Hard Drive problem?

[productofeuphio]

Ok, this is definitely an issue that throws me for a loop...

System Specs:
Athlon XP 2600+
Nvidia GeForce 6600 GT
Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe System Board
2x 512 MB Mushkin PC2700 RAM
Antec 430W smart power PS
HDDs involved in problem: Seagate Barracuda 200GB SATA 7200.7 and Western Digital Caviar SE 7200 160GB also SATA
HDD that works fine in Machine: Older Maxtor 40GB HDD.

I'll start from the begining. I had a Seagate 200GB SATA drive in running XP, one day it started making a small chirping noise and would freeze every 3-4 seconds. I figured ok, bad drive, send it back to Seagate. 3 hard drives later, same issue. The problem is immediately recognizable when loading my norton ghost floppy, as well as loading windows off another HDD when the SATA is hooked up.

I loaded Windows onto the 40GB IDE drive and it runs like a champ. Every SATA drive (being the 3 replacement Seagates listed above) i hook up seems to start having this issue.

Tonight i figured i'd try a different Sata hdd. Went to best buy and bought the WD drive listed above. This drive ghosted over no problem, booted windows no problem, actually very fast and is currently loaded into windows with no current issue. The problem occurs when i load Everquest 2. As the "zone loading" screen is coming up, the drive makes a noise that resembles a clicking noise, but not quite, and freezing every 3-4 seconds just like the other drives did. And I also first noticed the problem playing everquest 2 (graphic intensive game).

I've tried everything i can think of, remove unnecessary periphs, cd drives etc, just use the bare basics, swapped SATA cables, used different power cable (not power supply).

Just wondering if anyone has run across a machine that seems to have these types of problems with SATA drives and not IDE? or any input? I'm almost thinking it's a power issue, but i'm not confident with that idea enough to just run out and throw a bunch of money at a possible issue.

Thanks in advance for any thought or input anyone can give into this issue as it's driving me up a wall!

 

[productofeuphio]

Ok, just tried something else... Unhooked all unnecessary power and booted with the WD HDD, booted like a champ. Loaded EQ2, got past the loading screens, right as i enter the game it starts doing the click thing like it did before. after a few mins of this, BSOD!

Kernel_Stack_InPage_Error

I also used the Legacy power i had hooked up to one of the cd drives previously, and the first time EQ2 dumped on me, i had the SATA power hooked up to it...

 

[pscowboy]

This is a hardware problem.

Eliminate ram as the problem by running MemTest for at least four hours.
If it shows errors, there's your culprit. Games put huge stress on memory.

If your ram tests okay, I would then suspect mobo.

 

[MadModMike]

It isn't your RAM. Kernel_Stack_InPage_Error errors are caused by Virus's in the Master Boot Record or incorrect readings from Page Files. This can be caused by your motherboard's SATA ports being damaged. I am saying it might be your motherboard, I would RMA that and see if it fixes the issue.

~~Mad Mod Mike, pimpin' the world 1 rig at a time

 

[productofeuphio]

Yeah, if it were RAM it would do it with both IDE and SATA drives hooked up. Strange that SATA ports could make a drive click.. but i guess if the platters were to suddenly stop and spin back up again it would sound something like a click??

i'm guessing SATA controller on my board is jacked up...

 

[productofeuphio]

Problem resolved. The power supply was bad. Swapped my PS from my server over to my PC and SATA runs like a champ. I wasn't too off base from my original thoughts since it would really become noticeable when a game that uses high video card resources was loaded...