Hard drive problem - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

JeremyS · 04-27-2005, 02:03 PM

Last night I was playing Counter-Strike, and suddenly it started freezing, and I kept hearing a knocking sound from my hard drive. So I restarted my computer..and It stopped making the knocking sound, I went, did a disk check, checked for errors, no errors. I took all 50GB off the hard drive, formatted it, defragged it, everything. NOW, everytime I try to put files back on it, it just lags my computer up really bad....It'll freeze everything few seconds completely....So now I have my regular C drive with Windows on it completely full with a worthless 200GB hd. Anyone know what the problem could be? anyway to fix it? Or should I just throw it out? Thanks for any help.

Silvy · 04-27-2005, 02:17 PM

My guess is that the harddrive is shot. Difficult to tell from across the 'Net.

Do you still here the knocking sound? Does it make any other noises when it lags?
I'd say swap the drive out to another system and see wether it can use it OK. If not, send it in for warranty.
While you're at it: see wether all cables are attached correctly. I've destroyed 2 drives by using a faulty power-splitter, so check the wiring.

JeremyS · 04-27-2005, 03:22 PM

I can still put things on the hard drive and it work, but while putting them there, it slows my whole computer down, but once it gets there..its fine. I can open up 1.5MB pictures in an instant. Browse through folders as soon as I click, it's just putting it there that makes my whole computer freeze and lag, which makes me not trust the hard drive to put all of my important files back on it. I'll try re-wiring my power cords to see if that could be the problem. Oh, and it's not knocking anymore.

JeremyS · 04-27-2005, 03:34 PM

oh, I've also run some basic test..heres one..

Drive D Statistics
Volume Size 194.48 GB
Used Space 1.42 GB
Free Space 193.06 GB
Total Files 264
Cluster Size 4 KB
Health Analysis
Initial Scan Result OK. No crosslinked files.
Percent of Data Fragmented 0 %
Percent of Files Fragmented 0 %
Total Fragmented Files 6
Total Excess Fragments 14
Average Fragments per File 1.00
Overall Disk Health Very Good. Low fragmentation levels.
Recommendations No action required.

heres another, looks like BOTH of my hard drives are bad.

Description Drive C ---------------Drive D
Partition format NTFS -------------- NTFS
Cluster size 4 KB ------------ 4 KB
Drive label Windows --------Junk
Size 38154 MB --------194478 MB
Free space 12593 MB (33%) ------193057 MB (99%)
Junk files 64 MB (0%) -------- 0 MB (0%)
Data fragmentation 2% -----------Not tested
File fragmentation 2% -------------Not tested
Uncached speed 14 MB/s (32%)-- 3 MB/s (7%)

skaven · 04-28-2005, 10:16 PM

Looks like you've simply got DMA turned off.

That doesn't mean your hard drive isn't shot...clicking knocking sounds generally mean that the drive is toast. And it's possible that its the DMA commands that trigger the fault, so when you rebooted the DMA controller got back bad data from the drive and said "fuck this!" and stuck the drive in PIO mode. In PIO (programmed I/O) mode, the CPU has to take charge of managing every single solitary little bit moving to and from the drive. This takes a TON of CPU resources, which is why the system appears to "hang" when the drive is used.

You can try turning DMA back on (if the BIOS even will let you) by going to your device manager and looking at the properties for your primary hard drive controller. If your hard drive will only let you pick "PIO" mode, then you're probably screwed.

If it will let you switch back to DMA, you'll probably have to reboot, and naturally watch out for the clicking noises and stuff again.

04-27-2005, 02:03 PM	#1 (permalink)
JeremyS Crazy	Hard drive problem Last night I was playing Counter-Strike, and suddenly it started freezing, and I kept hearing a knocking sound from my hard drive. So I restarted my computer..and It stopped making the knocking sound, I went, did a disk check, checked for errors, no errors. I took all 50GB off the hard drive, formatted it, defragged it, everything. NOW, everytime I try to put files back on it, it just lags my computer up really bad....It'll freeze everything few seconds completely....So now I have my regular C drive with Windows on it completely full with a worthless 200GB hd. Anyone know what the problem could be? anyway to fix it? Or should I just throw it out? Thanks for any help.

04-27-2005, 02:17 PM	#2 (permalink)
Silvy paranoid Location: The Netherlands	My guess is that the harddrive is shot. Difficult to tell from across the 'Net. Do you still here the knocking sound? Does it make any other noises when it lags? I'd say swap the drive out to another system and see wether it can use it OK. If not, send it in for warranty. While you're at it: see wether all cables are attached correctly. I've destroyed 2 drives by using a faulty power-splitter, so check the wiring. __________________ "Do not kill. Do not rape. Do not steal. These are principles which every man of every faith can embrace. " - Murphy MacManus (Boondock Saints)

04-27-2005, 03:34 PM	#4 (permalink)
JeremyS Crazy	oh, I've also run some basic test..heres one.. Drive D Statistics Volume Size 194.48 GB Used Space 1.42 GB Free Space 193.06 GB Total Files 264 Cluster Size 4 KB Health Analysis Initial Scan Result OK. No crosslinked files. Percent of Data Fragmented 0 % Percent of Files Fragmented 0 % Total Fragmented Files 6 Total Excess Fragments 14 Average Fragments per File 1.00 Overall Disk Health Very Good. Low fragmentation levels. Recommendations No action required. heres another, looks like BOTH of my hard drives are bad. Description Drive C ---------------Drive D Partition format NTFS -------------- NTFS Cluster size 4 KB ------------ 4 KB Drive label Windows --------Junk Size 38154 MB --------194478 MB Free space 12593 MB (33%) ------193057 MB (99%) Junk files 64 MB (0%) -------- 0 MB (0%) Data fragmentation 2% -----------Not tested File fragmentation 2% -------------Not tested Uncached speed 14 MB/s (32%)-- 3 MB/s (7%) Last edited by JeremyS; 04-27-2005 at 03:45 PM..

04-27-2005, 03:22 PM	#3 (permalink)
JeremyS Crazy	I can still put things on the hard drive and it work, but while putting them there, it slows my whole computer down, but once it gets there..its fine. I can open up 1.5MB pictures in an instant. Browse through folders as soon as I click, it's just putting it there that makes my whole computer freeze and lag, which makes me not trust the hard drive to put all of my important files back on it. I'll try re-wiring my power cords to see if that could be the problem. Oh, and it's not knocking anymore.

04-28-2005, 10:16 PM	#5 (permalink)
skaven Insane Location: Austin, TX	Looks like you've simply got DMA turned off. That doesn't mean your hard drive isn't shot...clicking knocking sounds generally mean that the drive is toast. And it's possible that its the DMA commands that trigger the fault, so when you rebooted the DMA controller got back bad data from the drive and said "fuck this!" and stuck the drive in PIO mode. In PIO (programmed I/O) mode, the CPU has to take charge of managing every single solitary little bit moving to and from the drive. This takes a TON of CPU resources, which is why the system appears to "hang" when the drive is used. You can try turning DMA back on (if the BIOS even will let you) by going to your device manager and looking at the properties for your primary hard drive controller. If your hard drive will only let you pick "PIO" mode, then you're probably screwed. If it will let you switch back to DMA, you'll probably have to reboot, and naturally watch out for the clicking noises and stuff again.