I have been having this issue very recently, where my desktop pc (Dell 8300 XPS) would freeze. Everything would become inactive within about 5 minutes of startup, and various errors would start appearing such as "failure to display security and shutdown options," and many of the "0x0000000" type errors. A blue screen would then display and the pc would restart. Then this message appears: "Reboot and Select proper Boot device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key." The message would keep displaying after pressing a key, so my only option is to turn off the pc. After powering it back on, windows would boot normally into the desktop, but then after about 5 minutes, everything would slow down and freeze, and I would go through the whole process again. Any help would be appreciated.
Computer Freezes, BSOD, and Restarts
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TH3xL3GITx40
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I forgot to mention that my hard drive began clicking about 2 months ago, but the clicking seems to have subsided recently and it's running fine now. Also, there is an orange light on the motherboard, but I thought thst was normal. Could that be a sign of a failing motherboard?
- Sep 4, 2007
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the ticking hard drive is a sign of a failing hard drive FYI so you need a new one soon regardless. the orange light...i don't know on your board. many boards have an led to let you know the board is getting power. likely that is what your orange LED is
- Sep 4, 2007
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without components to swap out. its tough to pin point what is going bad. That said i can saywith absolutely certainty if your hdd has been clicking it is on the verge of failing. PERIOD. No question.
The question is what else is going bad and it sounds like at the least you PSU, motherboard, CPU and RAM are all potential offenders. You can try running memtest86 to test your ram...if it passes then i would try running prime95 to test your CPU and motherboard. While it can't discern which is going, it can say it is one of the two is. Lastly if you have access to or can buy a PSU tester it can check you power supply for defects/issues...or you could take it to a tech if you don't have access.
The question is what else is going bad and it sounds like at the least you PSU, motherboard, CPU and RAM are all potential offenders. You can try running memtest86 to test your ram...if it passes then i would try running prime95 to test your CPU and motherboard. While it can't discern which is going, it can say it is one of the two is. Lastly if you have access to or can buy a PSU tester it can check you power supply for defects/issues...or you could take it to a tech if you don't have access.
TH3xL3GITx40
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signs of motherboard failure are mouse lag fps drops when playing games depending on what you use it for
I previously ran the windows diagnostics test from the BIOS option, where it tests everything from RAM to CPU and rear fans, and all tests passed except the hard drive test. It displayed that there was no hard drive, but I ended the test and resumed booting, and windows booted normally. The computer used to freeze about 2 months ago when the hard drive was clicking, but now the hard drive is running smoothly. Now, the restarts and BSODs seem to happen randomly, without any warning signs and no HDD clicking.
Benevolence
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Most likely it is a hard drive failure. You have data corruption which is causing your OS to crash. When booting, press F12 until you get the boot menu. There should be a Dell Diagnostic option. Run the diagnostic and report back.
Additionally, I've seen a ton of computers in the past month which have a failed PSU/hard drive or failed PSU/Drive/Mobo. I suspect power spikes from our electric company but I digress...
If you can make a CD (or bootable USB) for PartedMagic or UBCD, you can boot to it and run a surface scan on the hard disk, and run a memory test if for some inconceivable reason your dell doesn't have a diagnostic utility built into the bios.
Additionally, I've seen a ton of computers in the past month which have a failed PSU/hard drive or failed PSU/Drive/Mobo. I suspect power spikes from our electric company but I digress...
If you can make a CD (or bootable USB) for PartedMagic or UBCD, you can boot to it and run a surface scan on the hard disk, and run a memory test if for some inconceivable reason your dell doesn't have a diagnostic utility built into the bios.
Benevolence
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Look at the time, we replied at the exact same moment 
[/quotemsg]
I previously ran the windows diagnostics test from the BIOS option, where it tests everything from RAM to CPU and rear fans, and all tests passed except the hard drive test. It displayed that there was no hard drive, but I ended the test and resumed booting, and windows booted normally. The computer used to freeze about 2 months ago when the hard drive was clicking, but now the hard drive is running smoothly. Now, the restarts and BSODs seem to happen randomly, without any warning signs and no HDD clicking.[/quotemsg]
Looks like you beat me to the punch there. Yes it is your hard drive, no probably not your motherboard (read previous post).
Save what data you can salvage from your current drive (or ship it to DataTek for $600-$3000), get a new drive and install it, load OS etc...
[/quotemsg]
I previously ran the windows diagnostics test from the BIOS option, where it tests everything from RAM to CPU and rear fans, and all tests passed except the hard drive test. It displayed that there was no hard drive, but I ended the test and resumed booting, and windows booted normally. The computer used to freeze about 2 months ago when the hard drive was clicking, but now the hard drive is running smoothly. Now, the restarts and BSODs seem to happen randomly, without any warning signs and no HDD clicking.[/quotemsg]
Looks like you beat me to the punch there. Yes it is your hard drive, no probably not your motherboard (read previous post).
Save what data you can salvage from your current drive (or ship it to DataTek for $600-$3000), get a new drive and install it, load OS etc...
- Sep 4, 2007
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i never trust the self diagnositcs on there own...run memtest86 for your ram, prime95 for you CPU/motheoard...but again i cannot stress this enough. your hard drive IS TOAST. you need a new one. I would replace it first before doing anything else. Clicking is a Tell Tale sign of a bad hard drive...even if it stopped.
Benevolence :
Look at the time, we replied at the exact same moment
I previously ran the windows diagnostics test from the BIOS option, where it tests everything from RAM to CPU and rear fans, and all tests passed except the hard drive test. It displayed that there was no hard drive, but I ended the test and resumed booting, and windows booted normally. The computer used to freeze about 2 months ago when the hard drive was clicking, but now the hard drive is running smoothly. Now, the restarts and BSODs seem to happen randomly, without any warning signs and no HDD clicking.[/quotemsg]
Looks like you beat me to the punch there. Yes it is your hard drive, no probably not your motherboard (read previous post).
Save what data you can salvage from your current drive (or ship it to DataTek for $600-$3000), get a new drive and install it, load OS etc...
[/quotemsg]
This is what people have been telling me to do, to back up the HDD and get a new one. I always assumed that it wasn't going to completely fail, and it hasn't (2 months is an impressive time for an HDD to still be running after clicking from what ive read, as HDDs usually fail after about 3 weeks of the first sings of clicking). If i were to by a new HDD (or SSD), what is the best method of transferring data? I really do not wish to reinstall everything and begin anew.
Benevolence
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You will have to install everything anew. If you had taken these steps when the clicking had started you may have been able to directly image the old drive onto the new drive, however extensive data corruption makes this impossible.
1. Don't run your HDD any more until you get a replacement (just unplug it for now)
2. Install replacement HDD.
3. Install OS on replacement HDD.
4. Use Macrium Reflect Free or Easus Backup to create a container/image of old hard disk onto new hard disk.
5. Open image/container and pull files you need into their appropriate spots in the new OS.
6. Optional - Use Zinstall to pull all programs/files/settings from old HDD onto new HDD.
Additionally you will have to use the install media from Dell or order a new OS disk from Dell. Your copy of Windows can only be activated if you install a Dell version of Windows on your computer.
1. Don't run your HDD any more until you get a replacement (just unplug it for now)
2. Install replacement HDD.
3. Install OS on replacement HDD.
4. Use Macrium Reflect Free or Easus Backup to create a container/image of old hard disk onto new hard disk.
5. Open image/container and pull files you need into their appropriate spots in the new OS.
6. Optional - Use Zinstall to pull all programs/files/settings from old HDD onto new HDD.
Additionally you will have to use the install media from Dell or order a new OS disk from Dell. Your copy of Windows can only be activated if you install a Dell version of Windows on your computer.
Benevolence
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AtomicWar: The Dell Diagnostics run utilities almost parallel to anything you'd find on MagicParted or UBCD.
Granted there will always be better diagnostic programs out there, but the Dell diagnostics are nearly infallible and should not be so casually discounted.
Granted there will always be better diagnostic programs out there, but the Dell diagnostics are nearly infallible and should not be so casually discounted.
How can you be sure that there is data corruption and that I can't make an image of the old HDD? There is no data loss from what i can tell. The total free space remains the same. I also ran CHKDSK about a month ago, and there were no reported errors.
Benevolence
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You can make an image of the old HDD, but you will have the same BSOD errors because the data on your operating system is corrupted. If you really wanted to you could clone the disk, and run chkdisk from the DVD, and/or clone the disk and reinstall windows over the old version. Either way it is better to start with a fresh install of windows because YES you DO have DATA CORRUPTION on your HARD DRIVE.
Benevolence :
You can make an image of the old HDD, but you will have the same BSOD errors because the data on your operating system is corrupted. If you really wanted to you could clone the disk, and run chkdisk from the DVD, and/or clone the disk and reinstall windows over the old version. Either way it is better to start with a fresh install of windows because YES you DO have DATA CORRUPTION on your HARD DRIVE.
I wasnt sure if you saw the reply, since I updated it as you were posting. I did run chkdsk, but there were no errors or anything pertaining to data corruption. Should i run it again, now since all these restarts and BSODs are occuring?
Benevolence
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If your drive is failing (which I believe we have concluded that it is), using it more will degrade the data more. That being said, you can try to clone the drive onto another one, but this may be the "hard way" if there is extensive data corruption.
A surface scan is a tad bit more thorough than sfc or chkdsk. Additionally there are different types of chkdsk. You may try running chkdsk -p which is more thorough, but will not attempt to repair the damage. Running chkdsk /r or /f can corrupt data if there are not enough spare sectors to relocate data to.
A surface scan is a tad bit more thorough than sfc or chkdsk. Additionally there are different types of chkdsk. You may try running chkdsk -p which is more thorough, but will not attempt to repair the damage. Running chkdsk /r or /f can corrupt data if there are not enough spare sectors to relocate data to.
I'm sure there are sufficient spare sectors, as there is still 807 GB of free space (it's a 1.5 TB HDD). I will try to run chkdsk once more, and report the resuls tomorrow (chkdsk takes about 7 hours). Also, does surface scan repair errors?
UPDATE: I forgot to mention that the last time i ran chkdsk, i could not view the results, since the event log viewer service could not start. I searched for solutions but non worked.
a hard drive making a clicking sound is a indication that the heads and sector markers on the spinning drive are out of alignment. The clicking sound is the servo moter moving heads moving over and over trying to get a good read from the drive. it reads, get a read error, tries again, and again until it gets a clean read or fails.
with windows 7 you would have to do a full format of the drive or run a special utility to move your data from these failing sectors. Windows 8 will do this for you in the background. So just as a hint, when you get a new drive do a full format not a quick format. just do it overnight and you can reduce your problems slightly.
or go to windows 8.x or windows 10 and let it deal with the problem.
also, failure rates for spinning drives are high, like 25% the first year and 15% each year after that until they die.
(cumulative totals) You might use a SSD for your OS drive and a HDD for your data drive.
you could also put in a SSD with windows 10 beta and force it to fix your HDD. It takes a long time but you don't have to pay a recovery service. (just a thought, it would depend on how much you value your data)
Also, before I give up on a drive, I check the cables, change the SATA ports or move the cables to the primary SATA port if I have two sata controllers. (or update the drivers for the SATA contoller)
I also use crystaldiskinfo.exe to look at the smart data on the drive
with windows 7 you would have to do a full format of the drive or run a special utility to move your data from these failing sectors. Windows 8 will do this for you in the background. So just as a hint, when you get a new drive do a full format not a quick format. just do it overnight and you can reduce your problems slightly.
or go to windows 8.x or windows 10 and let it deal with the problem.
also, failure rates for spinning drives are high, like 25% the first year and 15% each year after that until they die.
(cumulative totals) You might use a SSD for your OS drive and a HDD for your data drive.
you could also put in a SSD with windows 10 beta and force it to fix your HDD. It takes a long time but you don't have to pay a recovery service. (just a thought, it would depend on how much you value your data)
Also, before I give up on a drive, I check the cables, change the SATA ports or move the cables to the primary SATA port if I have two sata controllers. (or update the drivers for the SATA contoller)
I also use crystaldiskinfo.exe to look at the smart data on the drive
Diganta Das
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- Jul 22, 2013
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Actually bsods r memory errors.. So HDD needs to be replaced.. Guess you guys have broken down the problem. So if you can backup your datas and replace the drive..
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