Vista random HDD hangs, resumes OK after some time

hi all, this is my first post here.
i hope this goes into the right section..

i've got a really annoying problem, which i would like to get feedback on.

symptoms:
(this happens only under Vista, not under XP)
system installs and boots fine, everything is fine, except i get these random hangs.. no matter what i've been doing, even if no programs are running, my hdd led becomes frozen solid, hdd does nothing (makes no sound), and though the system doesn't actually freeze up, i can do whatever i want, as long as that particular action doesn't require hdd activity. i can move the cursor, type, bring up start menu, even work with open applications: right until it wants to read or write from/to the hdd. then i get the busy cursor, and the waiting begins.. the time the system recovers all by itself vary from around 20 seconds to several minutes, after that, like nothing happened, everything works fine.. until the next random occasion, when it starts all over again. no error messages or entries in event log either..
it seems like the request sent to the hdd times out without response.

this error is present even with a clean install.

things i've tried so far:
- drivers: native vista drivers, mobo drivers that came with mobo, latest chipset drivers from nVidia website
- samsung hdd check utility (HUTIL): did a complete surface scan (took 3 hours :s): reported no errors.
- other sata cable, other sata port
- two different psu (400w and 430w), with every combination of sata power cables possible

i tend to think it is more a software issue than a hw issue, because under xp, this error didn't occur..

my system is:
cpu: amd athlon x2 6000+ (stock speed, @3.GHz)
mobo: gigabyte ga-m52l-s3 with nforce 520le chipset
memory: 2x1gb ddr800 kingmax (only @750Mhz, because of cpu)
hdd: samsung sp2504c, 250gb sata2
gpu: msi geforce 8800gts 320mb oc edition

any suggestions are welcome, i have spent tha last 2 days googling, and found nothing. closest case was a dell pc issue, where the guy had the exact same symptoms as me, but plugging the sata cable to another slot fixed his problem, but not in my case..

i checked just now, no settings in the bios regarding sata, only 'enable onboard sata controller', which is of course 'enabled'.

yes. i created two equal size partitions with vista installer's partitioner, formatted the first, and installed vista there.. the seocnd one is not in use yet..

check this thread out

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] ta-damaged

Microcode update is like a firmware update?

i did, thank you!

though i don't think that's my problem, the drive is over a year old, and never have i had any data errors in my documents or files. but i will check out samsung's site for this fix.

i'm sure you're right. but how come this wasn't an issue, not even with my old 18A psu? like i said, no hiccups during playtime..

but this hdd issue occurs at desktop.. i didn't even get to starting up a game..

strange thing is, i used vista (or more like 'tried') on my previous pc, with this exact hdd, and there were no issues. that was also an amd setup with msi board with nforce250 chipset..
so it's gotta be the motherboard that's acting up. or rather, the chipset (driver).

but isn't it a bit weird, that for 2 years, the guys at gigabyte haven't made a new driver for vista? (driver's date on the site is 2006 something) and as we see, the current driver is far from perfect..
yet, the error persists even with the latest official nvidia driver..

it's a real head scratcher..

nope, business. i have an msdnaa (student) key.

im experiencing the same problem with my desktop

nForce 790i ultra
quad core
8800GTX GeForce
140GB raptor WD HDD which has the Vista Ultimate 32bit install
4 x 500gb WD in stripped RAID using nVidia Raid utility
3GB ram
1200W PSU

i have the desktop for over 8 months now and didnt have a single issue at all.

when i went on holidays at christmas i left it downloading while i was away.

When i came back and went to use it the notification area was saying RAID Access Failure on SATA 3.0 with disk name.

this was causing constant freeze on start up so i deleted the raid array from the BIOS menu. Then i updated the drivers on the 790i and reinstalled windows with the 4 500gb drives disabled. when i reconnected the 4 500gb drives this time the nVidia software auto disabled the faulty drive. Which i then removed from the system (i havent done seperate tests on the drive yet). the 3 heathy drives are not in RAID configureation at the moment and are unformatted. so the system is only seeing the main 140GB drive. The freeze (hanging) is still persistant and faily regular but no particular action causes it. It might be 1min of hang or 10mins.

all lastest drivers installed

Nothing on the system registers as faulty

help this is really annoying.

had the system for ages with no problems and now this.

hi,

Just had a quick read of the posts and I think I maybe suffering from these random hangs - although I experience a slight difference.

OK, just before my HDD hangs (which again is a Samsung - (dont have the model no. at hand)) The rpm of the fans seem to slow down for a slight second, then somethin from the tower clicks - and then the HDD is just hanging....

I used to get this problem on my vista home premium upgrade, so I installed a full version copy on a formatted drive - and I still get this problem - only difference is now that alot of the time when it hangs - it never comes out of it - I get a total lock up - mouse doesn't move or anythin'.

Reason I said it sounds as if the rpm of my fans seem to slow is because my tower is sat on a wooden floor and you can hear the vibration. This dip in rpm is for about a second, then I hear a click which I havn't pinpointed the exact location as yet. - what could possibly make this click in the first place? its not loud - but it is noticeable, I cant really explain it any more than that.

My pc set-up is as follows;

OS: Vista home premium
Mobo: Asus m2n32 sli Deluxe
GFX: Gainward Bliss 7900GT
PSU: Hiper Type-r 580w
Case: Gigabyte 3D Aurora
RAM: 2GB Corsair TwinX DDR2 Dominator
HDD: Samsung (IDE)

Just to point out, I had no problems running XP.

...and my computer just hung again... grr