Disk IO error after crash

[puffcap]

I was playing a game one day and suddenly my PC froze. I couldn't recover via ctrl+alt+del so I hit the reset.

My specs are as follows:
Athlon XP 3000+
Abit NF7
Corsair Value RAM DDR400 2x512MB
RAIDCore 4452
Seagate SATA 7200.10
Antec TP1 330W

I boot off of the single drive on the RAIDCore 4452 - upon rebooting the card BIOS detected my drive but I got a "Disk IO Error" immediately following detection.

I thought maybe it was a fluke so I rebooted a few times and after a few tries it made it past the IO error to booting Windows but blue screened before getting to desktop. All subsequent reboot attempts led to blue screening at the same place.

I didn't care for my data so I reformatted my drive (full format) and reinstalled Windows which all went fine without any sign of error.

My question is what could have happened? I thought my HDD could be failing but its relatively new, formatted just fine and never made any characteristic clicking noises.
Are there some troubleshooting steps I could take to figure out what is wrong with my PC? Data losses and PC down time are not my concern but reinstalling Windows is a hassle I would like to avoid repeating.

Thank you

 

[drizzt81]

Are there some troubleshooting steps I could take to figure out what is wrong with my PC?

With your card telling you that you have I/O errors and windows BSOD-ing, I would use the manufacturer's utility to check the drive after making sure that the cable is still seated firmly. The ultimate boot CD is an invaluable tool for all things PC diagnostic.

 

[gigabyte1024]

It's likely the disk, but don't discount that the controller could be the problem.