HDD Starting and Stopping Problem

magicfreak32

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Aug 20, 2010
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Hey guys,

I've got a major problem with my system relating to my hard drive. A few days ago I turned on my computer in the morning and my hard drive seemed to have been freezing up Windows every 30 seconds or so. I could hardly do anything. I managed to get all of my important information onto an external and that was about all I could do.

At first, I thought the problem was the hard drive its self. I would hear the hard drive slow down, and at that time my OS would freeze up, and after a minute or so I would hear a loud click (presumably from the hard drive) when the drive started up again. At least I think this is what's happening.

So, I thought it was a faulty hard drive. I went to a local store and picked up a new drive, the same one I had. I installed it, put Windows 7 on it, and the same problem occurred. At this point I assumed it could be a problem with the SATA on my motherboard, so I tried an old IDE hard drive I had laying around. Same problem. So it's not my hard drive or the SATA on my motherboard...

Does anyone know what could be causing this? Again, the main symptom is that the hard drive seems to stall, then come back on after a short time, and when it stalls, my OS doesn't respond. The only two things I can think of it being are a bad motherboard or power supply, but I don't really have the money to just go out and buy them to try it. Any suggestions?

Thanks guys. Also, here is my system...

Intel Core i7 2.66ghz
6GB GSkill 1600 RAM
Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R
WD 1TB Black Caviar HDD
ATi HD 5850

If any other info is required just ask...
 
The drive in question is the "Black" drive that you listed? If it's a "green" drive then it's normal for the drive to spin down after a period of inactivity to conserve power. This is controlled in the firmware of the drive itself and there isn't anything you can do to change it.

For other drives, check your power options (Start -> type "Power Options" into the search box -> hit <Enter>) to see if your hard drives are set to spin down after a period of inactivity.
 

magicfreak32

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Aug 20, 2010
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Hey, thanks for the reply.

My original drive and my "replacement" drive are Caviar Black 1TB, I made sure not to get green or blue.

I did check the power options right away when the problem started, and I made sure the drive was not set to spin down.

The problem is a bit more obscure than the drive "sleeping", it's more of an abrupt stall every minute or two, the stall lasts about 30 seconds or more, it varies. Then I hear a loud click (from the HDD) and the drive resumes, then after a little while longer it stalls again.

The odd part is that it happened overnight. I was on my computer the night previous to this happening, playing Starcraft 2 with no problems, everything was running fine. But the next morning when I turned my computer on it was like this.

Thanks again, any other suggestions?
 

magicfreak32

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Aug 20, 2010
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Ok, I have ran HWMonitor. Sweet program.

My +12V is wacky. Min .83V, Max 3.07V.
+5V VCCH is also wacky. 3.66V across the board, min/max/current.

I searched this on google before I posted here and other people seem to have problems with HWMonitor and their +12V/+5v VCCH readings... So I'm not sure if anything's wrong with mine.

EDIT: Okay, small update... I ran something a little more taxing on my machine, and the +12V bounced around a bit. Min .083, Max 8.96. The +5V VCCH stayed at 3.66V.

I don't know what all of the different voltages are for, what specifically is the +12V? It looks like it could be a problem.
 

magicfreak32

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Aug 20, 2010
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I will try it just in case, but as I said, I replaced my original drive (and now have two, so I'll RAID them when I get this figured out) and the problem exists with both drives, so I don't think that could be it.

I will run it though and see what happens.