My computer has been having strange problems where it seems to randomly freeze up all processes, including windows explorer, for about one or two minutes. After that time, all processes work again. Curiously, any song playing on the computer continues until the song ends - it does not continue to a next song, instead freezing like all other programs. The problem seems to increase in frequency whenever the computer case is completely shut or my recently bought second hard drive is put in. However, after running a diagnostic tool, only the second drive is said to be faulty, rather than the original.
My computer specifications and temperature:
Radeon HD 4870 (65 degrees celsius)
AMD Phenom II X4 940 (42 degrees celsius)
6 GB RAM - DDR2, mix of Corsair and G-skill brands, none faulty
Biostar TA790GXE Motherboard
Samsung HD103SJ 977GB hard drive (33 degrees celsius)
EDIT: The faulty hard drive is a Western Digital, 500GB. The model number is WD5000AAJS.
Actually, sorry, my fault for not being very clear. I have unplugged the faulty drive and the freezes still occur on my 977GB hard drive. It’s when I plug the faulty drive in, or the case is fully on that the freezes happen much more frequently. I do not see why there would be a problem when the faulty drive is unplugged.
It sounds like harddisk problems alright. Now you just have to make sure that’s actually the case.
Consider doing some system diagnosis, using FreshDiagnose for example. FreshDiagnose can do benchmarks, which is much more useful than a test for system errors in many cases. A harddisk can have zero errors and still freeze from time to time due to degradation. Performance issues are often not considered “errors”. A benchmark can tell you how it actually performs compared to how it should perform, which is useful information for you.
Also, it’s entirely possible that your harddrives are both fine and rather your harddisk controller has a problem. When two harddisks start acting up, it’s useful to eliminate the possibility of a faulty controller. Test your faulty harddisk in another PC as well, see if that computer finds problems with it too. This will help you verify if your harddisk is indeed damaged. Also, make sure you don’t have any IDE harddrives connected to the same flatcable as an IDE optical drive. This can also cause slowdowns and/or freezes. Of course if you’re using SATA harddisks (like you should), then this doesn’t apply.
Lastly, most harddisks have a two year or more warranty plan with the manufacturer. Western Digital’s warranty plan is even 3 years I believe. Make sure to check your warranty on the official Western Digital website. If Western Digital’s own Data Lifeguard Diagnostics software says the drive is faulty and it’s still under warranty, then you are entitled to a brand new drive.
Well, after using the FreshDiagnose benchmarking, I get a write speed of 8.45 MB/s.(in between a Seagate 40GB and a Seagate 10GB, #2 and 3 respectively) My read speed is 507.13 MB/s, which reads as being massively better than #7, a Seagate 80GB SATA 7200 RPM. Is that supposed to be good?
Also, there seems to be nothing wrong with the SMART status, after using the Data Lifeguard Diagnostics software. Seems I’ll have to bust the drive out and test it on another computer, then.
EDIT: My hard drive is SATA, by the way.
Double Edit: Right as I was going to remove my hard drive, my father (who happens to be good at this himself) said that I’d probably have to download a metric ton of drivers to support the change of computer hardware the drive has to go through. This any true?
hmmm, lock ups are pretty common, and there can be MANY reasons for them, reformatting the comp could solve it, updating/removing drivers could make it work.
Corrupted data/faulty hard drive seems a popular suggesstion, but have you narrowed the problem down to being the hard drive alone? have you tried just a single hard drive connected?
Have you seen any mysterious blood-written words on your files? A sudden chill in the drive’s operating temperature? What about unexplained sound files?
If so, your drive may be haunted by plattergeists.
The only hard drive I have connected, the 1 terabyte (basically, anyway) one, has these lockups occasionally. As I previously stated, the lockups happen much more often when I attach the sides of the case.
When using the full case, it sometimes freezes as soon as I even start the PC; I can’t even access the BIOS.
EDIT: Also, well played Fnoigy. Well played.
Double Edit: None of my drivers are old or anything, so I’m a bit hesitant on reinstalling all of them. Is there any possibility this is an airflow problem?
Possibly, though a LOCKUP before even getting to the BIOS is weird, since a heat problem usually results in the computer just shutting itself off.
Could be memory errors, or hell, it could even be the sound card or video card. Years ago, I had a sound card that was just crashing the computer all the time, even making it fail to boot 2/3 of the time.
Try some diagnostics. See how it does if you remove the sound card (if you have one, if there isn’t one, try putting some random cheap old one IN), if you have an old video card lying around, try swapping that out and see if that does anything.
Some versions of Ubuntu have memtest, which will VERY thoroughly check the RAM for errors. Some versions of Ubuntu may have it, so you can access it from the menu you get when you start up the computer with the Ubuntu DVD in the drive, and the computer set to boot off the DVD as a first priority.
You could also try swapping out an older power supply, as yours may be dying. Or try disconnecting all but the most essential hard drives to reduce power draw and see if that helps.
I do have a sound card, but I’ve been having problems before I even bought it. I do have memtest lying around somewhere, so I’ll do that first thing next morning. I do have a spare video card, but it’s in another computer, one that is used rather often by my little sister. (Note: Don’t ever piss off an eleven year old girl) I’ll see what I can do, however.
Of course, the write speed, is waaaaay too low. But there could still be other causes for this. At least it helps you in the right direction. Gives you a good reason to do an extended check on the harddisk in two different PC’s.
I think I should’ve added some more info on the Data Lifeguard Diagnostics program, sorry. There are two versions, one for DOS and one for Windows. What you want, is the one for DOS. The CD version of the program comes as an ISO file (a CD image), which you can burn using CD burning software. Be sure to burn the actual image contained in the iso file to a CD, and not the iso file itself. Proper CD burning software will know what to do with iso files.
After you have burned the image to CD, you should reboot your computer with the CD in the drive. When you turn on your computer it should display a message like “Press F10 for boot menu”. Press the key it indicates, and chose to boot from the CD/DVD drive. The Data Lifeguard Diagnostics will start up and eventually you’ll get a screen looking like this.
Then, you can choose to run an extended test. This could take a while, but if it spits out an error you’ll know for 100% certain something is wrong in the harddisk area. If it does give an error on an extended test, just to be sure you can move the harddisk to another PC and run the test on that PC as well. If it still gives an error, report the error to Western Digital and ask for an RMA if you’re still under warranty.
If the Western Digital diagnostics program errors with the harddisk in one PC, but not in another, then there’s likely something wrong with your motherboard’s SATA controller or your SATA cables.
Yes and no. If you move your harddisk to another PC and then try to start up Windows, yes - you’ll run into lots of problems. Avoid that at all costs. If you even see a Windows logo while having your haddisk plugged in another PC, turn it off immediatly. Windows will start, but fail quite quickly due to the wrong drivers loaded. Or, if you’re unlucky, Windows will boot and then it will start installing different drivers.
However - if you boot the Western Digital Lifeguard Diagnostics from CD-ROM (like I explained above) instead of from Windows, you will not have to start Windows. Therefor, you will not run into any driver problems.
Starting the Western Digital Lifeguard Diagnostics from CD-ROM is very useful. It operates regardless from the contents of the harddisk, but also, since it doesn’t access anything but the most basic hardware, you will not run into errors with the Data Lifeguard Diagnostics if something else besides your harddisk or harddisk controller is faulty.
Lastly, “Write zeroes to drive” in the diagnostics program is not a test, it wipes your harddisk.
Ah, damn. I just realized I have a Samsung, not Western Digital, in my hard drive. When using the DOS Lifeguard Diagnostics program, it said I had a Non-WD drive. Looking at my earliest post confirmed it.
Maybe I need to state this again, now. I have one hard drive, the 1 TB Samsung one, in my case. That one occasionally causes lockups. Then, I have a 500GB Western Digital one, the one that failed a SMART test and is not in my computer. When putting it in, the lockups increase dramatically.
did you mention it gets worse with your side panel’s on? (if you have a lack of fans, it could be heat related)
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