System freezes during games, hard drives dies, etc -- ongoing issue for a year

[plastick]

ok I am trying to find the root problem which is causing other gradual issues with my system over time.

Basically, I built this system (specs in my sig) and I would run two cheap Seagate hard drives in raid 0 configuration for faster performance. For the most part everything would be fast and stable but then Windows 7 (64-bit) would eventually freeze up, I would get blue screen, then I might sometimes be able to reboot and run normally again, but eventually it would freeze again, and ultimately I would lose a hard drive (it would become slow and eventually stop being detected by windows and/or my motherboard).

After researching and asking questions, I learned that what's happening is that my drives would sometimes drop out of raid for whatever reason, thus causing a SMART error... Also, usually the first hard drive in the raid 0 configuration would eventually die, and I would have to replace it. I have gone through several sets of Seagate hard drives and I have switched around between using the ICH10R and JMircon controllers -- Yes I know now that I shouldn't ever use the JMicron ones. So I switched back to Intel controllers for my drives.

I have finally stopped using my raid 0 configuration because of the consistent errors I get with the drives while running it and now I just use one drive.

Ok now this is what happens most of the time: I usually am playing Call of Duty MW2 when my pc will freeze up and either sit there with a frozen image on the screen, or blue screen, then I will either have to delete my raid volume and reinstall Windows, or I will have to replace a hard drive for the volume.

My latest set-up is that I bought a 250 GB Western Digital Caviar Blue WD2500AAJS. I wanted to stop using Seagate drives and just use WD.

I reinstalled Windows 7 64bit as well as MW2 on the new drive and have been using it fine for about two weeks..... and just now my system froze up, I rebooted, got blue screen and now my motherboard is not even seeing the drive. Well, sometimes it does, but I get "system disk error".

One other thing: My DVD-RW drive also just stopped being detected by my motherboard about a week ago. It still opens, but I can't use it. I've switched SATA ports but to no avail.

This has been happening to me for about a year and a half now. I'm at the point where I'm starting to question weather it's my motherboard or maybe my PSU.

Does anyone have any idea what could be causing these issues? I mean, I understand that the problems with my raid 0 was that my drives were not very good quality, not meant for running long term stable raid 0 volume. But now that I have had a single drive running, I get the same problem eventually.....

I just find it hard to believe that it could be my PSU since it's a relatively nice one and these problems dont seem to stem from not having enough power. My PSU is 850 watts and SLI ready and I'm only using a few hard drives in the case. I also don't overclock (except the dummy overclock in the BIOS) so that can't be the problem.

If it's my motherboard, how the hell could that cause my drives to break? It seems like the board should just stop functioning all together and stop working with ANY drives. Unless this stems from very problematic SATA controllers which screw up the drives...

I don't think it would be just the individual hard drives since I have gone through about eight of them in the course of two years. This is not normal.


BTW: my system BIOS has been upgraded a few times and I have had this problem before and after doing any firmware updates on any of my hardware components.

Alright, so I think that's about it. I hope I have been clear about my long term problem and that someone can help me...

 

[Athadeus]

Wrong category, belongs in computer help. Partial failure of a controller chip on the MB is not that uncommon considering how many there are and how small transistors are that all kinds of interference can affect them (potentially permanently).

You should still check out the drives using the manufacturer diagnostic software, which I know is available from both of those companies (seatools and WD data lifeguard I think). It's a reasonably short precautionary step before getting in touch with tech support (yay funs!).

Also, I wouldn't go raid 0 even if you get your MB fixed. There are better options available now which are most likely applicable to your usage.

 

[stevech]

Memory
Memory sockets or mating board PC connectors corroded
Power supply

 

[plastick]

thanks guys.. I have ran the Seatools on my seagate drives and gotten confirmed hard drive failures..but I still think the raid 0 messed them up or something. I am now using UBCD 5 to test out my WD drive... I just got that drive two weeks ago so I doubt its another coincidence.

I'm fairly certain now that is my SATA controllers because I just switched around my connectors to different ports and the system boots up like normal now, and the new port is seeing my DVDRW drive which it hadnt been before... however, I am still getting blue screens after windows is on for a few minutes.

I am RMAing the board for sure.

And these issues have nothing to do with my memory.

 

[DominionSeraph]

And these issues have nothing to do with my memory.

I'd run memtest anyway. If hard disk failure was corrupting a game's loads it should give you a crash to desktop, not jack the system to a frozen image. Bad RAM can also corrupt the hell out of a Windows install.

 

[plastick]

I'd run memtest anyway. If hard disk failure was corrupting a game's loads it should give you a crash to desktop, not jack the system to a frozen image. Bad RAM can also corrupt the hell out of a Windows install.

hmm.. thanks for that input. However, I have ran several memory tests with UBCD5 and Ubuntu memory test.... wouldn't those let me know if I had bad ram?

Could bad ram cause a hard drive to die?

 

[DominionSeraph]

hmm.. thanks for that input. However, I have ran several memory tests with UBCD5 and Ubuntu memory test.... wouldn't those let me know if I had bad ram?

Not a Linux man.

Could bad ram cause a hard drive to die?

No, but a bad PSU could kill both.

 

[BoomerD]

You say you have a good PSU...but all you tell us is that it's 850 watts. What brand?

What you're going through sucks.
Can you try to reformat the HDDs and see if they'll take a format? Yes, you'll lose everything on them, but if they're dead, it's gone anyway.

Memory issues can cause all sorts of problems that wouldn't appear to be memory related. Also, if your CPU isn't seated correctly, that can cause a myriad of problems not apparent to the CPU.

I know zip about Linux, so I can't offer any insight there.

All this COULD just be caused by a bad motherboard.

 

[plastick]

thanks Boomer. My PSU is in my signature with the rest of my specs. Its and Antect TPQ 850 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...ec%20tpq%20850 ... I know people have all sorts of opinions about power supplies but I think this is a good one. it was like $200 when i got it and it's designed for i7 cpus and SLI so it should be good enough for my system.

I only mentioned Linux because I had a memory diagnostic on Ubuntu intall disc. Otherwise I've been using UBCD5 which has several system diagnostic utilities on it. I ran a memory test on it a while back and I didnt get any errors.... well I dont think i finished the test since it was running for like 2 hours... probably should have finished it.

I really hope this is all just a bad motherboard. if not im going to be pissed.

 

[hulkhelton]

i would try everything in this order
new stick of ram.
new psu.
new mobo.

just remember if your psu is throwing crazy voltages it could have also ruined the motherboard.

just buy all the parts locally and return whatever isnt the problem.

 

[mfenn]

First I would turn off any overclock and see what happens. If the issue still persists, I would also suspect a bad SATA controller on your mobo.

 

[Athadeus]

You should be sticking to the black SATA ports which are controlled by the ICH10R. I don't think having raided can permanently damage your HDDs though, so you should consider RMAing the seagates if their diagnostic showed a hardware failure.

Some of the Newegg reviews of that MB said that the NB gets really hot even with the big cooler. The drive controller is part of the SB chip, but maybe it has been overheating as well?

The other guys are right that it could be memory as well, which can cause almost any sort of problem. I like to avoid pointing at that though, as memory seems to get wrongly blamed often. One complete test should be enough to dismiss or prove it.

 

[plastick]

Thanks for your input Athadeus. I have been mainly using the ICH10R ports... I only used the JM ports after I got fed up with my raid 0 failures. The JM raid 0 configuration worked without any problems for about a week and then my pc started freezing up again -- the only difference is that I never got the disk error message.

As far a memory goes, I really don't think it is the problem as I have run two 7+ hour tests with Memtest86.

Last night I kept getting blue screen and my system would take for ever to recognize my hard drive... Basically the drive seemed really screwed up, but then I tried moving my SATA connector to one of the other ports on my board and the system booted up fine again, and fast. I also did this with my DVDRW drive and my system could see it again. The funny thing is that I have had to do this a few times to get the bios to see my drives. This tells me that it's most likely my SATA controllers on the board.

I really just hope it's the board. If after I get my replacement and this keeps happening, I'm going to be mad.

 

[mfenn]

Thanks for your input Athadeus. I have been mainly using the ICH10R ports... I only used the JM ports after I got fed up with my raid 0 failures. The JM raid 0 configuration worked without any problems for about a week and then my pc started freezing up again -- the only difference is that I never got the disk error message.

As far a memory goes, I really don't think it is the problem as I have run two 7+ hour tests with Memtest86.

Last night I kept getting blue screen and my system would take for ever to recognize my hard drive... Basically the drive seemed really screwed up, but then I tried moving my SATA connector to one of the other ports on my board and the system booted up fine again, and fast. I also did this with my DVDRW drive and my system could see it again. The funny thing is that I have had to do this a few times to get the bios to see my drives. This tells me that it's most likely my SATA controllers on the board.

I really just hope it's the board. If after I get my replacement and this keeps happening, I'm going to be mad.

You should definitely do a clean install after you get the replacement board. That way, you can be sure that you've clean out any silent corruption of system files caused by the old controller.

 

[plastick]

@mfenn: I totally will.

 

[Athadeus]

Memtest86+ is my favorite, though I think there are very many good enough memory tests. I think you can put it safely on your motherboard or power supply now. Good luck with your replacement, and let us know how it goes good or bad. Even learning from quirky experiences helps technicians improve their future diagnoses.

 

[Blain]

Pull the side panel off and inspect the MB for any caps that are bulging or leaking.