Computer loading OS only 10% of the time

[STITuner]

http://i123.photobucket.com/al...0090-20091018-1218.jpg

is a picture of what I am getting.

It all started a couple days ago. It started locking up. all programs stop responding. ctrl alt del doesn't do anything, ctrl shift esc is unresponsive the "busy" light on the computer is on solid. So i manually restart via the tower button.

It will sit on the BIOS splash screen unusually long.
Then it will fail to find an OS (I think) 90% of the time when restarting. I get the above image.

The freezing is pretty regular, usually about 30 seconds after the desktop loads.
This last time it made a slide grinding noise for about 1/3 of a second before freezing.

plz help, this really sucks


this is the same computer as in these 3 threads

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...id=37&threadid=2291199

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...id=32&threadid=2291606

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...id=84&threadid=2293405

 

[STITuner]

**quick update**

Its running in safe mode right now for about 5 minutes and hasn't locked up. (running clamwin virus scanner)

 

[STITuner]

^^ nevermind it locked up. no mouse movement, nothing. "busy" light on solid

 

[corkyg]

I was able to see your screen clip. You are using Intel Boot Agent, and it cannot find the boot drive. Check this thread out, especially near the end.

BA

" . . . The techie guy on the phone helped me find the startup sequence in the BIOS and once that was changed from NETWORK to DRIVE 0 , it booted fine."

 

[amdhunter]

BACK YOUR STUFF UP IMMEDIATELY! Your hard drive is most likely failing. Before you go into any heavy troubleshooting, get the data off of that drive.
AFTER everything important is backed up, try checking the following...

First, enable SMART in the bios if it isn't already. Then boot up and see if it complains.
Second, check all cabling and see if anything is loose.
Third, try running a full surface scan with CHKDSK, and see if a bad sector is causing your problems.

DO NOT try any of these things until your data is backed up!

 

[STITuner]

^ checked, SMART, is enabled. no issue there
2nd - checked cables, pretty much all my sata cables feel loose in their terminals (both on mobo and peripherals). I push them in as hard as I can and they still can wobble side to side a bit.
3rd, ran chkdsk, no bad sectors.

Thank you for the suggestions.

The busy light is always on when the computer is on solid. I dunno why.
One time when I went to "computer" my secondary hard drive wasn't listed. thats why i checked all the physical connections.
It is on now though.

everything is real sluggish. It gives me the spinning "busy" icon whenever I do anything.

When Idle on desktop task manager reads, 0-1% cpu usage, 1.58GB ram usage.

resource monitor says. svchost is reading my disk more than any other program and its reading a gw.dat which is a file for the game guild wars, which isn't even open. I dunno if this is useless info but I find it a little odd.

i keep trying to screenshot the resource manager and upload it to photobucket but the computer just locks up.

every window, when i click anything in it, it says "not responding" like its busy doing something else.

 

[STITuner]

http://i123.photobucket.com/al...narchyRob/Untitled.jpg

resource monitor

sorry photobucket shrunk it

 

[STITuner]

I think you are right. My HD is failing. How can i figure out which one though?

I have my 80GB SSD with the OS on it.
and a 500GB western digital with all my crap on it.

It seems like there might be something wrong with the SSD since it can't find the OS
but it also seems like there might be something wrong with the WD500GB as well since it didn't appear in my computer that one time.

and the busy light alway being on completely puzzles me.

Originally posted by: amdhunter
BACK YOUR STUFF UP IMMEDIATELY! Your hard drive is most likely failing. Before you go into any heavy troubleshooting, get the data off of that drive.
AFTER everything important is backed up, try checking the following...

First, enable SMART in the bios if it isn't already. Then boot up and see if it complains.
Second, check all cabling and see if anything is loose.
Third, try running a full surface scan with CHKDSK, and see if a bad sector is causing your problems.

DO NOT try any of these things until your data is backed up!

 

[bruceb]

It could be a failing hard drive as suggested. And it would be wise to image it or get your data off it just in case.
Other things that it can be and I would try in this order are:

1): Change the CMOS Battery
2): Run Memtest
3): Be sure the CPU fan is running
4): Swap the power supply
Last resorts would be the drive or the mobo going bad

 

[STITuner]

I think I fixed it. ClaimWin found a adware virus on a game i had downloaded. I deleted it and now its acting normal again. except for the problems listed in the forums i linked to. Thank You for the suggestions.

 

[STITuner]

Ha! I wish I fixed it.

I think its the motherboard. Everything SATA in my computer is randomly disappearing and reappearing from the system's view now. Sometimes the BIOS setup screen will only show one CD drive when it should be showing two cd drives and two hard drives. I was trying to backup all my data off the previously suspected bad SSD when the OTHER drive that I was copying TO disappearing mid-transfer.

I suppose it could still be power related, but my initial thought is mobo.

 

[RebateMonger]

Back up anything important to another PC or external hard drive.

AFTER that's done, start with the basics:
1) Overnight Memtest.
2) Disk manufacturer's hard disk diagnostics on both drives.

Run both of these tests from a boot CD, so that any Windows problems aren't involved in the tests.