hdd problem i think :(

[totem]

Hi everyone. I had a problem with my pc a few weeks ago. I was copying a large amount of data to my main hdd on drive D: and it restarted and came up with the error ntldr is missing. I used drive image to have a look at the windows files and instead of being labelled 'windows' etc they were numbers and signs. I spoke to a friend who said it happened as I was transferring a lot of data to D: on my main hdd. I sorted this problem by using drive image again and going back to a previous date. Now a few days ago I was copying a 700mb file to D: and the hdd restarted and when I got back into windows I had found that D: had been formatted. I was rather annoyed that I lost all my files and stuff; however I managed to get over it now yesterday I was ripping a DVD and my pc again restarted this time it would just hang at verifying dmi pool data. I stuck in another hdd with windows on too see if I could get my work back from 'my documents' but when I into the hdd all the windows files have been replaced with folders that have numbers and signs again. I don’t know what’s causing my pc to 'break' every now and then and its getting annoying, either its my hdd on its way out or summit else. My friend said it could be a RAM / CPU or a mobo I/O or HDD failure and if it happens again I should question the I/O bus on the IDE controller. How would I find out if this is the problem? Then he said I might want to check in BIOS for any strange problems with the Direct Memory Interrupt cache. Anyone else have any ideas? Im using win xp pro, the hdd is a 185 GB IBM deskstar.
Thanks in advance.

[Bill in SD, CA]

Welcome to TechIMO!!

Have you scanned for viruses and trojans?

Have you run the IBM HDD diagnostic program?

Bill

[woodbutcher]

Pretty much what Bill said.

The IBM diagnostic program can be found here;

Drive Fitness Test

WB

[totem]

i dont have any viruses or trojans, ive not run the diagnostic tool that might be next on my list, thanks for the reply. ive run sandras burn in test and it passed, also prime 95 im out of ideas

[totem]

thanks for the link, ill try doing that in a min.

[totem]

just posted on another board i got the reply:

hmm...

i would try the drive in another pc, recreating the problem with another large file copy. if it fails in that then it is the drive... if not... looks like you are looking at a new mobo...

i replyed:

well i took the hdd to a mates to stick some films on it, it was set as a slave, i got a large amount of data to transfer to it without anything happening. could it be a problem that only occurs when the drive is running windows at the same time as the transfer?


what do you guys think?

[MaxVal]

I remember reading about drive corruption issues when transferring large files.
This particular issue was said to potentially exist when the PC in question has a VIA chipset and a Sound Blaster Live card.
Does your machine combine both?
MAX

[totem]

it does have a sound blaster live but a sis 648 chipset. ive just run the IBM HDD diagnostic program and the sandra burn in test and nothing went wrong.

[totem]

^bump^

[Speed]

Are you overclocking? I get the simaller problem when I oc my PC to much. I think that the Ultra ATA controller doesnt like it. If you are ocing then try doing the samething at stock speed.