A8N-E & SATA Corruption

  • Thread starter Thread starter andrew baird
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A

andrew baird

It started out with a complete freeze when I was tabbing in and out of
a game doing web browsing. I wasn't really suprised, this sort of thing
happens, I reached down and held down the power button to turn it off.
When I rebooted, error messages galore. Windows was corrupt beyond
repair. So I reformatted. Only the weirdest thing would happen when I
tried to reformat: XP Setup would format the drive to 100%, then it
would tell me that "XP failed to format this hard drive" and it could
not be formatted. WTF? I did this with my main hard drive (164GB SATAII
Hitachi Deskstar) and my spare hard drive (82 GB SATAI Hitachi
Deskstar) and got the same message for both. After retrying this
formatting process several times, I discovered that the partitions were
actually formatted and Windows setup would detect them at the beginning
as a selection to install to. Strange, but I figured maybe it was just
some bug with the Windows setup software. Installed XP to my main hard
drive with no problems... at least for a while.

When I was trying to reinstall my applications, a lot of the installers
would say "File not found". The weird thing is, I could watch the files
in Windows Explorer as the installer installed them, so I knew they
were there. I had no trouble copying large files to and from a CD ROM
or hard drive to hard drive... it only had problems when it came time
to install.

I'm at a complete loss as to what would cause this. This never happened
before Windows got all corrupted, and this seems like a hardware
problem to me. I don't even know where to start. I have the latest
nVidia nForce4 drivers installed (off their website as soon as I
formatted), and I just flashed my bios last month. I've scandisked,
which all came out okay, defragged, and disabled NCQ. Nothing so far
has changed a thing, and now I'm starting to get bluescreens.
 
It started out with a complete freeze when I was tabbing in and out of
a game doing web browsing. I wasn't really suprised, this sort of thing
happens, I reached down and held down the power button to turn it off.
When I rebooted, error messages galore. Windows was corrupt beyond
repair. So I reformatted. Only the weirdest thing would happen when I
tried to reformat: XP Setup would format the drive to 100%, then it
would tell me that "XP failed to format this hard drive" and it could
not be formatted. WTF? I did this with my main hard drive (164GB SATAII
Hitachi Deskstar) and my spare hard drive (82 GB SATAI Hitachi
Deskstar) and got the same message for both. After retrying this
formatting process several times, I discovered that the partitions were
actually formatted and Windows setup would detect them at the beginning
as a selection to install to. Strange, but I figured maybe it was just
some bug with the Windows setup software. Installed XP to my main hard
drive with no problems... at least for a while.
Click to expand...

Did you try running a memory test (such as Memtest86 www.memtest86.com)
using a bootable floppy or CD?
 
Posible hardware problem
(memory, power supply).
Have you run Chkdsk ?
But it may also be due to a virus.
 
Sorry I should have specified further.
I know its not power, cause I've swapped it out with another one
already
I've ran checkdisk. No bad sectors.

I just ran memtest86 for the first time ever. Never used the program
before.
In 8 passes it found 187079 errors and 0 ECC errors
I have no idea what normal results are for memtest, so I don't know if
my memory is horribly faulty or what.

This afternoon, I did (seemingly randomly) get windows xp setup to
format the 82 GB hd and install there. Have been able to install stuff
so far, but I did blue screen while setting up an application. I
haven't nearly begun to reinstall applications yet either. This time
I'm not installing the nForce4 storage drivers, gonna see how it works.
 
Just a guess, but if you have a spare PATA drive try that and see what
happens. I had problems with copying from a Plextor 716A to a SATA WD 360GD
which was resolved with a clean install and using the latest NVIDIA drivers.
Like I said I'm just guessing.

john
 
There is only 1 'normal' memtest result: zero errors.

Anything else indicates a problem with memory *or* something is causing a
problem with memory.

Until your system tests with zero memory errors, don't bother trying to
install an OS as it will be unstable.

Load BIOS Defaults
Clear CMOS
Try each stick independantly
Check the seating of the memory
Check the manual on wht RAM to put where...
Try other RAM...
 
I've re-seated/rotated the memory already, and cleared cmos

I'll try the sticks independently tommorow while I'm at work.

Does manufacturers warranty cover these sort of things?
 
I've re-seated/rotated the memory already, and cleared cmos
I'll try the sticks independently tommorow while I'm at work.
Does manufacturers warranty cover these sort of things?
Click to expand...

Yes, if the motherboard won't work fine with any RAM on their
compatibility list. The motherboard may not support your RAM.
What make and model are they?
 
Your problem does sound like RAM but it is a bit of a bummer they stuck you
with a "DeathStar" hard drive too.
Obviously you have bought a cheap computer.
 
OCZ Technology PC 3200 512M Dual Channel Premier Series 2.5-3-3-7
OCZ4001024PDC-K

And it was indeed... a stick of ram! Strange, ran great for a month,
then it crashed real bad, then it ran great for a month again until
what happened recently.

I thought DeathStar drives were just a model series from when IBM owned
the company..
according to my research the "click of death" is long gone.
I actually handpicked all the parts :(
Most of them came highly rated from reviewers...
 
OCZ Technology PC 3200 512M Dual Channel Premier Series 2.5-3-3-7
OCZ4001024PDC-K

And it was indeed... a stick of ram! Strange, ran great for a month,
then it crashed real bad, then it ran great for a month again until
what happened recently.

I thought DeathStar drives were just a model series from when IBM owned
the company..
according to my research the "click of death" is long gone.
Click to expand...

You are correct in this.
I actually handpicked all the parts :(
Click to expand...

Nothing wrong with what you picked. People will have their little
prejudices.
Most of them came highly rated from reviewers...
Click to expand...


Bill
 
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