Ugh...Windows system data corruption

[Mrvile]

Ok...where should I start.

The first time this happened was the first time in 6 months. I was playing CS when it locked up and just froze. I hard-reboot my computer and the thing couldn't boot into Windows (the blue scrollbar at the Windows XP screen would lock up). After trying safe mode, it told me that a bunch of Windows system files were corrupt, and I had to repair install.

So I tried the repair install, but it didn't help. After reformatting, I ran the new comp for about two days when it happened again. After reformatting again, it crapped out again in about the same timeframe. And tonight, it just happened again.

Someone told me to run Memtest for 8 - 10 passes (which is about 3 hours) to see if it was my ram. I just ran it for 10 passes and no errors. I'll continue to run it all night to see if it does anything.

But in the meantime, what else could lead to system data corruption? I run Windows XP Pro with SP2, I have two partitions on my 160GB SATA hard drive, one 100 and the other 60, both are NTFS, one labeled C: (my system and boot disk) and other D:. The first time this happened I didn't have any seperate partitions. Any other ideas? This sucks.

 

[Philippine Mango]

run prime 95, if you had it overclocked, make sure your PCI/AGP is locked.. Is it possible that your 48bit lba drivers were removed? Got corrupted? Try to run sfc /scannow in your run prompt. Properties of the HDD, and click scan. It will tell you it can't scan now so restart the computer and have it scan.

 

[BigToque]

I would say (assuming you are not OC'ing - which is mentioned in your sig) that the hard drive is probably failing.

 

[Philippine Mango]

Originally posted by: Stefan
I would say (assuming you are not OC'ing - which is mentioned in your sig) that the hard drive is probably failing.

yea but it also says 3500+ Winchester @ 2.6ghz watercooled by TDX, D4, BIX; 1/2"
which means it IS overclocked...

 

[Excelsior]

A bad SATA cable would be my first thought, but I don't know how common that is. Try a new one.

 

[Stas]

Same thing happened to me. As I found out, it was RAM.

 

[rise]

when asking for help be sure to tell everything dude as i've seen your other threads in vid but others may not have. he's also having issues with his vga and graphical corruption.

i dunno but maybe you should stat all over, as in a clear cmos, reflash bios and reinstall from there? just a suggestion as it seems the rig is falling apart around you.

hope that doesn't come across wrong. just trying to help.

 

[Mrvile]

Hmm...

Ok, I ran Memtest all night for like 40 passes and no errors so I guess my ram is fine.

Oh and I was having graphical issues too...could a bad graphics card result in data corruption? I wouldn't think so but it might...

The first thing I'll try is to replace the SATA cord...I have a bunch of extras lying around I could try. I'll reflash the BIOS and reinstall Windows after that. Thanks for all the responses guys.

 

[theMan]

these really seem to be the symtoms of no agp/pci lock. attach your drive to sata 3 and 4 for the lock to work. the exact same thing happened to me from no pci lock.

 

[Mrvile]

Originally posted by: theman
these really seem to be the symtoms of no agp/pci lock. attach your drive to sata 3 and 4 for the lock to work. the exact same thing happened to me from no pci lock.

I wished that were the problem, but I already have my SATA connected to port 4 (the one by the CPU) so that's not it...

 

[theMan]

and the lock is enabled in the bios?

 

[Mrvile]

Originally posted by: theman
and the lock is enabled in the bios?

I was told you could lock it by setting AGP Frequency to 67, but since everything in the BIOS is running at stock right now it shouldn't have a problem...

 

[Ike0069]

What is your AGP set to. You may already know this, but quite often you need to set it to 67 to lock it for the Neo2.

 

[Mrvile]

Originally posted by: Ike0069
What is your AGP set to. You may already know this, but quite often you need to set it to 67 to lock it for the Neo2.

Hmm, normally I have it set to 67 while OCing but when I reset the BIOS I didn't touch anything since I assumed that the stock BIOS settings wouldn't screw anything up. Maybe I was wrong?

 

[Mrvile]

Bump...

 

[Mrvile]

Wait update, I set the AGP freq to 67 and it booted up with all everything on my comp still intact...weird...I'll leave it on for a while to see if anything happens.

 

[Philippine Mango]

Originally posted by: Mrvile
Wait update, I set the AGP freq to 67 and it booted up with all everything on my comp still intact...weird...I'll leave it on for a while to see if anything happens.

congrats to completely ignoring me! :roll:

 

[Mrvile]

Originally posted by: Philippine Mango

Originally posted by: Mrvile
Wait update, I set the AGP freq to 67 and it booted up with all everything on my comp still intact...weird...I'll leave it on for a while to see if anything happens.

congrats to completely ignoring me! :roll:

Sorry Mango it's just I couldn't boot into Windows originally so I couldn't try a bunch of the things you mentioned.

 

[bjc112]

Originally posted by: Mrvile
Wait update, I set the AGP freq to 67 and it booted up with all everything on my comp still intact...weird...I'll leave it on for a while to see if anything happens.

Mrville didnt we talk about this in another thread?

We mentioned AGP @ 67 before, are you saying you thought it was there the whole time? And it really wasnt?

 

[Mrvile]

Originally posted by: bjc112

Originally posted by: Mrvile
Wait update, I set the AGP freq to 67 and it booted up with all everything on my comp still intact...weird...I'll leave it on for a while to see if anything happens.

Mrville didnt we talk about this in another thread?

We mentioned AGP @ 67 before, are you saying you thought it was there the whole time? And it really wasnt?

Haha yes we did BJC, but the thing is, remember that every time I reset the CMOS it defaults back to 66. With everything else at stock settings, I figured it was safe to run it at 66, but I guess not

 

[Mrvile]

Uh oh, problems. I installed CS and started it up, played for a few mins and when I went to reboot it doesn't start up. It hangs on the Windows loading screen, the little blue scroll thing goes on forever and ever.

 

[Ike0069]

Oh I see. If you are not OC'ing, then yes it can (and should) stay at 66.
Unfortunately, that is not the answer to your problem.

Maybe try a different VC.

 

[Mrvile]

Originally posted by: Ike0069
Oh I see. If you are not OC'ing, then yes it can (and should) stay at 66.
Unfortunately, that is not the answer to your problem.

Maybe try a different VC.

Ehh, VC? VCore? I might.

 

[Mrvile]

Damnit! I hate this! You know what it was? Tha damn SATA cord!!! I switched it with another one I had and it fvcking worked! Damn MSI crap...

 

[lxskllr]

Originally posted by: Mrvile
Damnit! I hate this! You know what it was? Tha damn SATA cord!!! I switched it with another one I had and it fvcking worked! Damn MSI crap...

Cables can be a pain in the ass. When I built my last machine I couldn't get my optical drives to work right. I tried 2 brand new cables and ended up using one from my old Dell. Tracing the problem added about 24 hours to my build time.