Drive head rattling badly - help!

Damon · Aug 31, 2005

I just recently had a 120GB Maxtor hard drive die on me. I bought a
160GB Maxtor to replace it since up til now, I've had a great track
record with Maxtors. But anywhere from once to several times a day,
the hard drive light will go on and stay on and the mouse arrow will
freeze. Also, the drive head will sometimes rattle back and forth.

Help! I want to figure out whether this is yet another hard drive
going bad (and right after I bought it only slightly used!?) or maybe a
virus or some other malicious program trying to destroy my hard drive.
How do I figure this out? Is there a program out there that can tell
me what my hard drive is doing when the light goes on? What program is
accessing the hard drive and whatnot?

Thanks...

Damon

Rod Speed · Aug 31, 2005

Damon said:
I just recently had a 120GB Maxtor hard drive die on me. I bought
a 160GB Maxtor to replace it since up til now, I've had a great track
record with Maxtors. But anywhere from once to several times a day,
the hard drive light will go on and stay on and the mouse arrow will
freeze. Also, the drive head will sometimes rattle back and forth.

Help! I want to figure out whether this is yet another hard drive going bad

Looks like it might well be unless its the system killing drives.

(and right after I bought it only slightly used!?)

Why was it slightly used ? Some can get rid of drives
that look like they might be going bad before they die.

or maybe a virus or some other malicious program
trying to destroy my hard drive. How do I figure this out?

Run a virus checker. There are a couple
of online checkers, one from symantec.

Is there a program out there that can tell me what
my hard drive is doing when the light goes on?

Yes, see what the SMART data says using Everest.
http://www.lavalys.com/products/overview.php?pid=1&lang=en

What program is accessing the hard drive and whatnot?

You can do that, but its much more likely
to be the drive dying so check that first.

Particularly check the drive temperature using
Everest, it may be that that's killing drives.

Damon · Sep 1, 2005

Rod said:
Looks like it might well be unless its the system killing drives.
Ugh...

Why was it slightly used ? Some can get rid of drives
that look like they might be going bad before they die.

It was slightly used because the person I bought it from bought it new
to build a workstation with for a client, then the client changed their
mind. So, the guy parted out the system and I got an only slightly
used drive for a really good price.

Run a virus checker. There are a couple
of online checkers, one from symantec.

I have Norton Antivirus 2003. No viruses as far as it says. Should I
check with online checkers as well? I would think that only a boot
sector virus could do this sort of thing, so it would show up in the
first few seconds of any scan, but... *shrugs*

Yes, see what the SMART data says using Everest.
http://www.lavalys.com/products/overview.php?pid=1&lang=en

Cool. Thanks.

You can do that, but its much more likely
to be the drive dying so check that first.

Particularly check the drive temperature using
Everest, it may be that that's killing drives.

Well, I can just touch the drives in my system. I have a Maxtor 160GB,
a Maxtor 40GB, and two Maxtor 250GB drives. The 250GBs seem to run
rather hot, but the other two are fine.

Thanks for the help thus far...

Damon

Rod Speed · Sep 1, 2005

Damon said:
Rod Speed wrote

It was slightly used because the person I bought it from bought
it new to build a workstation with for a client, then the client
changed their mind. So, the guy parted out the system and
I got an only slightly used drive for a really good price.

I have Norton Antivirus 2003. No viruses as far as it
says. Should I check with online checkers as well?

Not really worth it, but it wouldnt do any harm to try this one
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

There are a few viruses that do disable virus checkers.

I would think that only a boot sector virus could
do this sort of thing, so it would show up in the
first few seconds of any scan, but... *shrugs*

Its technically possible for a virus to install something
that does that sort of thing as a deferred event.

Cool. Thanks.

Well, I can just touch the drives in my system. I have a Maxtor
160GB, a Maxtor 40GB, and two Maxtor 250GB drives. The
250GBs seem to run rather hot, but the other two are fine.

OK, have a look at the SMART data.

The drive activity may well just be the drive trying on errors.

Thanks for the help thus far...

No problem, happy to keep going for as long as it takes.

Damon · Sep 1, 2005

Rod said:
OK, have a look at the SMART data.

The drive activity may well just be the drive trying on errors.

Ugh! I can't get the SMART data for the 160GB Maxtor. The freeware
version of Everest only shows the SMART data for one of my 250GB drives
- and I'm not sure which one. I don't know whether this is a bug or
because it's crippleware. *sighs*

Any other programs out there that read SMART data?

No problem, happy to keep going for as long as it takes.

Damon

Rod Speed · Sep 1, 2005

Damon said:
Rod Speed wrote

Ugh! I can't get the SMART data for the 160GB Maxtor.
The freeware version of Everest only shows the SMART data
for one of my 250GB drives - and I'm not sure which one.

Most likely it doesnt like the controller some of the drives are
on or something like that. What have you done there, with 4
hard drives, its likely that you have more than just the basic
motherboard controllers. Its possible that its that that is producing
the effect that makes it look like the drive may be dying etc.

You can work out which 250G drive is being seen
from the serial number, that is added to the end
of the details in the Everest SMART data display.

I don't know whether this is a bug or because it's crippleware. *sighs*

Its certainly not crippleware.

Any other programs out there that read SMART data?

I'd go the other route, check the controller detail and
put the 160G Maxtor on the controller the 250G can
be seen on so Everest can see the SMART data. It
would be interesting to see if the 160G Maxtor still
produces those symptoms on that other controller.

Damon · Sep 2, 2005

Rod said:
Most likely it doesnt like the controller some of the drives are
on or something like that. What have you done there, with 4
hard drives, its likely that you have more than just the basic
motherboard controllers. Its possible that its that that is producing
the effect that makes it look like the drive may be dying etc.

I have two IDE drives, a CD writer, a DVD-ROM, and two SATA drives.

You can work out which 250G drive is being seen
from the serial number, that is added to the end
of the details in the Everest SMART data display.

The SMART data display says M0000000. I checked another program that
reads the SMART data and this is indeed its serial number, which is
really weird.

I'd go the other route, check the controller detail and
put the 160G Maxtor on the controller the 250G can
be seen on so Everest can see the SMART data. It
would be interesting to see if the 160G Maxtor still
produces those symptoms on that other controller.

Can't. The 160GB drive is IDE and the 250GB drives are SATA.

I also tried unplugging the SATA drives completely, and now I get no
SMART information whatsoever. The other program I checked (Active
SMART) has the same problem. What's going on here? The 40 GB drive
might not have SMART information, but I'm positive that the 160GB drive
should!

Is it possible that the SATA RAID controller on my motherboard is
confusing these two programs or something? I just want to find out
before my hard drive really does go south. It was hammering something
awful this morning again, so badly that the whole system froze and I
had to turn the computer off and back on again. I'm virus scanning it
with Trend Micro Online just to be safe, but I don't think that's the
problem. *sighs*

Damon

Rod Speed · Sep 2, 2005

Damon said:
Rod Speed wrote

I have two IDE drives, a CD writer, a DVD-ROM, and two SATA drives.

The SMART data display says M0000000. I checked another program that
reads the SMART data and this is indeed its serial number, which is really
weird.

Yeah, looks like something is getting in the road of access to the
drives at that level and thats why you arent getting a sensible serial
number and why some drives arent even visible at all at that level.

Can't. The 160GB drive is IDE and the 250GB drives are SATA.
True.

I also tried unplugging the SATA drives completely, and now I get
no SMART information whatsoever. The other program I checked
(Active SMART) has the same problem. What's going on here?

Yeah, something is rather comprehensively stuffed somewhere.

It might just be a dying IDE controller. The drive may
have been fine all along, just a controller problem.

The obvious test for that possibility is whether the drive
still looks like its dying in a completely different system.

The 40 GB drive might not have SMART information,
but I'm positive that the 160GB drive should!
Yep.

Is it possible that the SATA RAID controller on my motherboard
is confusing these two programs or something?

Cant say I have seen any reports of
that effect. Can you disable it in the bios ?

I just want to find out before my hard drive really does go south.
It was hammering something awful this morning again, so badly
that the whole system froze and I had to turn the computer off
and back on again. I'm virus scanning it with Trend Micro Online
just to be safe, but I don't think that's the problem. *sighs*

Yeah, looks like the IDE controller may be dying.
Not easy to prove tho if you only have one system.

It'd be worth checking if the motherboard has a later bios
available. You may just be seeing a bug in the bios you
are using currently and it may have been fixed.