Constantly corrupting HD???

[TheTallGuy]

Hey all,

Lately if I leave my computer on for a while just idling and I come back to it, it will usually reset. Then as its booting it will say the HD with XP loaded needs to be checked for conisistency and does the disk check utility thing. It seems to run fine except for the rebooting and I can play BF2 without problems. My rig:

74GB Raptor with OS
2x200GB Maxtor IDE for storage
A64 3700+
2GB Crucial
6800 Ultra

Nothing OC'd and heat isn't a problem as it resets after idle and not under load, any ideas?

 

[Zenthar]

Since chkdsk doesn't report any errprs, it's probably something else. How hot does your CPU gets (even if idle)? Have you tried testing your RAM? Lately I had lots of instability problems with my PC (BSOD and the like) to find-out the memory I just upgraded to was defective. To see if there is anything wrong with the RAM, test using memtest86.

 

[asdasd123123]

Power Supply, my guess.

Defective ram would usually crash when NOT idle, but it's always a good idea to make sure.

 

[TheTallGuy]

Been meaning to check to RAM but haven't gotten around to it.

I just replaced the PSU last month antec smartpower 500W so I don't think its that but its hard to tell with voltage readings being so inaccurate and such.

 

[TheTallGuy]

CPU is ~50°C full load GPU~60°C

I installed speedfan to check the HD temps but I wasn't sure what the temp readings were. I assumed they were in °C but it said max like 112 and 84 at the time when I wasn't doing anything.

 

[dloneranger]

I've seen this a few times before and each case it was caused by a device that couldn't recover from power saving modes
(they have all been usb adsl modems so far - some were fixed with driver upgrades, some had to be replaced)

Things you could try
1)my computer-properties-advanced-startup and recovery settings-untick automatically, then reboot so you can read the BSOD and ser if a driver name is reported the next time it crashes
if you get a filename on the BSOD you can search for it and check the makers name - that should give a clue to the device
2)unplug everything connected to the pc and see if it still happens
if it's ok then try plugging them back in one at a time an retrying
3)control panel-power managment- turn off standby, hard drives and hibernate

for testing you might want to change er power options to put the pc into standby after a few minutes

 

[NaDa]

Just cos your not ocing doesnt mean your system is stable. Try Prime95. Maybe it's not even a hardware issue. It could be bad driver or bad software.
I had a lot of problems with AMD cpu drivers they would cause blue screens.

 

[dloneranger]

Generally I'd agree with you, but as it only seems to happen when the pc has been idle for a while I'd be more inclined to think it's a problem with a driver recovering from a powerstate mode :?

 

[elbert]

Hey all,

Lately if I leave my computer on for a while just idling and I come back to it, it will usually reset. Then as its booting it will say the HD with XP loaded needs to be checked for conisistency and does the disk check utility thing. It seems to run fine except for the rebooting and I can play BF2 without problems. My rig:

74GB Raptor with OS
2x200GB Maxtor IDE for storage
A64 3700+
2GB Crucial
6800 Ultra

Nothing OC'd and heat isn't a problem as it resets after idle and not under load, any ideas?

Any new hardware added around about the time you started see these resets? I would start with the PSU as it sounds like the only new hardware.

 

[TheTallGuy]

I did a reformat and fresh reinstall with only the Raptor HD. I got to windows the first time, but on reboot I got a message saying I was missing the pci system file and the boot failed. I ran a checkdisk and that didn't turn up anything. Is the HD failing or could I be doing something stupid like not configuring the BIOS correctly?

I have A8N-Sli deluxe mobo and the boot priority is set to hard disk. I was reading this morning at the Western Digital website that the BIOS might need to be configured to detect a SATA drive first but I didn't see anything at first glance when I was doing it last night.

I'm at work now and won't be able troubleshoot anything for a couple days. You all have been helpful.

 

[elbert]

I did a reformat and fresh reinstall with only the Raptor HD. I got to windows the first time, but on reboot I got a message saying I was missing the pci system file and the boot failed. I ran a checkdisk and that didn't turn up anything. Is the HD failing or could I be doing something stupid like not configuring the BIOS correctly?

I have A8N-Sli deluxe mobo and the boot priority is set to hard disk. I was reading this morning at the Western Digital website that the BIOS might need to be configured to detect a SATA drive first but I didn't see anything at first glance when I was doing it last night.

I'm at work now and won't be able troubleshoot anything for a couple days. You all have been helpful.

Did you use the Western Digital utility CD. It may be that windows isnt recongnizing your HD correctly. Download the latest version of WD's utility and run tests and setup utilitys.

If this doesnt help try switching the power connector to the HD as you may have a bad power hookup.

Check your mobo's bios version for the latest updates.

If nothing help try replacing parts. If you swap the HD does the problem go way? If so then you may have a bad HD or bios isnt configing the HD correctly. Try swapping parts, if you have them, till you find something removes the problem.