Hard drive problems - boot issues, waking issues

Status
Not open for further replies.

NightJack

Beta member
Messages
3
Hello all.

I've been having an ongoing hardware issue and it has recently reached the point where it is rendering my pc all but useless.

I have built a system using an msi p67a-c43 (b3) motherboard and a Hitachi Deskstar 7k3000 hard drive.

At first, I would occasionally have issues when the pc was coming out of sleep mode. The system would become sluggish, programs wouldn't open, or the desktop would simply freeze.

I found that if I powered off the pc, opened the case and reset the sata cable the issue would resolve itself. I figured it was just a case of a loose sata cable connection and that there wasn't much I could do about it. Because it wasn't a major issue and it only happened once in a while I decided to grin and bear it... but the plot thickens.

I began having issues getting the computer back up and running after one of these episodes. Soon, windows would not start up. I would have to reboot several times before having no choice but to allow windows to run chkdsk. Each time, it found no errors. The pc would boot and I'd be solid gold again until the issue decided to occur again.

More recently, windows actually began finding filesystem errors and bad sectors - so I was worried that I actually had a bad hard drive! Worried that I would have to replace the HDD, I did some quick research and discovered that a loose cable could cause these problems. I bought a locking sata cable and switched the cables. The pc operated fine all weekend, but then on Monday I experienced the same issue again. This time I disconnected all the sata cables and changed their configuration - my sata 1 and 2 ports are behind the video card and I was worried that the card was knocking out my cable - but to no avail. Even with the cables set up in different places, I still can't get windows to boot normally.

I suspect the hard drive might be faulty, but then why can I use the pc for days at a time without experiencing any issues? Why does the issue only seem to occur when the pc is coming out of sleep mode? Any suggestions are greatly appreciated as I have quite run out of patience with this situation.
 
It could be many a things.

It could, first, be the PSU. What make/model/wattage do you have?

Does the system start up (POST) fine, without the HDD connected? It'll just say there is no boot disk. I would, at first, back up everything, just in case your HDD is indeed failing. Get diagnostics for your disc. Get this: WD Support / Downloads / SATA & SAS / WD Caviar Green / GP

Might also want to post a screnshot of HWMonitor. So we can see your temperatures and PSU voltages.
 
Thank you for your reply! Unfortunately I am unable to get a hwmonitor screenshot or run any diagnostics because the pc won't boot right now - I am posting from another pc. My pc is currently running windows 7 automated system repair, which usually does temporarily fix the issue.

My power supply is a thermaltake 750w modular power supply, I haven't had any issues with that so far. When I get the pc up and running I will try your other suggestions.
 
It won't boot into Windows? Or it doesn't turn on at all?

That PSU is adequate. Shouldn't have a problem with it, no.
 
at the moment, it won't boot to windows. It's running chkdsk right now, which is farther than it's managed to get up to this point. I'll follow up as soon as it actually boots to windows without a bunch of error messages.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom