Is this a HDD or Controller issue? Old rig keeps crashing..

[qda]

[SOLVED] SEE MY LAST POST




My second computer has been crashing lately - either a bluescreen with ambiguous error, or INPAGE_KERNEL_ERROR (don't remember exact string), OR just total mouse freeze and have to hard-reset (the latter seems more frequent).

I have an nForce 2 ASUS A7N8X-X motherboard (few years old)

I have ATA133 and ATA100 HDDs on it, 1 master 1 slave. on primary IDE channel. Using 5.10 nforce drivers.

The best way to reproduce the error is to run CHKDSK /f and /r on one of the slave HDD partitions. Will almost always result in a mouse freeze, with NO BSOD.

The most recent hardware change was replacing old RAM with 2 new sticks of Buffalo Select ram. Ran MS Memory Diagnostic (all 11 tests) and now running MemTest - doesn't look like it's a ram issue. CPU Burn in also seems to not be the issue. I have an Athlon XP-M 2500+ running at 200mHz x 9.5 multiplier, ram set to same frequency 8,3,3,3 timing (the CPU seems to not want to actually run at 133mHzx14 multiplier, which is really weird because that's the stock frequency!)

In any case, I don't think its a CPU/ram issue - I think it seems more like a HDD or IDE controller issue, but what is the best way to find out what's going on?

I am currently running with the slave HDD unplugged, and running CHKDSK on c: without automatic fixing hasn't crashed the computer. Could the slave drive be faulty?

 

[unhappy_mage]

The alternative to a memory problem is probably a driver problem or a PSU problem. Try putting in a controller card (should only run you ten bucks or so) and put both drives on the same channel and see if the problem recurs.

 

[qda]

The computer has now been running without crashes with that slave HDD removed all day - in the last couple of days it would have crashed by now! Is this indicative about the slave HDD being a cause of error?

When I tried to CHKDSK the slave HDD on a second computer in an external enclosure, it would not be able to complete one of the partitions, and all of a sudden all the partitions on the HDD would disappear from Windows.

unhappy mage: I guess trying it with the external enclosure counts as a different controller right? And since it fails with it, also, in a way, is the HDD faulty?

 

[gerbiaNem]

Looks like the hard drive is the problem, connect a new hard drive to the first controller just to make sure the controller isn't have problems with more hard drives. The controller also could have messed up the hard drive, so don't rule that out. The enclosure might not like the drive, try another computer for the slave.

 

[qda]

FINAL UPDATE: S.M.A.R.T. in SpeedFan looked ok at first glance yesterday, but I did an online analysis and realized that the drive needs IMMEDIATE REPLACEMENT!

thanks all for the suggestions!

Is there any way to change the topic in the forum to solved, not just in the thread view?


UPDATE: put in a different drive as a slave into the rig, and it did CHKDSK without any problems on the whole thing.

Going to try the seemingly faulty original SLAVE in a second external enclosure to see if it fails there as well when doing CHKDSK. (So far it crashes the original rig, and makes the enclosure disappear when running chkdsk.)