Hardware or software error?

[Pixelkitten]

Hi everyone, for a couple of weeks now, my computer has acted well, a bit weird. At first it just refused to run POST until it was "warmed up", but yesterday, all hell broke loose.

 

After a warm-up period of 15 minutes, my computer finally started. Since I was a bit annoyed about this, I decided to run a full scandisk on both of my harddrives. This wasn't a big deal since I was going downtown to meet a couple of friends, and would be gone for most of the day. At around 22:00, scandisk had finished and reported no errors (as far as I am aware).

 

Glad to finally be able to check my mail, I start up Google Chrome. Instant computer freeze. I reboot and try again. Same thing happens. I uninstall Chrome, start up Firefox, download Chrome again, and reinstall. No effect.

I figured that I was going to be stuck with FF for a while, and logged in on youtube to listen to some music. Computer reboots, no BSOD.

 

This morning, I was unable to boot Windows correctly. So I booted in safe mode, and now I am running a defrag, and will start a virus-scan when the defrag is completed.

 

I have absolutely no idea if this is a software error in my OS, a hardware error in either the motherboard or the PSU, or multiple problems at once. After all, it might be as simple as a loose cable.

 

I run a Asrock 939Dual-SATA2 with 2 gigs of RAM and an Athlon 64 3800+ Dualcore.

Graphics card: Radeon HD 4850.

[Synapse]

Easy checks first.

 

Have a look in the Error Log, under System, look for bad block errors. They denote hard drive read/write faults and suggest drive beginning to fail.

 

The other easy(ish) check is memory, download Memtest, burn to CD, boot from it and run a test. See if it comes back ok.

[Dalo Harkin]

You said it could be something like a loose cable, have you checked them, moved them or added anything to them recently?

 

Try removing the HDD cables and see if the machine posts faster than it did

 

It is possible for the hardware to cause a 'delay' with windows booting. Its easier to remove components to check rather than try and identify with the likes of MEMTEST as memtest takes a long time to do its job properly...

 

A defrag is the last thing that should be done in a scenario like this as if there is an issue with the drive, running a defrag can kill it completely - sure we have discussed this before :rolleyes:

[Pixelkitten]

You said it could be something like a loose cable, have you checked them, moved them or added anything to them recently?

A couple of weeks ago, a society at my school organised a LAN-party. The car trip probably knocked something loose. Problem is, both the tables in my room are filled with stuff and I'm too lazy to clean them, and carrying the computer downstairs to the kitchen, while possible in theory, is torture with a fulltower such as mine.

 

A defrag is the last thing that should be done in a scenario like this as if there is an issue with the drive, running a defrag can kill it completely - sure we have discussed this before :rolleyes:

Dalo, I hereby grant you the official right to call me an idiot whenever you want. We have discussed this before, and I am currently staring at a SMART-status-message telling me my Primary Slave drive is bad. I pray to any god that will hear me that I will be able to back it up.

[Pixelkitten]

Good news everyone! The Data on my second HDD seems to be alright, and a closer inspection of SMART says it is only a reallocated sector count, whatever that means.

[ComputerGeek]

Hi there pixel,

The problems you are having sound to me like a memory (RAM), issue, if it is indeed a memory problem you can check using MEMTEST,

found here... Memtest86 - Download Page

 

A memory problem large enough to cause auto reboots should be picked up within the first 5 mins, ideally the test should run with zero errors.

[Pixelkitten]

ComputerGeek: I should have done that before I messed up my HDD. If I manage to save it (seems more and more unlikely) I'll do it.

[Pixelkitten]

EVERYTHING IS RUINED FOREVER!!!

I plugged the HDD into my mom's pc to try and back up the data. Then the OS decided that the HDD needed a scandisk with error correction, and basically unformatted the HDD.

 

Dalo, if you ever go to Sweden, stop by Uppsala and punch me in the face.

 

Any tips on how I may recover the data? Hirens boot?

[Dalo Harkin]

Do you have any other HDDs that you can use to create a Master volume?

Then at least try and recover the other HDD, when you installed the HDD into your mums PC did you do it as a slave drive or did you try and boot from it?

 

Don't worry, I won't call you anything or hit you lol :)

[Pixelkitten]

I should probably specify: The HDD ruined was my slave drive, only used for storing music,. pictures, movies and documents. It does not contain a boot record.

It was installed as secondary slave in my mom's PC.

Friends and teachers have tipped me on a program called Get Data Back, but it seems that I either have to buy it, or find a cracked version.