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dclive

Elite Member
Oct 23, 2003
5,626
2
81
Where's the MPSReports output? Let's try for that, since that will tell us what is going on inside the PC.
 

Stan

Senior member
Jan 4, 2005
614
0
0
Originally posted by: dclive
Where's the MPSReports output? Let's try for that, since that will tell us what is going on inside the PC.

Took me a few. Its uploaded, and you have the address im PM.
 

Stan

Senior member
Jan 4, 2005
614
0
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Just a quick recap for everyone...

* Happens across 3 drives
* This is a fresh XP install with a few apps installed (Visual Studio, Adobe CS3, very basic drivers)
* Some hardware has been tested from cd-boot apps. Please read details in first two posts.
* Currupted files from download, SMB, and drive to drive copies (again, see details first two posts).
* System not overclocked.
* Has locked up once, but never crashed, no major errors anywhere I have seen.


btcomm1: I am not ignoring you! One of the ISO images was copied to a USB drive (at work), installed successfully on the desktop (off the USB drive), and now not a usable ISO that its copied to the local IDE drive. I have not tried IDE->USB HD... So this has happened USB->IDE, but not confirmed IDE->USB. Would you prefer a test to a USB HD, or a USB Disk on key? I am more than willing to try BartPE as well.
 

dclive

Elite Member
Oct 23, 2003
5,626
2
81
Plug a PCI IDE controller into the PC. Let XP recognize it, install drivers, etc. Reboot.

Shut down.

Attach the boot drive to the IDE controller. Remove the other drives. Disable the on-board IDE controller.

Does the system boot, and do the errors go away?
 

KurskKnyaz

Senior member
Dec 1, 2003
880
1
81
Originally posted by: Stan
Just a quick recap for everyone...

* Happens across 3 drives
* This is a fresh XP install with a few apps installed (Visual Studio, Adobe CS3, very basic drivers)
* Some hardware has been tested from cd-boot apps. Please read details in first two posts.
* Currupted files from download, SMB, and drive to drive copies (again, see details first two posts).
* System not overclocked.
* Has locked up once, but never crashed, no major errors anywhere I have seen.


btcomm1: I am not ignoring you! One of the ISO images was copied to a USB drive (at work), installed successfully on the desktop (off the USB drive), and now not a usable ISO that its copied to the local IDE drive. I have not tried IDE->USB HD... So this has happened USB->IDE, but not confirmed IDE->USB. Would you prefer a test to a USB HD, or a USB Disk on key? I am more than willing to try BartPE as well.

See if there in anything in the case that can emit a lot of EMI interference onto the cables. I doubt it but its a possibility. How is your PSU, run something to see how consistent the voltages are. Try a different PSU.
 

Stan

Senior member
Jan 4, 2005
614
0
0
Originally posted by: dclive
Does the system boot, and do the errors go away?

There aren't any errors, per say. It happens on the SATA and IDE bus with a standalone testing app, and across both while file to file copying. I have an adaptec PCI->ide adapter I can try, but I imagine I will have similar issues.

I am also considering installing ubuntu on the 400gb drive, except I copied some photos onto it (and by some, I mean 120gb of raw photos) and don't want to chance losing them, and backing them up (reliably) is a chore with this machine.

There is nothing in the case except a stupid LED fan (times one-but its currently unplugged), the motherboard, a Nvidia GF 5200 (?), ram, and 3 hd's.

 

Stan

Senior member
Jan 4, 2005
614
0
0
Originally posted by: KurskKnyaz
voltages are. Try a different PSU.

I have run Hmonitor, and everything seemed stable -- Not to let the cat out of the bag, but I am tossing everyone here something pretty hard. I have been a consultant for a number of years, working with thousands of machines, and never seen a PSU cause a drive write problem, except when it causes a motherboard (ie, crash) error... not to say its not entirely possible.

Maybe I should reinstall Ubuntu and try drive to drive copies... if I could only get a pesky reliable backup of my photos without buying a new drive.
 

dclive

Elite Member
Oct 23, 2003
5,626
2
81
Originally posted by: Stan
Originally posted by: dclive
Does the system boot, and do the errors go away?

There aren't any errors, per say. It happens on the SATA and IDE bus with a standalone testing app, and across both while file to file copying. I have an adaptec PCI->ide adapter I can try, but I imagine I will have similar issues.

I am also considering installing ubuntu on the 400gb drive, except I copied some photos onto it (and by some, I mean 120gb of raw photos) and don't want to chance losing them, and backing them up (reliably) is a chore with this machine.

There is nothing in the case except a stupid LED fan (times one-but its currently unplugged), the motherboard, a Nvidia GF 5200 (?), ram, and 3 hd's.

Please try using the Adaptec PCI IDE adapter in place of the motherboard IDE, and tell us what happens. Plug it in, boot into Windows from the old controller, let it recognize the new hardware, then shut down, attach your Windows boot drive to it, remove all other drives and disable the motherboard IDE, and re-run the test after booting into XP from the Adaptec controller.

The errors I mention are from the Barttest application you mentioned in your first post.
 

robisbell

Banned
Oct 27, 2007
3,621
0
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somehow either the OS (XP correct?) is corrupt or...I want to say partition has a weird off and on bit. I am still thinking it's either a
bad HDD or the motherboard chipset is failing.
 

Stan

Senior member
Jan 4, 2005
614
0
0
Originally posted by: KurskKnyaz
you would be surprised what I seen PSU's cause

Power supply replaced! Testing now (running Bart's Stuff Test from nu2.com against the SATA drive that wouldn't pass earlier)

Update:
Short test passed on SATA drive (25gb read write). Now running a 'full' test on all drives, at the same time, with CPU maxed out. So far so good, but the C: and D: full tests are just 20% done (it uses like 80% of the free space, so ~100GB/ea).

Just to give it a good test, I am also running 'Video Card Stability Test' (first free directx stress test app I found), full tests on all 3 drives in loop, CPU maxer application, and I am going to go out for a few hours for christmas shopping.

Update2:
Eh.. didnt take a few hours after all. SATA failed after 35 minutes (though thats longer than normal), IDE2 failed shortly into its read, and IDE1 is still writing. Grawr! Fine, ill download manufacturer's drive test and try that.

Update3:
Downloaded Seatools for Windows... oops.. I have all Western Digital drives! :~)

WD400AAJS-00YFA0 (sata, 400)
WD1200AB-22CBA1 (ide, 120)
WD1200BB-00CAA1 (ide, 120)

WDDIAG LifeGuard running on all 3 drives. Its estimating ~2 hours for all drives.
 

NovoCainE

Junior Member
Dec 10, 2007
14
0
0
bad HDD buffers prolly ?? (rare, but happens sometimes) try downloading with Firefox and use a download manager like downthemall....also this might be not the case...(but check in BIOS if RAID is enabled, if it is disable it)
 

Homer Simpson

Senior member
Oct 10, 1999
584
0
0
motherboard problem. i had the EXACT same problem. corrupt file downloads. downloads fine on 2nd computer and transferred over still bad. had this problem for about 2 weeks before my mobo actually died one day. the new mobo (different brand) never had this problem.
 

dclive

Elite Member
Oct 23, 2003
5,626
2
81
Originally posted by: dclive

Please try using the Adaptec PCI IDE adapter in place of the motherboard IDE, and tell us what happens. Plug it in, boot into Windows from the old controller, let it recognize the new hardware, then shut down, attach your Windows boot drive to it, remove all other drives and disable the motherboard IDE, and re-run the test after booting into XP from the Adaptec controller.

The errors I mention are from the Barttest application you mentioned in your first post.

This is an easy thing to try.
 

Stan

Senior member
Jan 4, 2005
614
0
0
All 3 drives passed with flying colors (Western Digital Extended tests). Next onto the PCI IDE card! But if this is a southgate overheat issue, the same issue should present itself over the PCI host adapter.
 

Stan

Senior member
Jan 4, 2005
614
0
0
Originally posted by: NovoCainE
bad HDD buffers prolly ?? (rare, but happens sometimes) try downloading with Firefox and use a download manager like downthemall....also this might be not the case...(but check in BIOS if RAID is enabled, if it is disable it)

Drive test passed. This effects three drives on two separate controllers (IDE and SATA).
 

KurskKnyaz

Senior member
Dec 1, 2003
880
1
81
Did you try disabling disk caching in windows?

Try a different OS like Linux on a CD to see if the problem persists. That way we can narrow it down to either a software or a hardware problem.
 

Stan

Senior member
Jan 4, 2005
614
0
0
Installed Xubuntu 7.04... looks like it has the same silent failure in filecopies that Windows does. Sometimes the SHA1SUM's match, sometimes they dont.

c04591794a3f233541dff13bfaeb531f7b9471dd /home/sb/office_professional_plus_2007_english_x12-38663.EXE
eabaa05096dc04b2b086bf824e562f4198a50398 /media/Internal ATA (120)/Share/office_professional_plus_2007_english_x12-38663.EXE

Copied from drive to drive (/home is on 400gb SATA drive, formatted EXT3), internal ata 120 is Windows D:

No errors in logs. Some files copy ok, some error.

Also, for kicks, I pulled out the NVidia AGP video card, and my PCI wireless driver, and recopied the above file. Still errors! I can't seem to find my IDE PCI controller.
 

cubby1223

Lifer
May 24, 2004
13,518
42
86
Originally posted by: Stan
All 3 drives passed with flying colors (Western Digital Extended tests). Next onto the PCI IDE card! But if this is a southgate overheat issue, the same issue should present itself over the PCI host adapter.

Their Data Lifeguard software is worthless. I've worked with a couple bad WD drives the past few months, yet they always passed Data Lifeguard's extended test without error.

Not making any comment on the condition of your specific drives, just saying the software is not a reliable indication of a drive's good health.
 

oldman420

Platinum Member
May 22, 2004
2,179
0
0
First I would try the drives out as slaves in another machine if they are good then move on to the ram trying it out in another machine and if you have multiple sticks try switching slots and removing on2 if in dual channel.
now you say this is a new copy of xp so that rules that out.
I bet 20 bucks you have failures on the memory buss or in your memory controller,time for a new board thats what the old man thinks.