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Hard drive failing? Blue screens and apps not responding.

Tags:
  • Crash
  • Hard Drives
  • Storage
  • Apps
  • Western Digital
  • Blue Screen
  • Explorer
Last response: in Storage
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October 11, 2014 10:49:51 PM

Happens like 2-4 times everyday now. It seems like it happens everytime I play a game for a few minutes, like CS:GO, but it also happens sometimes when I'm just browsing the internet. When I go over to Computer and check on the drives, Drive D doesn't display the storage numbers anymore, my drive is a Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB, when it try to access it, it stops responding and everything else stops along with it. When I restart my computer it can happen right away in a few minutes, or just when I try to get into a server.

I've tried:
-Waiting
-Swapping the SATA cable (Though, I don't think mine are very good, you guys think I should buy a better quality one?)
-Swapping the SATA power cable.
-Resting it for a while, put the Hard drive in front a fan for few minutes. (This kinda helps, but it still crashes after a while, just not right away.)

Please help, 'cause it's getting really annoying, I can't MM with my friends in peace anymore.

More about : hard drive failing blue screens apps responding

a b G Storage
October 11, 2014 10:59:55 PM

Run Seatools for windows if you can. Run the short DST and the long generic. If it passes both we can seek other options, if it fails either, try another SATA header on the motherboard. If it fails again on another header, replace the drive.

If you cannot run the diagnostic, try the Western digital hard disk diagnostic tool. It works on all brands from a flash drive:

http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=612...

Your BIOS may include a basic hard drive testing utility as well. Does the drive show up in the BIOS? That would be actually the best place to start.
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October 12, 2014 2:42:48 AM

darkbreeze said:
Run Seatools for windows if you can. Run the short DST and the long generic. If it passes both we can seek other options, if it fails either, try another SATA header on the motherboard. If it fails again on another header, replace the drive.

If you cannot run the diagnostic, try the Western digital hard disk diagnostic tool. It works on all brands from a flash drive:

http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=612...

Your BIOS may include a basic hard drive testing utility as well. Does the drive show up in the BIOS? That would be actually the best place to start.

Thanks for the quick answer.

I just ran the two tests on SeaTools and it passed both. Oh, and I forgot to list down I've already tried a different SATA header on the motherboard.
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Related resources
October 12, 2014 7:59:01 AM

if you got a bugcheck, what was the bugcheck code? or you can post the actual memory .dmp file on a server and I will take a quick look with a debugger
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a b G Storage
October 13, 2014 12:21:00 AM

Hi there RockiBoi,

Even though you already tested the drive, I would suggest you to run the extended test of the DLG tool that darkbreeze suggested as it is brand specific. If it passes the test, most probably the issue is not hard drive related. If you still doubt it is the drive, you can just attach it to another computer and check whether the issue persist.
Keep in mind that BSOD can be caused by overheating, faulty RAM, MB issues, etc.

Cheers,
D_Know_WD
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October 13, 2014 5:14:32 AM

D_Know_WD said:
Hi there RockiBoi,

Even though you already tested the drive, I would suggest you to run the extended test of the DLG tool that darkbreeze suggested as it is brand specific. If it passes the test, most probably the issue is not hard drive related. If you still doubt it is the drive, you can just attach it to another computer and check whether the issue persist.
Keep in mind that BSOD can be caused by overheating, faulty RAM, MB issues, etc.

Cheers,
D_Know_WD

Okay, did the extended test on the Data Lifeguard and it passed it just fine.

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October 13, 2014 5:15:50 AM

johnbl said:
if you got a bugcheck, what was the bugcheck code? or you can post the actual memory .dmp file on a server and I will take a quick look with a debugger


Not sure what a bugcheck is, lol. Is that something from Blue screens?
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a b G Storage
October 13, 2014 6:54:45 AM

RockyBoi said:
johnbl said:
if you got a bugcheck, what was the bugcheck code? or you can post the actual memory .dmp file on a server and I will take a quick look with a debugger


Not sure what a bugcheck is, lol. Is that something from Blue screens?


Yes. When your operating system has a bsod it creates a log of the event called a dump file. There can be different locations for where this file is saved so simply do a search for .dmp files and the most recent one, if any, is likely the correct report. If there is none anywhere on the drive you might have to enable crash reporting.
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October 13, 2014 7:35:37 AM

darkbreeze said:
RockyBoi said:
johnbl said:
if you got a bugcheck, what was the bugcheck code? or you can post the actual memory .dmp file on a server and I will take a quick look with a debugger


Not sure what a bugcheck is, lol. Is that something from Blue screens?


Yes. When your operating system has a bsod it creates a log of the event called a dump file. There can be different locations for where this file is saved so simply do a search for .dmp files and the most recent one, if any, is likely the correct report. If there is none anywhere on the drive you might have to enable crash reporting.

Oh, okay, well I did a search and I just see some .dmp's from steamcmd, Smite, and Mass Effect, nothing that looks like it's from a BSOD. How do I enable crash reporting for Blue screens?
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a b G Storage
October 13, 2014 10:56:21 AM

Any .dmp is from a crash of some kind. If the crash occurred during a game then those are likely what you need. Upload the one with the most recent date to a free text file hosting service and provide a link here to it.
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October 14, 2014 7:13:56 AM

darkbreeze said:
Any .dmp is from a crash of some kind. If the crash occurred during a game then those are likely what you need. Upload the one with the most recent date to a free text file hosting service and provide a link here to it.

I don't know if this is gonna help us but here it is http://pastebin.com/q1QRePBa.
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October 14, 2014 7:16:50 AM

Well, I've tried playing CS:GO without the WD drive and it didn't crash once, still disconnected right now, no crashes.
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a b G Storage
October 14, 2014 7:35:03 AM

Then it seems that the drive may be the issue. It is strange though that the testing tools show that it is fine. It may be something hardware related that can not be detected by the software. Is the drive still in warranty? If so, I would suggest you to contact WD's Support either by email or phone and eventually RMA the drive.

WD's Support: http://support.wdc.com/contact/index.asp?lang=en
RMA: http://support.wdc.com/warranty/

Hope this will help
D_Know_WD
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a b G Storage
2 minutes ago

Seems like testing the drive was the first thing I suggested. It seems unusual that neither Seatools nor the WD tools detected anything unless it's something that's failing intermittently or is related to the SATA header you're plugging into. Check the board specs and see if there are possibly two different SATA controllers on that board. Some boards will have, for example, like four or six headers that have Intel controllers and two with Asmedia controllers. Often the Asmedia controllers have issues but it could go either way. That's why I suggested trying another SATA header on the board but it would need to be one with a different controller than the two you've tried, if you have.
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