Problem with Hard Drive!? Warning messages! Plz Help.

[rHy0]

Hi, i have a homebuilt PC which is only about 2 months old and ive been having a few problems with it since the beggining. My main concern is the warning messages i keep getting in Event Log, which says 'An Error was detected on device Device Harddisk during a paging operation". I usually get the alerts every time i boot up windows after it had been turned off. I have ignored this warning message until just recently when it took over 2 mins for windows to load!!? It now takes this long every time i turn on the PC and i think it has something to do with the message. Is this a serious problem with my hard drive (WD Raptor)?? If so is there any way of fixing it? thanks.

 

[mpjesse]

Run Western Digital's diagnostic tools. That should tell you if it's a problem with the drive or if it's an issue with Windows.

 

[Codesmith]

If that comes back clean run memtest86 next.

Both avaliable on the ultimate boot cd, which is handy (for those with fast connections).

 

[rHy0]

I ran Western Digitals diagnostics test loads of times and it passed with no problems, but i wasnt sure if it was that accurate. Anyway ill try memtest and see what happens.

 

[rHy0]

How do i run memtest? Its not as straight forward as i thought it was.

 

[Codesmith]

The test you are performing on the hard drive is a Drive Self Test. That is the drive is checking itself.

So generally it cannot detect problems caused by a bad cable, wrong jumper settings, interface problems on the part of the drive, bus sharing problems (ie the drive is a poor master or slave).

Nor can it detect problems with the motherboard's IDE controller.

That being said it still tells you a lot about what isn't wrong which is very handy.

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As far as memtest86 you just let it run all its tests for awhile. It will record any errors. You need to let it finish at least one complete pass. That is do each test at least once. Most people like to let it complete a couple passes just to be certain. People often find it convient to run overnight.

Of course other factor can cause memory errors, a flaky motherboard, bad powersupply ....

But if the memoy passes all tests without errors then you know it is in perfect working condition.

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You may also want to check your IDE cable and power connections.

DATA and power cable's sometimes develop intermitent faults. By that I mean that most of the time they work, but if you bend or jar them you may momentarily lose connection in one of the wires.

That would definately cause problems like the ones you are experiencing.

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PS the long startup is likely your OS performing tests because the file system was not shut down properly.

Some other tests to run

HD Tach to benchmark your hard drive. If the results are abnormally low or erratic this could indicate a problem.

Prime95 to test overall system stability. Ask in the overclockers forum how to run this and other stability test. Overclockers have to be expert stability testers.

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There is of course the chance that it is a software problem. Backup your OS and try a clean install if nothing else works.

 

[rHy0]

Okay, its a relief to know that its not my Raptor. Thanks for all the advice, ill try all you suggested and hope i track down the problem. Let me know if you have any more suggestions, thanks.