COLD problem ? rebooting

**BOND007BE** · 12-12-2003, 04:56 AM

hello , when testing my carpc (jcp-alpha) in my car , i have some strange problems.

When its cold , the PC boots , but halfway booting winxp it REBOOTS to BIOS

after a try of about 5 times , pc works and stays working.

i searched the forum , and i think its a matter of the HARDDISK.(maxtor)

how can i be sure of it ? i thought when a harddisk fails it should be noted bij the BIOS , but bIOS isn't saying anything.

any tips ?

**sigma957** · 12-12-2003, 05:53 PM

I have almost the exact same problem (takes 4 or 5 tries to get a good boot in cold weather). I'm sure that it is cold weather related because I do not have trouble in warm weather, and if I bring the computer inside overnight, it will boot first try in the morning. I too am using a Maxtor hard drive (80GB Maxtor D540X).

**BOND007BE** · 12-13-2003, 04:36 AM

So , what possible solutions are there ?

another OLDER harddisk , without liquid bearing ?

but how can i be sure wich disk is gonna work ?

i now have another problem to

I use a second bat 12V 7 AH , with diode , works fine , i can start the engine and nothing appends to the PC (no reboot or so) , but when ex. using windshieldwipers , the PC gets a reset , also when activating the up and down buttons for the glass in the door i get a reset.

so i quess thats because when activating the things , i get NOISE on the POWER , anough to reset my pC .

anyone know how to filter this out ?

greetings

**Mikesz** · 12-13-2003, 01:02 PM

not really a fix, but a warning. I had this problem with my maxtor drive. Eventually, the drive failed.

I have since switched to a wd 7200rpm drive. It still wont boot in the cold though. I get a drive not found error. But I have had no restarts or loss of data. After the second restart the drive is recognized and boots. The system runs slow though for the first 5 minutes, im not sure if this is caused by the drive, but I would guess it is.

mike

**none** · 12-13-2003, 01:05 PM

Originally Posted by BOND007BE

So , what possible solutions are there ?

another OLDER harddisk , without liquid bearing ?

but how can i be sure wich disk is gonna work ?

Not an older harddisk, just one without Maxtor's "Fluid Dynamic Bearings"

Originally Posted by BOND007BE

i now have another problem to

I use a second bat 12V 7 AH , with diode , works fine , i can start the engine and nothing appends to the PC (no reboot or so) , but when ex. using windshieldwipers , the PC gets a reset , also when activating the up and down buttons for the glass in the door i get a reset.

so i quess thats because when activating the things , i get NOISE on the POWER , anough to reset my pC .

anyone know how to filter this out ?

greetings

I don't think it's a noise problem, I imagine it is more a voltage drop issue. You need to double check your diode wiring and make sure that the secondary battery is properly connected.

**Ricky327** · 12-13-2003, 01:54 PM

How cold are you running the HDD?

A western digital caviar SE for example recommend an operating temp a round 5 - 55 deg C.

If you start the PC at -20 deg C then I dont think you gonna have much luck.

**BOND007BE** · 12-13-2003, 03:25 PM

i first gonna connect a temp sensor to the disk to check what temp the disk is,
but i think its gonna be -5 -10 degrees

**TruckinMP3** · 12-14-2003, 07:05 PM

I have an old maxtor 8.4 that has a small ammount of bearing noise in very cold temps. But no data loss or any other failures in multiple years of use in Denver. Cold in the Winter and occasionally very cold over night temps.

**sigma957** · 12-15-2003, 01:00 PM

My 80G Maxtor does not have fluid bearings, but still has troubles in cold weather. I have read most of the "cold weather" threads in this forum and it seems that people who do not have problems in cold are using older hard drives. Unfortunately, it's hard to find an older hard drive with a large enough capacity (I have an old 8GB Maxtor lying around, but it can hardly handle my 70GB MP3 collection). It's also hard to find a new drive that does not have some kind of "quiet" technology (i.e. fluid bearings), and runs at 5400 RPM (lower power consumption for EPIA based computers).

**BOND007BE** · 12-15-2003, 01:49 PM

what about setting the SYSTEM to old disk ex 3gig and data to new disc

and place the old disk beneath the newdisk so old disk heat up newdisk.

SYSTEM should always start i guess , only playing directly will give some problems i think

what do you guys think