HDD freezes

[Rubicon1138]

I have a WD5000AAKB IDE external drive (500 GB) in a rosewill external enclosure. This HDD is seen at BIOS when starting up but when it comes time to loading up Vista I get a black screen and it freezes. This is just before I am suppose to key in my password. Also when I have the computer on and then connect the HDD, the computer <NOBR style="COLOR: #0066cc; FONT-SIZE: 100%; FONT-WEIGHT: normal" id=itxt_nobr_0_0>freezes</NOBR> (windows explorer) which forces me to reboot. I have also tried to place this HDD internally and at boot up it freezes as aforementioned.

[MadMax2911]

Re: HDD freezes

more information is needed about your mobo and chipset. Also when you dissconnect the drive is everything normal?
Max

[Rubicon1138]

[artdrivers]

Re: HDD freezes

Also when I have the computer on and then connect the HDD, the computer freezes (windows explorer) which forces me to reboot.

I would not attept this on a ICH7 chipset.

the SCA method on SCSI is most commonly used for hot-swappable arrays. In the IDE/ATA world, the best you can usually do is warm swapping using drive trays, which "convert" regular IDE/ATA drives to a form similar in concept to how SCA works, though not quite the same. This is still pretty good, but not really hot swapping. The system usually needs to be halted before you remove the drives.

A system that cannot do hot swapping, or even warm swapping, will benefit from the use of hot spares. If your system can only cold swap, you will at some point have to take it down to change failed hardware. But if you have hot spares, you can restore the array to full functionality immediately, and thus delay shutting the system down to a more convenient time, like 3:00 am (heh, I meant more convenient for the users, not you, the lucky administrator. :^) ) In fact, hot sparing is a useful feature even if you have hot swap capability; read more about it here.http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/perf/...vSpares-c.html

[Rubicon1138]

Re: HDD freezes

Is my understanding correct that these type of swapping only work with RAID? If so I don't see how this could help me since I don't have or know how to construct RAID.

[MadMax2911]

Re: HDD freezes

HHHMMMM I usually try to keep a diary of the things that I change in my system reguarding hardware changes. I suggest that you do the same even if its only noting changes in system restore(after creating a restore point). Then when a crisis happens you are prepared with some knowledge. It is very difficult to know what is happening in your system from my perspective. All I can do is assume what you have done and recommend a course of action. That being said, I think you had a external drive that you may have disassembled, or this device (enclosure) was separate and you added a drive to it. (1)Was the drive new when you added it, or was it a spare? (2)If it was a spare, did you handle it quite a bit especially around the power connector. I have had failures due to power connector problems. (3)How old is the hard drive? (4) have you tried the freezer method of recovery (if the drive is bad). The freezer method requires 12-24 hours in the freezer, then its installed in the PC and started. The user then tries to recover any data that is needed(this is no joke really) If the drives runs more than before (or shows any improvement in operation then its probably bad(or needing a firmware update) or damaged.
Max

[Rubicon1138]

Re: HDD freezes

I'll try to give you a detailed account of what happened to the best of my knowledge. On 11/29/2010 my Seagate barracuda 7200.11 750 GB hdd crashed on me on what is now recognized as a big firmware problem. Around that same time, on or before that date, (I think it was after) the ide drive began to behave as has been documented. I have already fixed that barracuda hdd and even so the IDE drive still behaves the same way. The barracuda drive had the OS and I thought that by fixing it might resolve the issue but it didn't. This IDE behaves this way with xp in this system even with vista working in a brand new drive in this system. I have not yet tried it on another machine. I did attempt to install another IDE drive in the same external enclosure and this time it does not freeze my computer in any way. But this older ide drive does not appear on my computer with the external enclosure. So to sum things up one IDE drive freezes my computer and another ide drive does not freeze my computer for which both drives are being used in the same enclosure. I will attempt to see what happens if I do this with win 7. I will also try to see what happens when I install the older IDE drive internally into the computer and see what happens. Lastly, during the time that the barracuda drive was not functioning I took the time to flash the bios in my mobo to f10. If more clarification is needed then let me know.
P.S. Before I forget I should post this too. Before the Barracuda drive crashed I was updating win constantly. But maybe approximatley a few weeks before the crash I wasn't able to update win for some reason, I was getting some kind of error. My guess is the the firmware issue in the barracuda was impeding the update from being installed.

[MadMax2911]

Re: HDD freezes

I'll try to give you a detailed account of what happened to the best of my knowledge. On 11/29/2010 my Seagate barracuda 7200.11 750 GB hdd crashed on me on what is now recognized as a big firmware problem. Around that same time, on or before that date, (I think it was after) the ide drive began to behave as has been documented. I have already fixed that barracuda hdd and even so the IDE drive still behaves the same way. The barracuda drive had the OS and I thought that by fixing it might resolve the issue but it didn't

here you say you have 1 SATA? and one IDE? with the OS on the SATA drive right? or 2 IDE drives with one containing the OS??

This IDE behaves this way with xp in this system even with vista working in a brand new drive in this system. I have not yet tried it on another machine.

Is this a Dual booting system with XP and win 7???

(1)Was the drive new when you added it, or was it a spare? (2)If it was a spare, did you handle it quite a bit especially around the power connector. I have had failures due to power connector problems. (3)How old is the hard drive? (5) How many drives are we talking about and what are the specs on all drives? including aprox ages.
Max

[Rubicon1138]

Re: HDD freezes

Initially my setup was 2 Barracudas one of which was a 7200.11 and one IDE drive in the enclosure. At no time was there an OS in an IDE drive. I remember correctly now, after my IDE drive failed as described then so did the 7200.11 barracuda which was maybe a couple of weeks after the IDE drive crashed. When the Barracuda 7200.11 failed that is when I bought another 160gb Barracuda 7200.12 for which I installed Vista Ultimate and XP ( for the purpose of fixing the 7200.11 ). I have not yet installed win 7. The IDE drive that failed was new and at the time The IDE drive has manufacturing date of 7/1/2007 and it crashed in mid November. I did use the IDE constantly and would turn it on and off when I was working on my computer. BTW I am starting to think this could be mobo problem, is there a way to do a diagnostic on a mobo?

[MadMax2911]

Re: HDD freezes

I remember correctly now, after my IDE drive failed as described then so did the 7200.11 barracuda which was maybe a couple of weeks after the IDE drive crashed. When the Barracuda 7200.11 failed that is when I bought another 160gb Barracuda 7200.12 for which I installed Vista Ultimate and XP ( for the purpose of fixing the 7200.11 ).

The failures occurring so close together makes me wonder if there is a problem with your power supply or even your board, which you want to check out too. Usually in a case like this I would start at the power supply and work your way in checking things out. Systems need adequate power supplied in order to function, this is a given (factor). Run easytune and display the advanced voltages section (you are running a gigabyte board correct???). Easytune is designed for gigabyte boards only AFAIK. If you have another brand then there is always speedfan or other voltage testing programs. Here is a link to CNET download page to try SANDRA or Everest (free for first timers only). Diagnostic Software - Free software downloads and software reviews - CNET Download.com
Open the Voltage pages and give us some screenshots. speedfan link http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php
One more thing the firmware problem is being mentioned here and at other sites. I have one of the faulty drives too, but have not applied the update. I contacted support and they said RMA if you can. The update turns some drives into bricks ie: unusable. http://forums.tweaktown.com/f17/warn...-reboot-30120/
All the best Max

[Rubicon1138]

Re: HDD freezes

I am not sure but this could the information you requested.

[MadMax2911]

Re: HDD freezes

Hi again sorry I requested the wrong page. It is the Hardware monitor page. I have provided a pic of mine for a GA-EP45-DS3R.

[Rubicon1138]

Re: HDD freezes

BTW I have never overclocked a system before.

[MadMax2911]

Re: HDD freezes

Your CPU is running hot I wonder why..and it seems that your voltages are ok What version of Easytune are you using??? Also lets try another program for the voltages HHMMM lets see SANDRA has been a good performer. Run SANDRA I will get back to you about the page in a minute

[MadMax2911]

Re: HDD freezes

OK First the version of Sisoft Sandra is 2009.5.15.97 Then I have gone into the Tools section and selected Environment monitor. Click on the green arrow to start configuring the test. Select make choices and generate a report. Click Green arrow (next). Then next, and next again with display on screen selected. Then next again. Let it run for a few minutes ....Then post a few screenies.