HDD keeps getting corrupted

[a111087]

HI!
I will try to explain the problem the best I can.

First, I used WinXP64 for a while, but on other partition I also had WInXP32.
I didn't used the PC in my specs for a while. Instead I took the main HDD with two OS and used a sata-ide adapter to make it work on my OLD pc.
Then I got video card and decided to bring everything back to the PC in my specs.

I did some changes to PC though: UPDATED BIOS TO THE LATEST VER., added 8800gt, then I started to use all four rams (like in my specs right now), and I stated to try to OC (failed OC attempts resulted in having to disconnect the 320gb HDD so that Windows will be detected, otherwise system just asks for system CD, even though all two HDDs are detected in BIOS, I also tried to use some programs from CD, but they couldn't find HDDs also )
The first thing I noticed is that in WinXP64 I started to get some blah-blah.dll errors. But all APPs still worked fine.
Then Win64 partition started to get corrupted every day and win often froze during sturt up (The progress bar moves, but HDD just spins with, but no noise is coming from, so I restart it...).
There were constantly some errors with file system. One of the programs, partition magic i think, said that some partitions merged or something like that.
I tried to reinstal win, but during the "copying files" different "*.sys" files were always missing. I've done search on all partitions - NOTHING!
I did a back up for Win 64 partition, formated it, and restored data. Win64 barrely was working, half frozen... But partition seemed fine and I finally managed to reinstall the win64.
I entered new Win64, clicked on trash bin and got message trash been is corrupted, it cleaned itself...
Then Win32 also froze during start up (just like 64-bit). I of course checked the disc and found another errors on first and second parts of disc check.

Western Digital tool says, the drive is completely fine, but I'm worried that one day it will just stop working at all.
After format of one partition it became more stable, but i did it recently so will have to see if it really is stable. May be I will have to format the second partition too.
I don't know why it happens to me, mey be because i use PC so much, but that 160gb HDD is cooled well (~27c, right in front of a fan)
Both OS partitions are very small (~10gb each), there is not much but OS activity. I did that king of setup so that in case if something goes wrong I don't loose all the data. And I rarely formated that HDD, may be 6 month+ ago.

Any idea what is wrong?

[intel igent]

did you lock your pci/sata freq?

[a111087]

Originally Posted by intel igent

did you lock your pci/sata freq?

EDITED :
right now I run on default settings
but I did try nTune and it upped PCI clock a little, but it was for just a few minutes, I still can't uninstall nTune, it quits every time I press uninstall

[intel igent]

try and lock it

when you OC, your pci/sata bus freq increase as well as can cause instabillity

was happening to me all the time when i first started to OC

[a111087]

Originally Posted by intel igent

try and lock it

when you OC, your pci/sata bus freq increase as well as can cause instabillity

was happening to me all the time when i first started to OC

I will try to lock it in BIOS, thanks

EDIT:
my Abit mobo has a soft-menu that lets you change core clock, multiplier, and pci freq. and it was always at DEFAULT (except when i did OC, it grays out every option, so I guess you can call it "locked")
now I set it to User defined to see if it makes some difference and I will delete nTune manually..

[intel igent]

just make shure you familiarize yourself with your bios b4 making chnges

[a111087]

yeah, i tried to study ocing before doing anything and even when i did change stuff, i didn't touch anything except core clock, multypl, htt, and ram options.

and it froze once again at start up just a minute ago, so any other advices?

[a111087]

it froze two time again this morning and 1 error was corrected during the file scan (1st part of disc scan), so discussion is still open
but i feel like its my windows dying, but i got so much data here and i don't want to reinstall it all over again...

[Cybrnook2002]

Try toning your oc down a bit. I had that problem before when I was at 3.2 on my chip. Brought it back down to 2.8 and all is fine. You might wanna see if its ok with 2 GB ram at your oc speed too. 4 GB can cause problems, especially if its not 2 x 2GB (thast what I found) Make sure its not a stability issue.

[a111087]

as i already said, i'm running on all default settings - NO OC, but HDD still gets corrupted every day

but i will try to remove the 2x512mb ram stick to see if there is any difference

[intel igent]

try and switch the cable out?

[a111087]

the sata cable? the sata cable had to be twisted this time, so i don't know if it got damaged or what, but i will try.
I'm using just 2 ram sticks right now to see if corruption stops...

[Wile E]

My guess is ram. Every single time I've had problems like this (and trust me, I've had it happen plenty of times. lol), it was ram related. Either I had a bad stick, or I pushed too far.

[a111087]

if its ram then its probably 2x512 of my old ram, but they worked perfectly for a whole year untill they got replaced by 2GB

[a111087]

I thing I also noticed, when I put my PC in stand by mode and then turn it back on, the performance in 3d fall to ~60%. But I did a disc check and something happened to one of nvidia files...

I think corruption stopped now. Seems like it was due to 4 slots of ram.
But the casualties include many corrupted icons and thats about it. I didn't care about anything else

[keakar]

check your motherboard specs, it may only be able to handle up to 2gb of ram, that would be my guess

[erocker]

Strange, my WD 320gb with a production date of 12/07 did the same thing to me just recently. It's not my system drive, it just holds my music and stuff. I'm in the middle of retrieving the data. It seems the MBR got corrupted and all the data is fine. I'm wondering if there is a problem with this drive...

[PimpMyFSB]

I read tons of stuff about overclocking and thought i was ready! so i went on with it! i didnt raise my FSB more than 25 until i ran into stability problems, then i found out that the PCI/AGP lock didnt work on my motherboard!

i turned everything to default but by then the dmg was alrdy done! symptoms like:
HDD makes clonk sounds (only right before a freeze)
Freezes
Software bugs

and eventually after 1 day of trying to save it, it refused to boot up!

got to the windows loading screen 5-6 times and just rebooted where i upto 5-10 min after wasnt able to detect the harddrive!
after that it just would do anything! went out and bought completly new stuff!

[a111087]

Originally Posted by keakar

check your motherboard specs, it may only be able to handle up to 2gb of ram, that would be my guess

it supports up to 8GB
the only thing that bothers me right now is that it still freezes half of the time after windows logo (during start up)
I might have to do a complete reinstall and I also have to check the sata cable ...

[PimpMyFSB]

what about trying to put the harddisk into another computer?

would be a good free way to see if its the HDD

[keakar]

Originally Posted by a111087

it supports up to 8GB
the only thing that bothers me right now is that it still freezes half of the time after windows logo (during start up)
I might have to do a complete reinstall and I also have to check the sata cable ...

it sounds like windows is corrupted by a spastic hard drive not reading properly. there could be many causes of this but the only fix you can do is buy a new drive.

i suggest you do a complete format of the entire 160gb drive then partition as desired and install windows fresh.

if that does it then it was just corrupted data but if it still acts up then toss the drive, its screwed

worse case, you just use the 320gb drive for everything.

[a111087]

Originally Posted by PimpMyFSB

what about trying to put the harddisk into another computer?
would be a good free way to see if its the HDD

I might test if it will freeze during start up, but I do not expect any farther corruption...
everything was pretty smooth lately

and since this problem is mostly on just one partition of the 160GB HDD, I really hope that it will live a long and full of gaming life

[a111087]

OMG!!! I'm writing from WInXP32 because in WinXP64 ntuser file got corrupted at startup and now i don't see any users - can't log in. during start up i got a window message saying it got corrupted and some info might be lost, i pressed ok, selected my user, entered pass pressed enter, another window almost appeared, but PC froze...
Good thing I backed up my homework to another HDD, seems like I will have to sacrifice some time to get everything reinstalled. And hope it will actually worth the efford

[Nitro-Max]

I would just try one drive for while with a fresh xp32 "cos win xp64 has always had bug issues" run with everything at stock if problems persist try 2gb with matched ram if the problems still there take out the ram put the other matching set in. Its hard to get good overclocking results with 4x1 gig of memory especially as yours isnt the same brand.

If all this fails repeat the process with the other hard drive.
and if this still doesnt work run each memory block independantly and run apps and games to stress test it if its faulty it will soon let you know.

Other things to do

buy another drive?
buy another mobo

My dads pc had this problem and it turned out to be a IO error "input output error"
and it froze alot lost system 32 file alot and needed reinstalling alot too.

Mobo was knackerd.
Harddrive also had sector damage.
hope this helps

[a111087]

its like something bad happens to hdd when the power is turned on