Repeating Hard Drive Failures

DevoInTheCut

Commendable
Oct 3, 2016
7
0
1,510
About a few weeks back I noticed that my PC was acting up. Then the next day when I turned on my computer it said "Repairing hard drive errors.", SO when I saw that I decided to take a shower which took about 10 minutes... When I get back to my room my pc now said "Your pc did not start correctly." and it took me to Automatic Repair. I went through all the options and none of them worked. So I started to do some research and I found out what a bad HDD sounds like... Mine sounded just like the persons did in the video. So the next day I went to Best Buy and bought a brand new 1T HDD, installed it into my PC and used my recovery disk to reformat my computer fresh. After all of this everything seemed fine and I thought it was fixed. BUT 3 days later the same thing happend, I thought that maybe it was my fault and I must have did something wrong.. So, I went to Best Buy again and got another HDD. When I got home I watched a lengthy youtube video explaining everything I need to do to correctly install the HDD into my PC ,once again after reformatting everything seemed to be fine. This time it took a week and a half for it to fail on me. I have no clue what is going on. I did some research and some people say I should replace some cables, some say I need a new motherboard, and some say I need a new PSU. I just dont know what to do. If anyone has a clue of whats going on I'd love to know. Please help..

*ADDED NOTES*
-All my fans are working correctly
-I can access Command Promt through the automatic repair advanced options
-PC still won't launch into windows, just stays at Automatic Repair
-None of the restore options work gives me an error
-The second hard drive and my newest hard drive did/do not make the broken noises my first one did
-It is not the RAMM, I have replaced it

*PC SPECS*

CPU: Intel Core i5-4570 3.2GHz
MEMORY: 8GB DDR3
GPU: Evga Geforce Gtx 960 SC (stock super clocked)
MOBO: MSI H81-E33
PSU: Lepa Mx 600W
OS: Windows 8.1
 
Solution
Unplug the PC now and leave it that way until you replace the power supply with a higher quality unit. Your power supply is terrible quality.

What would be your budget for a new unit?

A motherboard will not kill an HDD. The power delivered over the SATA data cable has to go through the HDD control board before it reaches anything mechanical. If the motherboard was the problem, the HDD would have failed without any changes to its mechanical behavior. The fact that it made sounds when it failed proves that it suffered some sort of mechanical failure.

A bad cable will not kill an HDD. A bad cable would cause a failure of communication. The HDD and motherboard would both be fine, they just wouldn't be able to communicate. The new drives wouldn't have done anything for you if the cables were bad. The fact that they worked at all proves that the problem is not the cables.
 
You don't just go out and buy a new HDD each time, you get some HDD error.
You have to diagnose it first. Use software provided by HDD manufacturer.
Or at least read SMART data using HDtune.

I could agree with @weberdarren97 - bad PSU is capable of killing other components.
But if that's the case here? Can't really be sure about that.
 

4745454b

Titan
Moderator
LEPA isn't a bad company. They are the lower end/"house" brand of Enermax who is one of the better manufacturers of PSUs. I'm not sure how good the Mx line is, but just hearing LEPA doesn't make my skin crawl.

If the drive is seen in the bios, it isn't dead. Windows not booting doesn't mean the drive died. I would start by figuring out if the drives are dead.
 

DevoInTheCut

Commendable
Oct 3, 2016
7
0
1,510
@4745454b I am not too good with computers when it comes to this kind of stuff.. But i think that the drive are dead or atleast really corrupt past the point of fixing, the reason I say this is because when I'm in windows recovery and click system restore it startes but then fails mid way through. And when I run cmd and type CHKDSK it finds errors in system files. Not sure tho maybe there is a way.
 

4745454b

Titan
Moderator
If they are being seen, they aren't dead. They might be corrupted somehow but they aren't gone. Formatting them should make them usable again. The question would be why does your windows build get that bad that fast? Or yes, why are the drives dying. If the drives check out as ok, it might be a bad motherboard. But you need to test your drive(s), PSU, temps, etc.
 

DevoInTheCut

Commendable
Oct 3, 2016
7
0
1,510
@4745454b So, should I start by attempting to reformat the drive then run tests on my PSU and temps? Also I did some searches on the PSU I have and majority of everyone who has made a review on it says that it doesnt actually produce the 600w it says it can and that its very unreliable...
 

DevoInTheCut

Commendable
Oct 3, 2016
7
0
1,510


My budget is 50-100... I have no clue which PSU I should get though, like I need to make sure it has all the right connectors for my components
 
I would start by replacing the PSU. If we're lucky, it hasn't damaged the motherboard yet.

For your build, I recommend the Seasonic M12ii 520W Bronze power supply.

Although it's Bronze rated, that's an efficiency rating and says nothing for the total quality of the unit. Its somewhat low efficiency rating compared to more expensive units doesn't mean it's a bad unit. This little guy's is one of the most dependable power supplies under $80.
 

DevoInTheCut

Commendable
Oct 3, 2016
7
0
1,510


Thank you for the reply, also how will I be able to tell if my mother board is damaged?
 

4745454b

Titan
Moderator
Enermax/LEPA is usually known for quality and I'm surprised by that link. I would have no issue running one of their better units. They are usually more expensive then other similar PSUs though. (hence the LEPA house brand to bring quality at a lower price.) Because of the horrible quality of the unit and the issues I'd start with replacing that unit and then start the process of figuring out if the drives are still good, etc.
 

DevoInTheCut

Commendable
Oct 3, 2016
7
0
1,510


How do I go about testing everything, also I got one of the hard drives working.. This one only had an missing OS error so it was easily reformatable with a recovery disk. The other ones gave me orange screen of death. Still need to get a new PSU, just want to make sure nothing is damaged from the PSU, but I don't know of any good programs to test my components .
 

4745454b

Titan
Moderator
I wouldn't power that machine on until you have a new PSU. Because it's possibly the cause of your drives dying I wouldn't turn it on again.

I'd start by seeing if the drives are seen in the bios. If they are there is hope. If they won't boot or allow windows to be installed I'd get a "zero fill" program to wipe them and start over. If they can't be seen in bios they are probably gone.
 


Some newer HDDs like the WD Black series will not power up if they detect dangerous voltages. If it isn't seen in BIOS before replacing the power supply, we can't just assume they're dead. They need to be tested after the power supply is replaced. If they continue to not show up in BIOS after replacing the power supply, then I would say that they're likely dead. But please make sure that they're connected properly before you give up on them.
 

DevoInTheCut

Commendable
Oct 3, 2016
7
0
1,510



How can I go about testing my motherboard before my HDD fails again? Ordered new PSU btw. I just want to know if I need a new mobo aswell.. Any good software that can run tests on mobo?

-Edit
Going to take your advise and keep my PC off. Ill get back with you guys when I'v replaced my PSU. @weberdarren97
//
Still would like some good programs to test my motherboard.
 


The first test is the easiest test. If the machine functions correctly after replacing the power supply, then download a program called AIDA64 Extreme, drop down the Tools menu across the top, select System Stability Test, test everything except for the HDD for ten minutes. If this goes without a crash or internal error, then your motherboard is likely fine. If you encounter an issue, then we'll need to dig a little deeper to figure out what's causing it.

In case there are problems with the stability test, I would like you to take a screenshot of the Clocks tab every thirty seconds for the duration of the test. At the end of the test, take a screenshot of the Statistics tab. This information will be helpful if there turns out to be another problem with the system.

AIDA64 Extreme download link.
 
Solution