HP p6214y Motherboard Issue - Diagnostic Check?

[Jasper988]

I have an issue with my HP Desktop.  It's been 1.5 years so I'm out of warranty unfortunately =(

I've reformatted my HDD and when I run it, it will suddenly freeze for about 10 minutes and then react to all my actions (clicking or ctrl+alt+del).  Sometimes it'll just freeze completely and I'll have to do a hard reboot.  I ran the Diagnosistics from POST and when it tries to scan the HDD it says that it could not find it.  I've tried switching out the HDD for other HDD that I know are working and I get the same result.  I even tried switching the slot with which the motherboard tries to connect to the HDD but get the same issues.

2 Questions.

1) is there a diagnositc tool that I can run that will check the motherboard for any issues? (I get the feeling that the problem is coming from the the motherboard's connection slots to the HDD/Disc Drive etc.)

2) If it is a motherboard issue, does anyone know if it's worth it to try and buy a new motherboard and fix it?  I was told I might have issues with compatibility or even the exact same mother board, but I'd like to reuse some of the non-broken pieces if at all possible.  Any help/tips would be appreciated... I'm assuming my motherboard is made by NVidia since that's the chipset?

Side Note: I did take it to an IT center (school) and they told me that they think it's a mobo issue but that I should try and find a diagnostic to be sure.  They didn't think it'd be cost effective to fix the computer.

[erico]

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Jasper988 wrote:

I have an issue with my HP Desktop.  It's been 1.5 years so I'm out of warranty unfortunately =(

I've reformatted my HDD and when I run it, it will suddenly freeze for about 10 minutes and then react to all my actions (clicking or ctrl+alt+del).  Sometimes it'll just freeze completely and I'll have to do a hard reboot.  I ran the Diagnosistics from POST and when it tries to scan the HDD it says that it could not find it.  I've tried switching out the HDD for other HDD that I know are working and I get the same result.  I even tried switching the slot with which the motherboard tries to connect to the HDD but get the same issues.

2 Questions.

1) is there a diagnositc tool that I can run that will check the motherboard for any issues? (I get the feeling that the problem is coming from the the motherboard's connection slots to the HDD/Disc Drive etc.)

2) If it is a motherboard issue, does anyone know if it's worth it to try and buy a new motherboard and fix it?  I was told I might have issues with compatibility or even the exact same mother board, but I'd like to reuse some of the non-broken pieces if at all possible.  Any help/tips would be appreciated... I'm assuming my motherboard is made by NVidia since that's the chipset?

Side Note: I did take it to an IT center (school) and they told me that they think it's a mobo issue but that I should try and find a diagnostic to be sure.  They didn't think it'd be cost effective to fix the computer.

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Have you checked in the BIOS to see if the hard disk is recognized?

Have you tried loading a Live Linux Distro to see if Linux can access the hard disk? Linux can be used to troubleshoot your hard disk controller.

Does the DVD drive operate properly?  

Best regards,

erico

[Jasper988]

The DVD Drive does work properly.

Bios SOMETIMES recognizes the HDD and other times doesn't (sometimes I can't even get to BIOS b/c it freezes).

I have not tried Linux, but seeing as I've tested out the HDD and it works fine and when I put in other operable HDD to my system and it can't recognize it, I don't think my HDD is the issue.