Computer freezes when I browse my hard disk...

[coredumperror]

Hi guys,
I've been having a weird problem with one of my hard drives recently. It seems like every time I start browsing it with a different program than the last one that caused the freeze (explorer, winrar, etc) it causes my entire computer to freeze for 20 seconds or so. I get as far as pressing the + on one of the folders in the root of the drive, and then my comp hangs. Anyone know what might be causing this, and how to fix it?

 

[elkinm]

Never heard of such a thing. I would like more info on the actual drive and your motherboard and connection and drivers.

Does this happen only with with physical drive? Also is with any folder or some specific folders?

The first thing you can try is a scandisk, maybe even a surface test. Then new drivers and then a different IDE connector. If this is PATA try using the drive alone on the channel as a master. Also try a different PATA/SATA cable that you know is good.

For troubleshooting, you can try disabling UDMA for the drive and see if it fixes anything.

I can't think of anything else at the moment until I get some more details.

Good luck.

 

[Rock Hydra]

Originally posted by: coredumperror
Hi guys,
I've been having a weird problem with one of my hard drives recently. It seems like every time I start browsing it with a different program than the last one that caused the freeze (explorer, winrar, etc) it causes my entire computer to freeze for 20 seconds or so. I get as far as pressing the + on one of the folders in the root of the drive, and then my comp hangs. Anyone know what might be causing this, and how to fix it?

Sounds like the folder is corrupted. I get this error with a folder on my external hard drive. I click on the folder in explorer, the computer hangs, then it says somthing like "Drive xyz is not formatted. Would you like to format it?"

 

[coredumperror]

I tracked down the problem to a specific folder on my drive. I tried to delete it, after moving almost everything else out of the folder above it (where I was having trouble before), and my comp started freezing over and over, with just a few secodns of non-freeze between them. I'd guess that there's some surface damage on the section of the drive where those files exist. What can I do about that?

 

[sandorski]

Doesn't sound good. Definitely do a Scandisk and Auto Repair. Might also wanna download the HD diagnostic from the Manufacturer, if there is one.

 

[soccerballtux]

Originally posted by: coredumperror
Hi guys,
I've been having a weird problem with one of my hard drives recently. It seems like every time I start browsing it with a different program than the last one that caused the freeze (explorer, winrar, etc) it causes my entire computer to freeze for 20 seconds or so. I get as far as pressing the + on one of the folders in the root of the drive, and then my comp hangs. Anyone know what might be causing this, and how to fix it?

Yes this used to happen to me. It happens because the icon cache is either empty or can't hold all the icons for all your folders. So it goes around and picks up all those icons again, and then displays them. This is the hanging you are experiencing. Try googling for "increase icon cache" and do the things there. Increasing mine fixed all these hangs.

 

[soccerballtux]

Oh well in that case nevermind.

You might could boot up a Knoppix Linux cd and try force-deleting the file that way, if you think it's a virus.

Also, I wouldn't trust anything important to me to Scandisk. It often creates more problems than it corrects. If the scan finds some errors, I'd try a prof. disk fixer (of course in Linux this comes standard, and assuming you're using some journalized filesystem like ext3, you CANNOT lose your data. But we're in Windows, so unfort. the same does not apply.) Good luck.

 

[Slammy1]

Do you run P2P? I had problems like that when I used to run BearShare. I'd delete the files in safe mode/command prompt. Not long afterwards, I got 3 viruses transmitted to me on chat (I came back, the chat window was open, I had viruses) which prompted me to stop using them. If it weren't a single folder, I'd want to blame a poor cable connection as I've seen that as well (during my shade-tree PC mechanic days).

 

[coredumperror]

In the process of backing up my hard drive to prepare for a scandisk and/or reformat, I've discovered that several different folders/files cause the freeze up. They're all over my hard drive, and I'm afraid that it may have developed tons of bad sectors. I'll try to reseat the cable (thanx for teh suggestions Slammy!), but if that doesn't work, what do you guys think is most likely the case?