Is my HDD dieing, or is it something else ?

[adfinni]

Right, i built my new C2D rig in the summer and have been having intermitant and now constant problems which im assuming is my latest samsung 160gb sata drive. The rig:

E6300 @ 3.16ghz @ 1.45V (normally at 3.5ghz but wanted no stability issues during uni exams etc), Tuniq tower + liquid metal paste.
Asus P5B + 0507 BIOS, Team Group xtreem PC5300 @ 1:1, HIS X1900xt, modded emu 0404 soundcard.
Samsung sata 160gb, samsung sata 200gb.

The HDD arrangement:

1. (160gb) - Windows partition + drivers = 9gb, Media partition = The rest
2. (200gb) - Applications = 50gb, Stuff partition = The rest

Ever since i installed windows on the 160gb HDD, sometimes jsut after post it freezse on detecting the HDD's. Frantic cable unplugging and switching around, and leaving it powered down for a bit eventually gets it back up booots into windows.
Also, i find i get a boot error after post andide drive detection, which asks me to press ctrl+alt+del to restart and try again. The things is, if i remove the main 160gb windows containing drive and plug in *** other driver everything working fine, even when it's plugged into the same sata port on the mobo.
Finally, in windows i get a lot of lockups, especially when using firefox (also installed on the main windows drive). Firefox locks up, then soon after the start menu, then the mouse locks up (HDD then stays on constantly), and a restart gives the booting problems mentioned above.

Im not sure if it's the latest HDD, or possibly something to do with the P5B, or it might not like x2 hdds ??????

One more thing, my overclock is 24hours orthos stable, but does crash in css which started a short while ago but is probs down to directx driver errors that randomly appeared. Also my memory is about 15hours memtest stable using test 5.

Any ideas, as im tempted to get another HDD to see if the problem goes away, as returning the mobo would bee a pain in the ass ?

thanks

UPDATE: After Playing darwinia for about 10mins it freezes for a few secs then carries on working again. After another 30seconds it repeatedly locks up until the whole PC freezes. Then after rebooting the HDD detecting problems at the POST screen appear again. If i jsut have the main windows drive in it still doesn't get past teh POSt, but with the 2nd drive ONLY plugged in it gets past POST and the IDE detection.

I guess this is looking like dieing primary HDD? :confused:

[jimmyz]

your sig says maxed out voltages ...try dropping sb vcore and ich to auto

[adfinni]

Hi

Well i dropped my overclock straight after originally posting and am now BACK AT STOCK, just to check it wasn't that, and darwinia worked fine for about 30mins. Then i powered my pc down.

Turned it on about 20 mins ago and loaded firefox. About 30 seconds into that it staretd to freeze, then the mouse intermitantly froze for about 30 secs, then the PC restarted. After lots of unplugging HDD's, trying different ports with 1 drive then 2 i eventually got it back into windows where i am now.

Also my PC boots an awful lot slower now, and is also a lot slower when doing anything in windows. Most problems occur with firefox open, which is also on the problematic drive.

I had a virus about a week ago found by avast in the winamp pluggin section. It quarantied it straight away, no other viruses or spyware. Would a defrag show anything?

[adfinni]

well i found about some event log that XP has in the administrative tools. It shows some worrying HDD problems.


The HDD arrangement again (values are approximate plus i have added the fact i have the page file on a separate drive to teh windows partition) :

1. (160gb) - Windows partition + drivers = 9gb | Media partition = 151gb
2. (200gb) - Applications = 50gb | Stuff partition = 149gb | Page File = 1gb

Lots of errors under disk or atapi which when clicked on describe parity or controller errors, and there are many of them further down the list too. These errors all seem to relate to HDD (1.) and the MEDIA PARTITION (151gb), e.g.:


A parity error was detected on \Device\Ide\IdePort3.

The driver detected a controller error on \Device\Harddisk0\D.


pic from event viewer: http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/525/deaddisksgaynobsxq8.th.jpg (http://img112.imageshack.us/my.php?image=deaddisksgaynobsxq8.jpg)
This load of problems all occured around 3.45pm, which coincide with the problems i detailed in my post at 10.16pm in this thread.

Hope that info helps you guys, as it all it shows to me is a screwed up D partition, or possible problem with that drive ???

[|Aegi3|]

Did ne of this happen before virus?
Did this begin immeadiately after the virus?

Sometimes the viruses can rele mess up windows files and boot files, if i had that problem id reformat and go from there..

[adfinni]

Did ne of this happen before virus?
Did this begin immeadiately after the virus?

Sometimes the viruses can rele mess up windows files and boot files, if i had that problem id reformat and go from there..

THe virus was picked up straigh away by teh avast scanner that runs all the time, so im doubting it had time to do any damage.

Ive had problems pretty much a few weeks after i put together this new rig (middle of september). The problems have been on and off, but are now back with a vengence, although this evening it's been ok. I have backed up all data off my primary HDD jsut incase and have been reading some huge thread over at another forum:

http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/12946/?o=280

I really don't have a clue what to try next.

[|Aegi3|]

If u have a spare hd lying around like a 20gb or something, try installing xp on that if u have some free time and unhook the 160gb then run for awhile on the spare, just a thought :)

[adfinni]

Well i backed up the datat last night, and it didn't crash. 80gigs of music, videos, uni work e.t.c.

ive just run the diagnostic and it says the HDD HAS ERRORS and i should ERASE HDD and test again :rolleyes:

I did x2 low level formats when i first encountered these problems months ago then reinstalled windows. The problems are now back in full force so i think im going to buy a new HDD next week then get in contact with rexo about getting a new one.

im glad it has intermittant problems and hasn't totally died as none of the video and music data on that HDD was backed up until last night PHEW :eek: :D