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Continuing problems with my computer (corruption and crashing)

M

Murderhorn

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Apr 21, 2002
Messages
2,018
For a while now my computer has had random crashes (xp blue screens, will crash at random). Now suddenly I cant even play WoW because it says my hd is corrupt. I've tried reinstalling it, it wont even install most of the time, and if I do get it to install, it wont load at all (crashes immediatly citing a corrupt file, different file almost every time). I know that some part in my computer is bad, but I dont know what. I've been putting it off because until now it didnt effect me except for the occasional crash. Usually when WoW crashed before it said that some memory could not be "read" or "written" to. How do I tell what part is bad in my computer without blindly replacing things?

Here are the specs

Athlon XP 3200
Biostar mainboard (i forget which, box is gone)
1 gig of 400fsb ram (corsair, i believe)
geforce 4 5200 video card
SB audigy 2 ZS platnum sound card
Dual seagate 120gig RAID drives setup in an array.
 
One good way to start out is by posting part of the blue screen error you get, or even the entire memory dump. In XP, you can go to your event viewer and from time to time you may see a source of the error.

One place to start would be to do a hard drive scan using the manufacturers testing utility. (Western Digitals Data Lifeguard v10.. or whatever the newest one is) It can tell you if and what any of the problems with the drive are. If you are running a RAID 0 array, and one drive is going FUBAR... you can count on your RAID array of going FUBAR as well once that drive dies. (Make sure you do a backup soon just in case)

Make sure you're getting sufficient power to the PC via your PS. Also if you go to the event viewer, sometimes it will tell you a driver has caused the crash, and if thats the case, you can resolve that by updating the driver for that particular device.
 
I just ran memtest, and it turned out ok. It ran the entire time I was at work (12 times) and showed no errors. So Im guessing that means my memory is good?
 
Run diagnostic on the HDD. It could be a failing drive. If the HDD is fine, check the PSU. Get a similar spec PSU that works for sure, and replace the the current one. See if that solves the problem.
 
Here is what the seagate tools said;

SeaTools Desktop v3.00.07
Copyright (c) 2004 Kroll Ontrack Inc.

1/10/2005 @ 1:41 PM

The following information has been generated by SeaTools Desktop. Use
this information to help you recognize and resolve potential data access
problems.


System Information:
BIOS Date 12/10/03
Conventional Memory size 631 K
Extended Memory size 58532 K
IO Channel type PCI



Drive Information:
SIZE MODEL
--------- ---------------------
160 GB ST380013AS


Serial Number = 5JV5DH4C
Int13 Num = 80, PHYS CHS = 16383x16x63.
ParmTable CHS, Rsvd = 19458x255x63

PARTITION CYLINDER SIZE
---------- ------------ ----
# Type Start End MB
PRIMARY
1 NTFS 0 19456 160049


Diagnostic Results:

90-Second Test Result: Failed
Recommendation:
The "Quick Test" is adequate for most situations.
Consider running the "Full Test" which
verifies each sector on the drive if you need to run a more
comprehensive diagnostic.

The Following Sectors MAY be damaged
------------------------------------
104845841
SMART Status Check Result: Unsupported


S.M.A.R.T., (S)elf (M)onitoring (A)nalysis and (R)eporting (T)echnology, a built-in hard disk drive failure prediction method reports an 'Alert' if a problem has occurred. It reports 'Passed' if no problems are found and 'Unsupported' if a hard disk drive does not support S.M.A.R.T.
Full Diagnostic Scan Result: Passed



File Structure Test Result:

Error reading MBR


******************************************


Recommendation:
All selected physical diagnostics passed.

If you are not experiencing data loss and SeaTools reports File
System Structure errors, they may be caused by a lock-up or
failure to shutdown Windows correctly. Many times, these errors
may be repaired through normal system maintenance which
includes using the Windows provided "Defrag" and
"Scandisk / Chkdsk / Error Checking" utilities.

If you are experiencing a hardware error, you should isolate
the cause and replace the failing component. If you are unsure how
to proceed with repairs, contact a computer professional. After
completing any maintenance tasks, run SeaTools again to
verify that all errors have been repaired. If errors continue to
occur, the system may not be stable. Again, contact a computer
professional.




========================================================
 
There you go. That scan showed you what just might be the source of your problem. You have a bad sector most likely as it said:

******************************************************************
The Following Sectors MAY be damaged
------------------------------------
104845841
SMART Status Check Result: Unsupported
******************************************************************



and this isn't promising either....



******************************************************************
File Structure Test Result:

Error reading MBR
******************************************************************


Have you tried re-formatting yet??
 
The computers been re-formated 4+ times. I've had these problems since the day I built the computer (back in summer). Hell, it even blue screens during windows install half the time. Is it surely the HD's, or could it be the controller?
 
I'd lay money on it being the HD. Typically if your IDE or SATA controller was not functioning correctly, you would get errors other than a bad sector and not being able to read the MBR.

Try another HD to see if that fixes the problem. Thats where I'd start... unless of course you have a PCI hard drive controller card you can test that hard drive with.
 
Nah, I'm using the onboard raid controller that came with this ass-tacular biostar mainboard.
 
Update. After running chkdsk about 10 times my computer was working well for the last few weeks. Today now it wont run/install WoW again. I had gone home for the weekend from school, and when I came back my computer had restarted (it always crashes on its own). When I checked the error messages it said "hardware failure" caused the crash. But it didnt say what. Now ever since that happened I keep getting these "bad direct sound driver" errors when windows loads. And now once when I tried to change my volume it said that the creative sound controls did not detect a creative card, and would not load.

So far people have been pointing me towards harddrives, and I have no problem with changing them, but I dont want to spend the $200 to do so and then have the same problems. Anything else I can test?

PS, I have the WoW mem dumps available if needed.
 
I'd still try the different hard drive. If its failing, you could be losing data on sectors or important files needed to operate windows. Worth a shot. If not.. you'll have a backup drive :rolleyes:
 
Ok, computer flat out died yesterday. I installed an IDE drive, and windows installed fine, and then once I installed the mainboard drivers all hell broke loose again. It couldnt detect the sound card, the netword card started spewing hot packets all over the place, and it slowed to a crawl. I ordered a new mainboard since that seems to be what it is. We'll see what happens when the newegg box arrives.
 
If, like it seems, a bad sector you do realize Normal FORMATS don't fix anything? All that is meant to do is clear the info. If you want to remove/fix/rewrite Sectors you do a Low Level Format, which re-writes all the sectors on the drive.
 
This is where you set the whole thing on fire and hope it comes back phoenix style. If it doesn't, you're better off.

(good job dropping the ass-tacular board)
 
Just... one thing. If that board was "ass-tacular", why haven't you figured it out sooner that it was the ass-tascular board causing you problems? :/

-J.
 
interesting how after you installed the mobo drivers it went nutso.

hmmmmmmmm...

corrupt drivers?
 
I just got it running back on the raid drives. still wont recognize the sound card, and hasnt for a few days. So basicly Im having the same problem on two seperate sets of HD's, both on seperate HD controllers, both probably having nothing to do with drivers. Ram has been replaced already, and memtest says the ram is good.
 
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