Grinding Seagate

[jayanath]

I'll get straight to the point
About a month or two ago my computer kept on giving BSODs. I thought the hard drive was dying then until someone told me that it is actually my RAM that's failing. By the time i found this out i had reinstalled XP on new hard drive which also wouldn't boot because of corrupt files after BSOD. Although the new hard drive lasted about a week before the fist BSOD and then corrupt windows files.

So i went on and replaced my ram. So far the computer is running great. I didnt use the new hard drive just in case i would kill that hard drive. Just to be on the safer side i reinstalled XP on the hard drive that kept failing. It was fine for a month. But then i noticed this grinding sound from the hard drive. Maybe it was there the whole time.

The only problem I have with this is I think it is slowing down COD4 online for me.

So is my hard drive dying? No need for backup cautions because I have already done it.

Thanks for your help. Sorry its long

 

[TC91]

good chance its on its last legs

 

[jayanath]

hmmm.. any chance that this is the cause for the performance problem? or am i jus paranoid

 

[Elixer]

Are you getting any errors in event viewer?
Is SMART enabled in BIOS?

Usually, if it is making strange noises, then, yeah, backup pronto, and RMA or get a new one ASAP.

 

[jayanath]

wow those are some words that i don't know
I know my way around the BIOS. What does SMART do? I'm not familiar with RMA either. If by Event Log you mean the one in the bios. I remember seeing one or two Keyboard error's over there. I dont know why but sometimes i dont get any response from the monitor or keyboard when i replace my ram. But the ram works fine after switching slots around. There seems to be nothing wrong with the slots themselves because eventually the ram will work on either slot

My motherboard is 915Gav (a bit old but works) It runs a P4 and a nVidia 6800XT + 1gb ram

 

[Elixer]

Originally posted by: jayanath
wow those are some words that i don't know
I know my way around the BIOS. What does SMART do? I'm not familiar with RMA either. If by Event Log you mean the one in the bios. I remember seeing one or two Keyboard error's over there. I dont know why but sometimes i dont get any response from the monitor or keyboard when i replace my ram. But the ram works fine after switching slots around. There seems to be nothing wrong with the slots themselves because eventually the ram will work on either slot

My motherboard is 915Gav (a bit old but works) It runs a P4 and a nVidia 6800XT + 1gb ram

SMART is a feature that you turn on in the BIOS. It *may* report problems with the HD.
RMA means that you return the HD back to seagate under warranty.
Event Viewer is the windows error/warning log. It tells you about issues with your system.

That is a bit strange about your RAM slots, perhaps the contacts are corroding?

 

[jayanath]

The computer is pretty dust but i cant fix it cuz it gets soo dusty so fast. I'll check those and post later. Its close to midnight here and i have to sleep thanks for ur help Elixer
Hard drive way off warranty period. Got it with the computer about 3 years ago

 

[techmanc]

I would make a image backup of the system then do a use your hard drive diagnostic software to test the entire hard drive and finally do a low lvl format of at least the first few gb of hard drive. Then restore image.

 

[CoinOperatedBoy]

Are you sure the sounds are coming from the drive and not a case fan? Sometimes it's hard to identify the source of a sound in a system. If it is your drive, you can bet it's about to fail. Make sure that backup is current and have a replacement drive ready to go.

Some people have also reported luck sticking their HDD in the freezer overnight. Just have to prevent condensation from getting on it, and make sure it's at room temperature and 100% dry before using it again. Sometimes this can help with mechanical problems.

 

[jayanath]

I tried installing the Seagate diagnostics software and it said that i needed .net frame work or something if i remember properly. Thats when i came here
The image thing sounds like a lot of work. I can reinstall windows and my software.. all in about 3 hours
Can this affect my PC's performance rite now? I mean before it burns to its death

Its coming from the hard drive for sure... and no i wont put it in the freezer

 

[CoinOperatedBoy]

A dying hard drive can definitely affect performance. You may start to see sluggish load times, data corruption, boot failures, BSODs... you'll definitely eventually lose everything. If you really don't care, then just keep using it as you are. I wouldn't be able to put up with that, though. Better to replace the failing drive before it causes you the inconvenience, especially since it sounds like you already have another working HDD.

Anyway, I would say take the time to install the .NET Framework if that's really necessary to use the Seagate utility. It's a free download from Microsoft and might be easily acquired through Windows Update. I was under the impression, though, that Seagate also offered a bootable .iso that you can burn to a CD, no framework required.

 

[BlueAcolyte]

Good luck, your hard drive is probably frying itself. Oh well.

Also, a dying drive will be piss-slow, so have fun with that.

 

[jayanath]

I'll try out .Net framework sometime. I am busy because of school

 

[CoinOperatedBoy]

http://www.microsoft.com/downl...77D32A6&displaylang=en

That's all you need.