Dylan" <dylans@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:JWMKi.108$w2.12@newsfe4-win.ntli.net...
I would say it is definately a hardware issue. But only you can examine
for flaky connections.
Just one example from possible hundreds, a small crack in a circuit
on the MoBo, with tower upright the weight of MoBo/components
cause the crack to part enough for circuit to be broken, but when laid
flat - no stress and circuit made? Carefully examine the MoBo circuits
for any obvious fractures etc. Specifically the IDE socket on MoBo -
this will require looking at the underside of MoBo to check that all
links/joints are secure etc.

"who'sthat" <alayanke@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:f08nf3lajf712m7orlrdkifphhcegg8nh5@4ax.com...
I stripped everything out and put it all in again with the same results.
Thank you for the response.

"ded" <witheld@invalid.witheld> wrote in message
news:fdg8cm$b3f$1@aioe.org...
the soldering etc didn't notice any cracks but what you say does make a lot
of sense. I'm going to have a further more in-depth check. Thank you.

On Thu, 27 Sep 2007 11:59:37 GMT, "Dylan" <dylans@yahoo.com> wrote:

Sounds like there is something loose that only comes apart at that
angle. Could be something in a sealed area. Most likely a dry joint on
a connector that is getting pulled one way at one angle and another at
the other angle. Could try checking the joints on the HD connection
strip but try another cable first.

As an aside, I recall when HDs were still a fairly new thing and came
in the size of the shorter Oxford dictionary it was recommended to
format them in the position they would be used. Supposedly the heads
could slip enough to throw off the reading if the angle was altered. I
have no idea whether that was true or not though.

"Dylan" <dylans@yahoo.com> wrote in
news:JWMKi.108$w2.12@newsfe4-win.ntli.net:

Could be hard drive problem. Do you have a different drive to try?
max
--
Virus Removal http://max.shplink.com/removal.html
Keep Clean http://max.shplink.com/keepingclean.html
Tools http://max.shplink.com/tools.html
Change nomail.afraid.org to gmail.com to reply.

"Dylan" wrote ...
Is the CPU fan spinning when you put the tower upright?
Is the PSU fan spinning when the tower is upright?
Did you move all cables away from the fans?

Can you hear the hard disk spin up from a cold power up when the tower
is upright?

Did you leave a disc in the CD/DVD drive(s) when powering up?

Did you check the connections for the *outside* cables on the
backpanel?

"Dylan" <dylans@yahoo.com> wrote in
news:JWMKi.108$w2.12@newsfe4-win.ntli.net:

You *did* screw the HD back into it's mounting in the frame with at
least four screws before you closed the case right?

--
(setq (chuck nil) car(chuck) )