Strange problem with MSI K9A2 and Samsung HDD

[Valis]

A few months ago I built this new computer for a very good friend of mine. I selected components that I thought was stable, fast and reliable, like:

MSI K9A2 Platinum
Corsair TWIN2X2048-8500C5D Dominator
AMD Phenom 9850 BE
Thermalright Ultra-120A CPU Cooler
GeCube Radeon HD3870X2 1024MB

Samsung HD321KJ 320GB 7200rpm 16MB SATA2

Corsair VX Series PSU 550W

At first, Win XP was running fine , with HL2/TF2/Lost Coast, etc. Then a few weeks later he installed AoC and ran it for a week or so until the problems started, kept getting BSODs, freezes, run time errors. After a few weeks of this and fresh new installs, new drivers, WinXP was getting lost files/etc on the disk, and sometimes you couldn't even start WinXP. The installation was practically ruined by playing this, trashed in minor sence, to say the least.

Then about 2-3 weeks ago I swapped the Samsung HD with a Seagate 320GB disk I had, installed WinXP (32) with Catalyst 8.6 (that came out June 18). WinXP and AoC has been running like clockwork, ever since.

This puzzles me, since I couldn't find any reasons for this behaviour, and having the disk here, running it on another computer of mine, I can't find anything wrong with it, not that I have seen with the things I've been running on it. Maybe I could find a suitable test software for it, somewhere.

 

[Lorne]

It may possibly be the supply, Not that the whole suppy couldnt handle that setup but maybe if it uses multiple rails that one is overloading just enough to cause lowvoltage across memory or the HD. (But that wouldnt explain why you couldnt reinstall again)

Could it have been memory and durrring your install of the second HD you bumped them breaking contact oxidation?