Windows XP HD issue??

I had a question about a problem, which I've had 3-4 times over the last 3-4 years. It rarely has happened, but I really want to get to the bottom of it.

I have a PC Pentium 4 3.2GHz, 1GB Ram running on Windows XP.

The problem seems to involve downloading files.

The symptoms are the following:

I'm downloading files and suddenly the browser freezes, the Hard drive makes an awkward whiny noise, than the whole PC freezes.
After that the PC will load and run in a loop during the windows logo and restart itself.

Now, what I've usually done in the past is run a CHKDSK via WIN XP CD and that has usually got it booting/running again.

However, about 2-3 weeks ago, the CHKDSK didn't help. I had to do a repair install and that fixed it.

Now today, once again I was downloading a few files and it worked fine through the day. FInally, I was downloading some more files and poof the symptoms as mentioned above.

EDIT: I restarted it and I believe the CHKDSK or FIXBOOT has fixed the PC and it's booting up now.

My question is understanding why my PC freezes like this?

To add to the story. I had these symptom long ago on my 1st HD. I thought it crashed, and CHKDSK didn't help. I never did a repair install on that drive. So, I bought another drive and made a clone of it on a new drive. Now the new drive has the same symptoms.

To add onto the story.. I was downloading ALL these files this week on my backup (slave) drive. So, why would it cause my main (master) drive to not function or crash? Isn't the data being written on my backup drive, if that's where I'm saving the files to via web?

I'm starting to wonder if my old drive, which was having problems possibly copied over a bad sector and added it to the new drive as well? I can't think of any other explanation, as to why downloading files on to another drive, caused the main drive to crash along with the OS.

Looking for some input to the problem.

THanks.

 

Hmmmmm !!
Could be what r u thinking. Although never heard of it.
Could you plz elaborate?
Try backing up your files and formatting your new HD. Did you say that CHKDSK did not find any errors ?
Open the cmd window and run 'CHKDSK'.
Hope you find that useful.

 

Well all my files are on my old drive. I don't need anything on this drive, but chances are I'm going to buy a new drive this week anyways.

The thing I was thinking of is the disk surface. When you make a clone image of another hard drive, does it also copy bad sectors?

I used Acronis True Image at that time.

My PC is running fine now after running CHKDSK in the recovery console.
It DID find errors and it said it was unrecoverable.

Last time I had the same issue, but the CHKDSK "seemed" to fix the errors.

It just makes me wonder, WHY it would freeze and cause issues on my master drive, when I'm saving files on my slave drive? And if the slave drive crashed, why would it crash my whole PC and again my master drive?

All I know is I have had this issue and all issues when downloading files. It rarely happens, but has about 3-4 times within the last 4 years.

 

Look Harry as i see it, a clone is a clone in all respects. Pardon me if i am wrong.

 

Thanks Pete.

I did that with my old drive. It was having the same issues, so I bought a new one and cloned it from the old one. However, I'm having the same problems with this new drive now too.

So, if I do get "another" new HD, it would mean a fresh install.. no image cloning etc...

I'll let you know how the tests go.

 

I ran the seagate tools program, but am getting errors running it. I have two errors. I searched them up, but didn't really find much.

Just another update. I tried turning my PC on today and it loaded an Intel boot area. I then restarted and checked bios and noticed BOTH hard drives weren't picked up.

So, I unplugged the power and sata cables from the drives and motherboard and blew on them a bit. I put them back on and the PC ran fine.

The sata cables do look a bit enlarged on their points, but just one cable. The other is fine.

I agree though, that if the problem is happening to 2 total different drives. Then it could be something else.

The only reason I would "believe" it could be a HD issue is because, I was told if you clone image another HD. Than it may also copy the hard drives bad sectors or damaged/corrupt data.
It would be like creating a clone of a "possible" sick HD.

EDIT: Also to add, I know last time this happened. The pc would also freeze not only when I downloaded to the slave drive, but if I tried to access it via My Computer.

 

Harry,

You mentioned you ran 'chkdsk', which 'parameter' (switch) did you run it with? I would run "chkdsk /r" (without the quotes, note the 'space' before the forward slash), this will check the disk surface and 'correct' any bad sectors.

The Seagate HD tool is looking for components of Microsoft.NET v 2.0, I guessing you don't have it installed.

Also if your SATA cables do not fit snuggly, I would recommend replacing them (they're inexpensive). If the cable does not fit properly, it can definitely cause problems.

@Pete and Christer... Hi guys! How the heck are you??

bluzkat
(formerly known as Mr. B)

 

I won't recommend cloning a failing hard disk unless its for archival or data recovery purpose.

The best way is to install everything again. I know its a royal pain in the ess, but its the best way to go. At least there wouldn't be any unpleasant surprises.

 

I ran JUST CHKDSK at first. Then, I decided to run it with the /r. However, it went through it and said something about the error area being unrecoverable. The PC started up fine, but that error msg did come up. What ever is corrupted or damaged was unrecoverable, although the PC seemed to fix what ever the issue is via CHKDSK.

At that time, I didn't have a choice. I really needed my files. Now, that I have a spare HD, I can always backup to one and format the other.

I'm most likely going to buy another 3rd HD. However, I wanted to see why I had this problem, so I don't run into it in the future.

 

Harry,

Glad to hear chkdsk ran okay (sort of). If you plan on using that hard drive again, don't store anything *important* on it, I'm not sure that it will be working much longer.

 

That's what everyone has been saying about the old Hard drive. And it's been working fine for years still. It also had the same issue too.