Strange freezing - CHKDSK says that MFT bitmap and Volume bitmap are courrupt

[Tezliov]

Hello,

Around Christmas I replaced the case on my HP prebuilt (H9 1100z if it's relevant), and around two weeks later I got an error saying something along the lines of "Windows has encountered a fatal error and will restart in one minute".

I rebooted and was greeted with a message saying "Windows isn't able to open a file on your computer's hard disk. This might be a temporary condition that could go away after restarting your computer, or it could be a more serious problem with your hard disk or its driver."

I'm not an expert, but because of the mention of hard drives I decided to do a CHKDSK. I remember rebooting after and getting a BSOD but I didn't have enough time to record the STOP code or anything so no info on that. The CHKDSK did give me a message though: The master file table's (MFT) BITMAP attribute is incorrect.
The Volume Bitmap is incorrect.
Windows found problems with the file system.
Run CHKDSK with the /F (fix) option to correct these."
I ran it, and it claimed to have fixed it.

A few hours later, suddenly it froze completely. HDD activity LED went off, fans still spun. Everything sounded like normal but it was completely frozen. CHKDSK still detected the corrupt files, and CHKDSK /F still claimed to fix them. But the freezing kept happening.

A week later, it went away completely. I didn't run a CHKDSK after, though so I can't be sure what happened with the corruption.

A month or so later, I got a new motherboard and CPU cooler. The next day, the freezing was back. No BSODs or error messages, but CHKDSK still detected the same things.

Another week later, it was gone. A few days after that, Gigabyte ET6 did an update. I restarted my computer because it asked me to. A few hours later, the freezing was back. It's now been three or so days since this, and I'm really not sure what's wrong. Hard drive failure? Earlier today I heard a strange chirping like noise from my case, but I couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from.

Any more information you need, let me know.

Oh yeah, my specs might help:

CPU: AMD FX 8150
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
Motherboard (old): Gigabyte 2AC8. A motherboard made specificly for HP computers I'm guessing, because I can't find any info on it.
Motherboard (new): Gigabyte GA-970a-DS3P
Memory: 10GB Micron Technology DDR3 (This was from the prebuilt so I'm not sure of the brand, but Gigabyte ET6 says it's Micron Technology)
Hard Drive: Hitachi HDS723020BLA642 2TB (This is from the prebuilt, but it's apparently sold retail too. More info: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822145473)
Video Card: HP Radeon HD 7950 (Reference Cooler)
Case: NZXT Phantom 630 Matte Black
Power Supply: SeaSonic M12II 620w Bronze
Optical Drive: hp BD E DH12E3SHB
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit. (I did a fresh install after I replaced the motherboard)

EDIT: Forgot to mention, sometimes after I restart after the computer froze my screen has a pink overlay. If I take a screenshot it doesn't keep the pink though. Restarting fixes this issue. I got this once randomly in 2012 when I first got the computer but never again until the freezing started.

UPDATE: I installed the new drives today. Now I'm having strange issues with my optical drive.
When I go to the Computer tab, it doesn't detect an optical drive. In the Device Manager it does, and it says it's working fine. BIOS detects it also, but when I boot from it it boots to normal Windows. I've tried switching the SATA ports, but still the same. The optical drive is an HP OEM Blu-Ray drive, and it worked fine last time I booted the computer. What's wrong?
The drives I purchased are a Samsung 840 EVO and a 1TB Seagate Barracuda.

EDIT: The BIOS thinks the CD drive is E, but it's actually F. E is the old HP Backup and Recovery. Not sure if this is related.

Update: I fixed the issue! Thanks for the help concerning the hard drives, everyone!

Update2: First I noticed Firefox stopped responding around every 5 minutes. I re-installed it, and that fixed that. A few minutes later, I got an error message saying "Microsoft Windows has stopped working". It came back around a minute later, and then suddenly it got the same old freeze. I tried rebooting but now the HDD activity light goes dead at the POST screen.
I'm sure that the old hard drive was dying; it showed a bunch of signs of it. But now something else is obviously wrong. Maybe it's because I used the Samsung cloning tool for Windows? (I know those things aren't very good, etc. but this HP license of Windows gives you tons of problems every time you re-install)

What should I do?

 

[denis280]

A month or so later, I got a new motherboard and CPU cooler. The next day, the freezing was back. No BSODs or error messages, but CHKDSK still detected the same things

Did you do a fresh install for the os.

 

[denis280]

did you try running a sfc /scannow and that drive looks like it will give up soon

 

[Tezliov]

When I replaced the motherboard I did.

When I type "sfc /scannow" into command prompt it says "You must be an administrator running a console session in order to use the sfc utility".
I've never run anything like this before, so do I have to go into safe mode or something?

 

[Steltek]

When I replaced the motherboard I did.

When I type "sfc /scannow" into command prompt it says "You must be an administrator running a console session in order to use the sfc utility".
I've never run anything like this before, so do I have to go into safe mode or something?

In the start menu search box, type CMD. When it finds the CMD command, instead of hitting enter right-click on CMD in the search results and hit "Run as Administrator". This will open an elevated command prompt.

In the open window, type SFC /SCANNOW and hit enter.

 

[cubby1223]

Buy a new hard drive, and get assistance from someone cloning the old drive to the new.

Best case scenario you have safely transferred your files to a good trustworthy drive.

Worst case scenario (nothing wrong with the old drive), pick up an external enclosure on the cheap and you have a drive to make backups to.

It's not worth the cost savings playing games of chance with hard drives.

 

[mikeymikec]

Don't clone a hard disk that is already suspect.

 

[Tezliov]

I ran SFC /scannow.
It told me that "Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations"

 

[mikeymikec]

By the sounds of things you haven't run a full disk check yet. Using the same technique to get a command prompt up with admin privs, then use the following command:

chkdsk C: /f /v /r

It'll ask to restart. A 2TB HDD will take a while to do a full scan on, 2hrs maybe more.

Have you got your own stuff backed up? If not, do so asap.

I'm not saying it is a disk issue, but it's not worth risking your data if it is.

 

[Tezliov]

By the sounds of things you haven't run a full disk check yet. Using the same technique to get a command prompt up with admin privs, then use the following command:

chkdsk C: /f /v /r

It'll ask to restart. A 2TB HDD will take a while to do a full scan on, 2hrs maybe more.

Have you got your own stuff backed up? If not, do so asap.

I'm not saying it is a disk issue, but it's not worth risking your data if it is.

I ran it and no errors were found. Not even the usual MFT bitmap corruption or the Volume bitmap corruption.

The freezing seems to have stopped, taking one of it's breaks again maybe? Even since I restarted and got the pink overlay thing it hasn't frozen, and it's been around a day and a half. It usually freezes one to three times a day.

 

[mikeymikec]

(Symptoms stopped) Since the disk check or before it?

CHKDSK sometimes fixes stuff without saying anything, I've seen it a handful of times.

Of course, if the symptoms stopped before the disk check, that's a pain. It would have been interesting to know what this 'chirping' sounded like.

 

[Tezliov]

(Symptoms stopped) Since the disk check or before it?

CHKDSK sometimes fixes stuff without saying anything, I've seen it a handful of times.

Of course, if the symptoms stopped before the disk check, that's a pain. It would have been interesting to know what this 'chirping' sounded like.

Before the disk check.

I don't really think the "chirping" is an issue because computers I've used in the past have also been making that noise and they're fine.

 

[mikeymikec]

Bah.

I guess you'll just have to wait and see. 'Hopefully' the issue will become more common / reproducible in future.

 

[Steltek]

I'd download and run Hitachi's WinDFT software to test the hard drive for faults.

Are you running any type of temperature monitoring software? If not, install HWMonitor or Speedfan to see if you might have a heat issue.

 

[Tezliov]

I'd download and run Hitachi's WinDFT software to test the hard drive for faults.

Are you running any type of temperature monitoring software? If not, install HWMonitor or Speedfan to see if you might have a heat issue.

Yeah, I'm running HWMonitor.
After running my modded Skyrim for around an hour, here are the max temps:
CPU: 51c
HDD: 31c
GPU: 71c

 

[Steltek]

Yeah, I'm running HWMonitor.
After running my modded Skyrim for around an hour, here are the max temps:
CPU: 51c
HDD: 31c
GPU: 71c

So, it wouldn't appear to be a temperature problem - if it shuts off again, you might check your temps as soon as you restart to be sure. Also, the next time it shuts off, check the Windows system log in event viewer to see if there are any warnings or errors there which correspond with the time of the shutdown.

Since you are running ET6, are you by any chance overclocking either the CPU, the memory, or both?

Also, as you indicate you had a previous BSOD, try downloading and installing the free version of Whocrashed to see if you can learn anything else about it. If Whocrashed can't find a system dump file, go in to the Advanced System Properties and make sure your system is set up to write dump files on crashes in case it happens again.

One other thing you might try to do is to run a session of MEMTEST86+ to see if you could have a bad memory module. File system corruption is often a symptom of a failing memory module.

 

[Tezliov]

So, it wouldn't appear to be a temperature problem - if it shuts off again

It does not shut off. It freezes and does not come back so my only option is to hold down the power button.

Also, the next time it shuts off, check the Windows system log in event viewer to see if there are any warnings or errors there which correspond with the time of the shutdown.

I actually did this once. I booted into safe mode though so some errors might have been caused by that. Here are all the messages marked "error":
The previous system shutdown at 5:00:59 PM on ‎3/‎21/‎2014 was unexpected.

The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly.

The DHCP Client service depends on the Ancillary Function Driver for Winsock service which failed to start because of the following error:
A device attached to the system is not functioning.

The DNS Client service depends on the NetIO Legacy TDI Support Driver service which failed to start because of the following error:
A device attached to the system is not functioning.

The TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper service depends on the Ancillary Function Driver for Winsock service which failed to start because of the following error:
A device attached to the system is not functioning.

The Network Store Interface Service service depends on the NSI proxy service driver. service which failed to start because of the following error:
A device attached to the system is not functioning.

The Workstation service depends on the Network Store Interface Service service which failed to start because of the following error:
The dependency service or group failed to start.

The IP Helper service depends on the Network Store Interface Service service which failed to start because of the following error:
The dependency service or group failed to start.

The SMB MiniRedirector Wrapper and Engine service depends on the Redirected Buffering Sub Sysytem service which failed to start because of the following error:
A device attached to the system is not functioning.

The SMB 1.x MiniRedirector service depends on the SMB MiniRedirector Wrapper and Engine service which failed to start because of the following error:
The dependency service or group failed to start.

The SMB 2.0 MiniRedirector service depends on the SMB MiniRedirector Wrapper and Engine service which failed to start because of the following error:
The dependency service or group failed to start.

The Microsoft Network Inspection System service depends on the Microsoft Malware Protection Driver service which failed to start because of the following error:
A device attached to the system is not functioning.

The Network Location Awareness service depends on the Network Store Interface Service service which failed to start because of the following error:
The dependency service or group failed to start.

The following boot-start or system-start driver(s) failed to load:
AFD
AppleCharger

DCOM got error "1084" attempting to start the service ShellHWDetection with arguments "" in order to run the server:
{DD522ACC-F821-461A-A407-50B198B896DC}

DCOM got error "1084" attempting to start the service EventSystem with arguments "" in order to run the server:
{1BE1F766-5536-11D1-B726-00C04FB926AF}

DCOM got error "1084" attempting to start the service WSearch with arguments "" in order to run the server:
{7D096C5F-AC08-4F1F-BEB7-5C22C517CE39}

DCOM got error "1084" attempting to start the service WSearch with arguments "" in order to run the server:
{9E175B6D-F52A-11D8-B9A5-505054503030}

DCOM got error "1068" attempting to start the service netprofm with arguments "" in order to run the server:
{A47979D2-C419-11D9-A5B4-001185AD2B89}

DCOM got error "1068" attempting to start the service netman with arguments "" in order to run the server:
{BA126AD1-2166-11D1-B1D0-00805FC1270E}

The Network List Service service depends on the Network Location Awareness service which failed to start because of the following error:
The dependency service or group failed to start.
(This error was repeated 8 times)

Since you are running ET6, are you by any chance overclocking either the CPU, the memory, or both?

No overclocking, I'm just running it because it started automatically when I booted after I installed the drivers, I thought it was required.

 

[PliotronX]

Might be a shot in the dark but have you tried scanning for malware? I had a system with some inexplicable Chkdsk errata that would not cease until I thoroughly cleaned crap off. Also have you analyzed the SMART data from the HDD? Check out Speedfan or CrystalDiskInfo (both freeware). Most important parameter to look at is the reallocated sector count.

I have heard AMD's SATA controller drivers are lackluster, did you install some kind of driver pack when setting up the system? Might want to try Microsoft's default drivers.

(forgive me if you guys have been over these, I just had time to glance at the thread)

 

[mikeymikec]

Those errors look like you started it in safe mode (at least a lot of them do)?

 

[Tezliov]

Those errors look like you started it in safe mode (at least a lot of them do)?

Yeah, I did.

 

[mikeymikec]

When Windows starts in safe mode, a load of services that aren't required are temporarily disabled, hence the errors.

Make a note of the time you put it in safe mode then move on is my advice.

 

[Tezliov]

So it just decided to freeze again.
Any tests I should run?
I did not boot into Safe Mode and Event Viewer and there were no errors.

 

[mikeymikec]

memtest86+ at least for a single pass, or if you have the time, perhaps overnight (or during the day if you're going to work 9-5) for as many passes as possible?

 

[Tezliov]

memtest86+ at least for a single pass, or if you have the time, perhaps overnight (or during the day if you're going to work 9-5) for as many passes as possible?

According to where I've found it, that requires to be burned to a CD?
I've got no burnable disks right now. Is there another way to do it or do I have to buy disks?

 

[PliotronX]

According to where I've found it, that requires to be burned to a CD?
I've got no burnable disks right now. Is there another way to do it or do I have to buy disks?

Try the new USB disk maker its very useful