Here we go again

Post by **Ash2Dust** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 12:04 am

With a fresh install and memtest good, I'd look at hard drive and latest chipset drivers as the next to rule out.

Check the event log to see if it shows any errors. A solid lock could be any hardware. You'll have to strip the system down as much as possible and see if you can run stable.

Are the drives getting enough ventilation?

deathbot9000 · Post by **deathbot9000** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 12:13 am

WoodenPlank wrote: As for the one component at a time testing.....if you saw how many components are in here, youd hesitate, too. Three hard drives, onboard and addin sound (onboard disabled in windows, but installed in case I need digital out), video card, DVD drive, DVD-RW drive, fans out the gazoo.

do you want to figure out what's wrong or not?

you only have to physically remove any slot devices (e.g. PCI, AGP, etc), the rest you can just unplug the power plugs from them.

WoodenPlank · Post by **WoodenPlank** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 12:33 am

Wow, went into event viewer and there are several errors related to my hard drives.
Examples:

The file system structure on the disk is corrupt and unusable. Please run the chkdsk utility on the volume E:.

Odd considering I have had no obvious issues with E (my SATA drive) so far.

The driver detected a controller error on \Device\Harddisk0\D.

Recieved that one more than once, about a day apart. Again, no obvious issues have cropped up with that drive. On a side note, both E and D are on different controllers, E is SATA, D is PATA 100.

The first error and the two instances of the second are the only disc related errors since I reformatted. Not sure if this is enough to start a worry, though, as I can imagine there are several reasons that could cause those errors.

Post by **Ash2Dust** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 4:12 am

You'll need to run error-checking under tools of the drives. Personally, I prefer booting off your Win XP CD, enter the recovery console and using the chkdsk /r command on each drive.

If the drives are stacked ontop each other, they could overheat if not ventilated. Open the case and stick a fan near the drives to see if it affects it.

Your chipset controller on the MB ultimately controlls all the drives and buses. Damaged ATA cables can cause problems but usually wont hardlock. I havent run into bad SATA cables yet.

How are the voltages? The 3.3v, 5v and 12v. A power supply flaking out can cause problems.

WoodenPlank · Post by **WoodenPlank** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 8:50 pm

PSU is rock stable, and all the drives had several bays between them for ventilation, plus a cooling intake fan right in front of them. Popped in a new SATA 100GB drive and reinstalled Windows on my remaining 100GB PATA drive. After a false start after the drive swapping Im back up again (required a third reformat), so well see what happens from here.

RogerRhino · Post by **RogerRhino** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 9:46 pm

buy a macintosh

just kidding