New system, running into Hard Drive problems.

[XIIISlaughters]

Having some trouble when my GPU kicks in. The hard drive (I've tried two, so it's not failing) shuts down with a "click" and spins back up and down again causing windows to become unresponsive in the "surges". Everything is still posting and my games don't shut down right away, and sometimes not at all. 530 watt raidmax hybrid seems sufficient for a stock clocked i5 2500k and a GTX 260. Something I'm missing? Only seems to be happening in game when the GPU starts up. Anyone? I've tried switching cables on the modular PSU on the hard drive and no go. re routed my whole system just now and still nothing. Hope somebody can help, just built this system and I have Skyrim just sitting there waiting to be played

 

[aford10]

Check the event viewer for an error that corresponds to the shut down.

 

[XIIISlaughters]

See that's the problem, it doesn't "shut down" it just freezes solid. I have to manually force shut it down. Would that still show me results?

 

[aford10]

After you restart, you can go straight to the event viewer. If there is a log of the error, you can find it there.

 

[XIIISlaughters]

I started up Skyrim, let it do it's errors and freeze then a manual shut down. Got five of:

Disk: The driver detected a controller error on \Device\Harddisk1\DR1.

and then a:

Kernel Power: The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly.

Doesn't seem to help me much, but if you know let me know please.

 

[aford10]

Any USB drives plugged in?

Check the disk management, and verify that your hard drive is the only drive showing up there.

If no other drives are showing up, or connected, try the hard drive in a different SATA port.

If that doesn't solve it, try reinstalling your chipset drivers.

 

[XIIISlaughters]

I do have a external USB drive plugged in, but I'm positive that's not the issue. I can hear the "click" and spin back up inside the case of the internal drive. My games are on the external so I assume that's why games still run after it shuts down for a little while.

Tried a different SATA port, no difference. Tried a different cord, not a thing.

Trying the chipset drivers now.

 

[aford10]

Try removing the USB drive, and see if the issue persists.

 

[XIIISlaughters]

Chipset drivers didn't seem to do anything, trying external drive unplugged now.

Just did a hardware scan with CPUID HWmonitor as suggested in a Google search, if this helps. http://pastebin.com/X98hq5nd

 

[XIIISlaughters]

Unplugged the external drive did nothing, as I expected. Really got me stumped on this one. Appreciate your help though!

 

[aford10]

Do you actually hear the clicking coming from the hard drive?

Does it click, freeze the computer for a period of time, then continue on, then click, freeze, continue on....etc?

 

[XIIISlaughters]

not sure what windows does in the background, but it could only click once and freeze solid, or it could click 4 - 5 times before anything in game freezes. but either way the clicking is slowing or stopping the hard drive spinning for certain.

 

[aford10]

That almost sounds like a motherboard controller issue. You could try upgrading the firmware on it, but it might be a good idea to start looking at warranty info.

 

[XIIISlaughters]

i can RMA it with newegg. Good to know what it is at least.

 

[aford10]

Newegg does have a great service department. That's why I always buy my stuff from them.

If the BIOS update doesn't fix it, I'm sure Newegg will take care of you.

 

[XIIISlaughters]

Newegg does have a great service department. That's why I always buy my stuff from them.

If the BIOS update doesn't fix it, I'm sure Newegg will take care of you.

Before I do that, is there any possibility it could be my PSU? Just a thought. Just did a bios update to the newest version, no change. I shall contact newegg asap.

 

[XIIISlaughters]

i should add, using my hd5450 out of my htpc or integrated graphics it rocks flawlessly.

 

[aford10]

Before I do that, is there any possibility it could be my PSU?

I wouldn't think so. I'm not sure how a PSU problem would cause a clicking sound from the hard drive. Tho, I've seen poor PSU's cause all kinds of weird issues.

i should add, using my hd5450 out of my htpc or integrated graphics it rocks flawlessly.

With that statement, It's certainly worth testing a better PSU, before sending the motherboard back. The 5450 and integrated graphics certainly use less power.

 

[XIIISlaughters]

Best answer selected by XIIISlaughters.

 

[XIIISlaughters]

I wouldn't think so. I'm not sure how a PSU problem would cause a clicking sound from the hard drive. Tho, I've seen poor PSU's cause all kinds of weird issues.



With that statement, It's certainly worth testing a better PSU, before sending the motherboard back. The 5450 and integrated graphics certainly use less power.

Getting a loan of a PSU tonight and I'll give that a shot. At least i wont be sending back a mobo that is still good if that's the problem. Lord this is driving me crazy. Pains of building your own system I suppose.

 

[aford10]

Let me know how it goes. Good luck!