A couple of problems after installing a new HDD

[jtavrisov]

So I just bought a new WD 640gb Sata drive and put it in my computer. After formatting and moving somethings around I discovered a few problems and I can't diagnose what the problem is.

Firstly the most noticeable symptom is my music skipping for about 10 seconds every once in a while. Firefox also randomly stops responding and comes back as well as a few other programs.

It happens about ever 5-10 min or so and the events do correlate (i.e. when the music starts skipping, firefox will usually freeze up).

Everything except my videos, which are fine although I haven't thoroughly tested it, are on my first drive. Please help me diagnose the problem.

Here is a clip of the vista resource monitor during a skip
http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/574/10584953.png

All connections have been rechecked and I've played with the cables a bit.

Here are my specs
CPU-E6750 @ stock speeds
Temps are low to mid 30s during normal use (winamp, firefox, etc)
RAM -2x1 GSkill DDR2 800
2x2 Corsair DDR2 800
GPU-8800GT 512
HDD-Old WD 320GB
New-WD 640GB
PSU-Antec Earth watts 430

Ask if you need anything else

 

[aford10]

Keep an eye on the processes that are running in the task manager. Is there something auto running each time that is bogging down your system? Are you using AVG free? This is common with that virus scanner.

 

[jtavrisov]

Im using Avast and Ive tried disabling it. The problems only occur when the second hard drive is enabled, if I disable it everything is fine

 

[aford10]

Did you format the 2nd hard drive?

Plug the 2nd one in and watch the processes in the task manager and the system monitor for resources. Watch to see if some process is starting when you plug in that drive. Then watch the system monitor to see if the cpu or RAM is getting tapped out.

That will help narrow down whether it's software or hardware.

 

[captaincharisma]

did you do a chkdisk on the second drive (the one with the music) to make sure there is no errors. also maybe do a defrag with it too. just some basic stuff you can try first before going into anything more serious

 

[jtavrisov]

Don't seen any spikes that are abnormal or strange processes. Vista defrags my drives every night apparently and I ran a chkdsk last night and came out clean.

A little background on my installation of the drive might help. I get the drive from newegg, its a
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136218&nm_mc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel&cm_mmc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel-_-Content-_-text-_-

I open the case and realize Im short a sata cable and took it off my DVD drive. Somehow my CPU Heat sink fell off (stupid push pins). I took the mobo out and reseated it. Put everything back in and then put the new drive in. Plugged in the SATA off the dvd drive and a power connector. Booted up, bios sees everything fine. Open up My computer and no drive. I then opened up Disk management and did a quick format. I then transferred all of my videos (~200gb) from my C: drive to my new D: drive.


Also while typing this post, firefox froze up again for about 10 seconds. During that time I heard my drives make a click click sound at a regular interval until the froze stopped. Its not a loud disk broken sound, its a normal drive sound. Barely audible, just eerily rhythmic.

I'm beginning to fear it might be the PSU due to the randomness of it, any way to check total power consumption without any extra tools.

 

[aford10]

Put your hand on the drive. I bet you will feel it click when it makes that single click sound. I had this exact problem. Basically it's a bad disk sector. Everytime the HD tries to access that sector, it skips. Then the PC locks up until it can get past the bad sector.

It's similar to watching a scratched DVD. The player will skip until it can move past that spot on the disk.

Mine eventually completely crapped out. I would advise pulling anything off the drive that you want, and send it back.

 

[jtavrisov]

Wouldnt chkdsk pick up on something like that. I'd like to avoid an RMA if possible.


Also everything that I use is on my primary drive so although Im no expert, why would skipping one hard drive cause files on the other to skip. Transferring files also doesnt cause any noticeable problems.

 

[aford10]

chkdsk is a good tool, but it doesn't find all problems.

The OS has services running in the background. They can be touching that HD, causing the disks to spin.

I would definitely RMA it b/f your window of time runs out.

 

[jtavrisov]

Well thanks for your input, I'm going to try a few more things before I spend the 10 bucks shipping for an RMA. Any other suggestions will be much appreciated.

I kinda noticed the problems occurs more when I'm using firefox, in fact the problem occurs much less now going to once every 10-20 min from once every 5-10 min. Happens every single time I type out a post here though.

Watching videos that are stored on the HDD in questions causes zero problems. Running a stress test causes no change so its not really affected by CPU/RAM levels.

 

[captaincharisma]

i know one program that would pick up that bad secer and its called spinrite. unfortunatey its not free