hard drive failing?

thefreeman0001

thefreeman0001

thefreeman0001

Associate
Joined
2 Nov 2010
Posts
81
hey all. ive been having an issue with a BSOD at boot that windows blames on my video hardeware... and for a few weeks i believed that was the cause and also believed id fixed it when my system ran fine for a few days...now ive been noticing something else that coincides with these errors and that a fairly audible clicking comes from my hard drive when the BSOD occurs im worried that the fact windows is blaming video hardware could actually be a mistake on its part and that my new HDD is failing so early into its life (a segate 7200 1tb barracuda) only 3 months old before this started happening i ran disc check just to check for any volume faults or bad errors but this has got me worried.

this error only occurs during booting up and occurs maybe 1 out of 10 boots which is when the audible noise of clicking also occurs. everything after that and the pc runs fine no video errors no clicking noise no slowness retrieving documents etc. do you think its my harddrive thats to blame or my video software is the clicking noise just the harddrive going through the boot process again? what advice can you give me? (aside from backing up my data just in case)

many thanks!
 
Last edited:
mikeo said:
What make / model of HD?

Most HD manufacturers offer some sort of test tool on their WEB site.

The WD tool is pretty decent (and works for pretty much any drive) and you have a choice of one version that runs under Windows, or you can create a bootable CD. It's called "Data Life Guard".
http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=612&sid=3&lang=en
Click to expand...

seagate barracuda. it got a full bill of health after using seatools. after playing bf3 im nearly certain somethings up with my gpu's voltages... normally my card stays idle at 36 when not being under load but i stopped playing half an hour ago and gpu z reports my temp as 55oc?? that isnt right??
 
What graphics card? That way someone can give you an idea what idle/load temps should be.

How long have you had the card?

Have you updated your drivers recently?
IE. could this have/be causing an issue.

If you have not already. Use GPUz to check that the core/memory/shader clocks are reducing correctly (IE. they are being down clocked from 3D to 2D state).

Other obvious one (excuse me if you've already checked). Make sure cooler on GPU not blocked with dust/fluff and that all other case fans operating correctly.

Report back and let us know how you get on.

PS. Also after any further BSODs, remember to check Windows Event Viewer to see if there is anything reported around this time.
 
Last edited:
its a gtx 580 not oc'ed which i know runs hot but not that hot restart my pc made the temps return to normal but next time ill see what the clocks are at. ive only had it for 3 months and ...unfortunatly... after updating my drivers i and other nvidia users have similar problems. windows event viewer says its a video hardware error. the fans are all spinning correctly no dust build up thatd cause problems. ive run into other users who ahve the same problem as me reach the windows 7 logo then bsod then log onto windows fine like nothing happened other then an unexpected shut down report.
 
thefreeman0001 said:
its a gtx 580 not oc'ed which i know runs hot but not that hot restart my pc made the temps return to normal but next time ill see what the clocks are at. ive only had it for 3 months and ...unfortunatly... after updating my drivers i and other nvidia users have similar problems. windows event viewer says its a video hardware error. the fans are all spinning correctly no dust build up thatd cause problems. ive run into other users who have the same problem as me reach the windows 7 logo then bsod then log onto windows fine like nothing happened other then an unexpected shut down report.
Click to expand...

Same card as me. Though mine obviously has the upgraded twin frozr cooler.
Idle 25/30C and load high 60's / low 70's (Crysis 2 / Witcher 2 with everything on max) depending on ambient temp. Though a couple of times I've managed to switch the "auto fan" off in Afterburner!!! which has left the fan at 40% and temps get a bit higher! But even with the fans only running at 40%, still only saw about 85C. Moral here..... if fiddling with Afterburner, remember to check that fan on AUTO and you've pressed "apply" ;););)

I've stuck with Nvidia drivers 275.33, as these have been totally 100% stable in all games (including later games like Deus Ex - Human Revolution). So have not seen the point in "upgrading" them. Depending on what drivers you are running, might be worthwhile rolling back and trying these.
 
Last edited:
mikeo said:
Same card as me. Though mine obviously has the upgraded twin frozr cooler.
Idle 25/30C and load high 60's / low 70's (Crysis 2 / Witcher 2 with everything on max) depending on ambient temp. Though a couple of times I've managed to switch the "auto fan" off in Afterburner!!! which has left the fan at 40% and temps get a bit higher! But even with the fans only running at 40%, still only saw about 85C. Moral here..... if fiddling with Afterburner, remember to check that fan on AUTO and you've pressed "apply" ;););)

I've stuck with Nvidia drivers 275.33, as these have been totally 100% stable in all games (including later games like Deus Ex - Human Revolution). So have not seen the point in "upgrading" them. Depending on what drivers you are running, might be worthwhile rolling back and trying these.
Click to expand...

i tried and unfortunatly didnt do anything. the rolling back to the 275.33 was something other users tried too and they also got the same results. just to elminate the hard drive i ran a dsk check after seatools and that was fine again. im tempted to bust out my back up card and use that for a bit see if i get any BSOD. if other users hadnt reported problems like mine just around the same time i got em (start of october when the bf3 beta drivers came out) id think my card was faulty but now... i am an unhappy camper :| and i dont think i could RMA the card either seeing as how technically it isnt broken yet... its only 3 months old and i bought it from here... ill read more up about the RMA procedure but im pretty sure i dont qualify
 
I'm slightly confused... you say...

"if other users hadn't reported problems like mine just around the same time I got em (start of October when the bf3 beta drivers came out)"

I'm not disputing this or anything, just trying to get a clear view of your problem / issue.

So just to be clear:
: You had no problems before this?
: Does this mean you installed new drivers around this time?

It just sounds to me like something must have happened to trigger this problem! and driver issues like this have been reported with some of the Nvidia driver releases in the past. But I thought we were well past this.

It might be if these were non WHQL drivers (in effect beta drivers) that they have installed something somewhere that then doesn't get cleared out properly when trying to install other driver releases! One reason why I steer clear of beta / pre-WHQL drivers. Though quite aware that some folks install the latest drivers as soon as they come out and never have a problem. That's just life. But my motto is pretty much "if it aint broke, don't try and fix it". While I appreciate that graphics card manufacturers seem to bring out "optimised drivers" for specific big game releases, they are quite often not a requirement to actually play the game (Eg. you might just get a slight frame rate increase). Only my personal opinion here folks, not looking for a flame war over "what's the best driver etc." :):):)

PS. I had a shot at the BF3 Beta (with drivers 275.33) and it appeared to run fine for me.
PPS. "Yes" considering an RMA on the graphics card at his point in time would probably be a bit premature and could just end up costing you money if OCuk test it and find no fault.
 
Last edited:
Pretty basic (but bear with me). If you've not tried. Then in my opinion (if only because it costs you nothing other than a couple of minutes of your time). Try removing and re-fitting your graphics card a couple of times. Would not be the first time that one of the contacts in the connection socket is not making a good connection! Though probably not your issue, worth a try, if only to eliminate it.

I know it gets said so many times on the forum, but the only 100% sure way to eliminate the graphics card as your problem / issue, is to try it in another system. Though I appreciate not everyone has access to more than one PC.

Good luck and keep us updated.
 
Final comment / thought, you said at one point :

"normally my card stays idle at 36 when not being under load but i stopped playing half an hour ago and gpu z reports my temp as 55oc?? "

I think you need maybe to investigate this a bit further. And check what the fan is normally spinning at idle (EG. mine is 40%) and what it is when the temp appears to be higher (IE. after gaming). Also need to check (as I mentioned before) that the 2d/3d profiles are being applied to voltage/core/memory/shader. Depending on the outcome of this, it will either eliminate (or not) the driver being an issue in this respect.

I think you are going to have a busy weekend.
 
after checking with gpu z the card switches from its 2d 3d profile as it should voltages and fans go to there correct speeds max temp with bf3 at 1920 x1080 16 af and everything else on high is 74oc. on the nvidia forums a employee said they are now looking into the issue which is good news for me lol.
 
thefreeman0001 said:
after checking with gpu z the card switches from its 2d 3d profile as it should voltages and fans go to there correct speeds max temp with bf3 at 1920 x1080 16 af and everything else on high is 74oc. on the nvidia forums a employee said they are now looking into the issue which is good news for me lol.
Click to expand...

74C sounds like a reasonable temp for a high stress game :)

"on the nvidia forums a employee said they are now looking into the issue which is good news for me lol"

Might be being thick here but what issue are we talking about :confused:

Are you saying that when you come out of a game and back to the desktop, that it doesn't come back from 3d to 2d profile ? or are you talking about your original BSOD issue?
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom