HD Problem: Reading file hangs WinXP

[Vesper6]

Configuration:

GigaByte 8IHXP w/ P4-2.26 GHz, 512 MB PC1066
2 Maxtor 80 gigs running in RAID-0 configuration on onbord Promise 20276 controller (1 partition, formatted NTFS)

Recently, I've developed what appears to be a drive problem with my system. I have a specific file in Windows XP that if I try to read, move, or copy the file causes the system to hang. Usually the mouse will stop responding, followed by Explorer shutting itself down/restarting, and then a BSOD. This is repeatable. I've tried many things to solve this with no luck (see below). Last night, I came across the same problem with another file (one I had just unzipped).

I have tried the following:

1) WinXP Scandisk/surface scan - Reports no problems
2) Norton Disk Doctor/surface scan (done on bootup) - During surface scan, reboots computer at 38%. Never have gotten this to complete.
3) Powermax - I ran the Burn-In Powermax test on both drives. Both passed the test with no errors reported. [Incidentally, I can't get Powermax to run on the 8IHXP. It seems that it doesn't support the chipset for the Promise or the onboard Intel controller. Had to put the drives on another machine for this scan.] I ran these last night, and haven't tried the machine since. However, I'm skeptical it did anything since no errors were reported.

Other than the (now) 2 untouchable files, the system works fine.

I'm really at a loss as to how to fix this. Does anyone have any suggestions? I'd really rather not start over with this 160 gig partition if possible.

Thanks,
Mike

 

[LiLithTecH]

Did you try clearing out your User Temp directory?
Any .tmp files associated with the problem file could cause the issue.

 

[Vesper6]

Originally posted by: LiLithTecH
Did you try clearing out your User Temp directory?
Any .tmp files associated with the problem file could cause the issue.

What kind of temp files would be associated? One of the problem files is a OGG (audio) file. I'll give it a try, but the symptoms seem to point to a controller/drive problem since doing anything with the file causes the problem. I'm not running a program, just trying to move/rename/copy it.

 

[LiLithTecH]

Depends on what program you are using to Play the OOG files.

Most Windows (OGG) Audio players require a plugin (DLL or Dynamic Link)
file to be able to decode the audio.

The program opens a .tmp file to decode, display the contents, and play the audio.
You may see files like 09d98.tmp, vbx00x.dat, etc....depending on the particualar
Audio program used for playback.

What happens frequently, the program opens, creates the temp file, but fails to close/delete
it upon exit. The Windows File Table knows the file(s) are there, and marks them in use, also
forgetting to close them on exit. When you try to use the file in some way, it shows as the
file in use in the File Table and it gives an error, or in your case, freezes the PC.

This is just a suggestion. It may help, or not.
Try the simple things first.

 

[Vesper6]

Thanks for the suggestion, but I believe it is something else.

I am not trying to use/run the file when this problem occurs. The other file that has this problem is something completely different. (In fact it's a data file for a game I installed.)

Anyone have any other ideas?

Thanks,
Mike

 

[bsobel]

Only happens on this file? Can you give any more data, is it a large file, what is the BSOD you get indicate? If I had to guess (and from the data I will), if the file is a large file I'd say it's symptomatic of another issue but your just seeing it on this file since it causes heavy IO. If you run virus scan or backup (but exclude this file), does it complete ok?

Bill

 

[Vesper6]

Originally posted by: bsobel
Only happens on this file? Can you give any more data, is it a large file, what is the BSOD you get indicate? If I had to guess (and from the data I will), if the file is a large file I'd say it's symptomatic of another issue but your just seeing it on this file since it causes heavy IO. If you run virus scan or backup (but exclude this file), does it complete ok?

It's just the two files. (One existing, one showed up yesterday). I don't have the exact BSOD info with me right now, but the error was KERNEL_STACK_INPAGE. Virus scans of the entire drive don't have a problem, although it may only be checking EXE/DOCs/etc. I'll try that out. All I know is that if I copy that file (in the same directory, or anywhere), it'll cause the problems I mentioned (system stops responding, explorer kills itself, eventual BSOD). I haven't tried deleting the files as of yet.

To me, it seems like a bad sector associated with the file. One of the biggest indiciators of this is when I try my experimental copy. I right click the file, select copy, and paste it down in the same directory. Windows will then show the new copy of the file, correct size and everything. It's only a few seconds later when the cache is actually writing the file when the system pauses start occuring (which leads to rest of the symptoms).

 

[AkumaX]

try booting from a cd/floppy and see if you can move/delete it in dos

 

[Vesper6]

Originally posted by: AkumaX
try booting from a cd/floppy and see if you can move/delete it in dos

Unfortunately, I can't do this since the drive is NTFS. Maybe I can do it from the XP Recovery Console?