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Hard disks drop out randomly, can't be accessed.


Phaenius

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Do you overclock either the cpu or the radeon ?
That psu could be the root cause as it deliver just enough power for a standard use (i used this psu calculator) and perhaps it now can't deliver enough power for all your components. It could have been damaged or is just too old. To avoid those kind of problems, i usually choose a psu that can deliver at least 20% more.

Edited by allen2
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No overclock, everything's stock. Only memory sticks have been put to their XMS values. I know those settings are for Intel proccessors, but it works. Default, BIOS sets memory to much lower specs (the default SPD I believe).

PSU is one year old, definitely not old and its' 430 W should be more than enough (28A on 12V rail, 20A on 5V and 3.3 rails).

Your calculator reccomended 460 W PSU, but I have a wattmetter and it says 170 W power consumption. So, it's ok.

Edited by Phaenius
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The wattmetter report the psu consumption (not what the components ask to the psu on each power rail) and might miss the peaks of power.

If you want to be sure, you could run a benchmark or anything cpu and gpu intensive and monitor how the wattmetter react.

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I did that, 315 watts on my wattmater. Of course, average, since I can't see the peaks without an osciloscope (which I don't have). But I fear it could be the soldering on the HDD power wires to the PSU board, after seing (and reading) this review http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=239

Problems is I have to have a certain degree of reasons to replace an otherwise working PSU. Those things don't come cheap.

I have a multimeter, I could attach it to a free connector and see if power drops on one of those blackouts. Annoying thing is that non a single one last days. Previously they appeared like 2-3 per hour. Maybe the heat could have dilated the metal and now make better contact ?

Edited by Phaenius
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No overclock, everything's stock. Only memory sticks have been put to their XMS values. I know those settings are for Intel proccessors, but it works. Default, BIOS sets memory to much lower specs (the default SPD I believe).

PSU is one year old, definitely not old and its' 430 W should be more than enough (28A on 12V rail, 20A on 5V and 3.3 rails).

Your calculator reccomended 460 W PSU, but I have a wattmetter and it says 170 W power consumption. So, it's ok.

An "old" PSU is not necessarily a bad thing and the inverse is also true - a new PSU can definitely be bad.

Better to simply drop in another equivalent or better power supply and see if the problem still exists identically, then you can rule out the PSU completely. If it still exists you don't lose anything from the experiment, you merely gain an extra PSU for future use. However if the problem vanishes, you solved it all cheaply, in one shot without tampering with the myriad Windows settings. In this case ( PSU not a problem ) the next step for me would be to reflash the motherboard BIOS to rule out corrupt BIOS code and flaky CMOS parameters. I like to rule out hardware problems before messing with Windows.

If these all fail to clear the problem the next thing I would do is try using this HDD in another computer as a slave drive and look for drop-out errors. Copy some really big files to and from the slave. If it works flawlessly then you are closing in on some likely corrupt Windows setting in the hardware tree in the registry ( of the original HDD of the original computer ).

In that final case, I would then clone this flaky HDD bitwise in another computer to a new HDD ( to be able to safely work from a backup copy ) and then try a Windows repair install to the clone ( or the original ) while installed in the original problem system. If that doesn't do it, try a completely fresh install with format. All these extra steps ( cloning ) are for data loss avoidance obviously. It's what I would do, but others might not care to do the extra work.

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It's not about the work, it's about the money and the efficiency of this work. The next power supply in line that is cheapest and still retain a fare amount of quality is the upgrade of what I currently have, the Corsair, but 600W instead of 430W. It's considerably more powerful, but it costs 75 euros, unfortunately I can't spend that much just for the sake of having a more powerful PSU (the old one could still deliver the power and I don't know for sure, in fact not even 50% sure that it's faulty). As for flashing the MB firmware, it's a risky job, not reccomended if not neccessarily. Again, no real suspicions. HDDs are reported to be good, by both HDD Sentinel and HD Tune Pro, which are constantly monitor them.

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It's not about the work, it's about the money and the efficiency of this work. The next power supply in line that is cheapest and still retain a fare amount of quality is the upgrade of what I currently have, the Corsair, but 600W instead of 430W. It's considerably more powerful, but it costs 75 euros, unfortunately I can't spend that much just for the sake of having a more powerful PSU (the old one could still deliver the power and I don't know for sure, in fact not even 50% sure that it's faulty). As for flashing the MB firmware, it's a risky job, not reccomended if not neccessarily. Again, no real suspicions. HDDs are reported to be good, by both HDD Sentinel and HD Tune Pro, which are constantly monitor them.

You don't need to buy anything, all you need to do to be sure is to able to reproduce the issue or at least know how often it happens then, to rule out the psu without replacing it, you'll have to remove components to reduce the power consumption.

On a side note, i suppose you could remove all hdds and odd and check if the problem is stil there, then adding one hdd at a time might help to know which hdd might be the culprit.

If the problem never happen with less power load, then that's the power supply that is begging to fail.

If the problem happens with every hdd (and only one connected at the same time) but never happens without the hdds then it could be any parts connected but not the hard drives as all drives should have a problem and the same one (and that would against all odds).

If the problem happens with only one hdd and never happens without it then this hdd is very suspicious.

etc....

Usually, to be sure you need to do cross check but to use this method you need to have a spare for all parts.

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I checked various consumption components calculators and they all tell me I need a more powerful power supply, but I also read that most of those calculators are way off most of the time, since they don't take into account for instance the CPU/GPU power compumptions on idle. My CPU and GPU are throttling down when doing nothing or very little and my computer is doing this most of the time, so the power supply should suffice. The blackouts occoured when using very low power (listening to Winamp and/or browsing the web). I could considerring upgrading the PSU, but mostly because I suspect a faulty contact inside, but I need to save money first. I would have wanted to buy a printer instead for those money.

The problem with removing components is not that simple. Basically, I can't remove anything else than hard disk drives and the optical drive. Optical drive when it's not working don't know how much can affect the system. The other drives I can remove one by one, but it's a pain in the derriere, since it could pass days before a blackout occour. And I need the drives, can't keep them disconnected for long.

That's the problem. I can't reproduce or force the blackouts to happen.

But one question remains and hasn't been answered. For my piece of mind, if an S-ATA hard drive runs out of power (power cut) and after 20 secs let's say power resumes, the affected drive will or will not resume normal activity without computer rebooting ? AHCI allows that in principle, but I read it takes more than that to happen.

Edited by Phaenius
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Well, first of all, MSFN site couldn't be accessed last days, I checked http://www.downforeveryoneorjustme.com/ and it reported site was down for them too. So, I couldn't post.

Second, finally the blackouts came back with a vengeance yesterday. Looked into event logs. As suspected, nothing. Hower, I found two interesting things:

- 48 minutes before the blackout (but I don't know if related, since it happened with so much in advance), I got the Warning (mind you, warning, not error): "Reset to device, \Device\RaidPort0, was issued." So, I went on and googled this and found out some people experienced this before. Please check this forum thread:

http://www.eightforums.com/bsod-crashes-debugging/5868-hang-freeze-update-cpv.html

I don't have Intel, so I don't know how to fix this so, if you can tell me how to apply what that guy did to my case, I would be a happy bunny.

P.S. Hope MSFN site won't be down again.

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Looked into event logs. As suspected, nothing.

Where did you find that "Reset to device, \Device\RaidPort0, was issued." if not in the event logs? :unsure:

Now, looking in the backup of the event logs you made initially, you can search for that kind of event, and see if it happened often.

Likely you will find besides similar Warnings, also some errors related to hard disk devices, like *simillar* to the one mentioned in the thread "The device, \Device\Ide\iaStor0, did not respond within the timeout period."

jaclaz

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No errors related to SATA. What I found was not logged to the timestamp the error occoured, that's why I said nothing. So again, nothing was logged at the time of the blackout. The closest was 48 minutes before. Next advice ? It's clear Event Log won't indicate anything.

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Next advice ? It's clear Event Log won't indicate anything.

No :no:, no more advices from me, not only for this particular issue of yours, also for any other future issue you may be asking assistance for on MSFN.

I wonder why, if it's clear (to you) that the event logs will not log anything, you actually looked in them, and actually tried searching for an entry you found in it (that shouldn't be there according to you), already knowing it would lead you nowhere, and as a matter of fact you went all the way and asked how to put in practice the same remedies that were made for a similar entry (which you already know that is unrelated).

Interesting, open-minded approach for someone that until a few days ago didn't even know that event logs existed. :yes:

If you have some spare time, check your dictionary and encyclopedia, you may find interesting words and concepts, just as a couple examples:

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/gratitude

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troubleshooting

Have fun. :)

Roger, out.

jaclaz

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OK, it's clear that on this forum I will get only mocking. You are not the belly of the universe, although you act like one. I tried to be polite and take it logically, yet all I got was stupid and way off advice. Be it that way, this was my last intervention on this forum. There should be people elsewhere willing to help. That stupid log isn't logging anything, even if you can accept it or not.

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OK, it's clear that on this forum I will get only mocking. You are not the belly of the universe, although you act like one. I tried to be polite and take it logically, yet all I got was stupid and way off advice. Be it that way, this was my last intervention on this forum. There should be people elsewhere willing to help. That stupid log isn't logging anything, even if you can accept it or not.

I cannot see why you extend to the whole forum the total inadequacy of my suggestions (exception made for those that worked for you). :unsure:

You should blame ONLY me for them.

jaclaz

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It looks like people have suggested a bit of everything but then face it, if they suggested everything and you rejected everything (or in my case, ignored it), what's left ?

Ever had someone comming to you with a problem and saying "I've tried everything, what should I do now ?" Either he tried everything and there's nothing you can do for him or he hopes you've got something he has'nt tried yet but then he beter try it and not say "I'm telling you, I've tried EVERYTHING"..

I tried to be polite and take it logically yet all I got was stupid and way off advice

Obviously too stupid for your politness, we're not worth your time. There might come a day when you are able to amaze us with superior logical abilities of your own and solve your own -computer- problem. Rest assured some people on this board do have social difficulties, that's why we're here. :lol:

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