Weird Hard Drive Problem (I Think)

mep916

mep916

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Last week I installed a new motherboard. After the install, I configured my Raptors into a RAID 0 array, installed the OS, and for a couple days, I didn't notice any problems. Then I began to notice when I would open up a folder or a new web page, the display would freeze, I'd notice a subtle winding noise (from one of my hard drives, I'm assuming), and the folder or page would open. This has been happening frequently.

Last Thursday things got worse. Somehow my OS got corrupted. My RAID manager detected the array as healthy and working normally, but I decided to delete the array and start over without RAID. My first reinstall on an individual Raptor went horribly. The OS installed successfully, but I kept receiving random BSODs and general system crashes. I deleted that install and reinstalled on the other Raptor.

I'm still having this odd problem with this winding noise and OS freezing. I never had this problem before the new mobo install. I enabled SMART monitoring in the BIOS and I've used the WD Diagnostic tool on each of my hard drives. They've all passed, but I can't help but think something is wrong with one of my Raptors. On the old motherboard, I had 32 bit Vista installed. Now I'm running 64 bit. I'm not sure if that's related.

Anyone have any ideas on what could be causing this odd winding noise?

Thanks for reading. :P
 
Have you tried it with SMART turned off? Apparently with Vista, if it's on, it'll have your HDD ticking over all the time...
 
Ok sure, See if it helps, I hope it does!

The only other thing I can think of is, are they getting enough power each? You don't have too many things daisy chained on one PSU lead?

You've done a clean install and Raptors aren't slow, so I don't really know what could be up... :(
 
Kornowski said:
The only other thing I can think of is, are they getting enough power each? You don't have too many things daisy chained on one PSU lead?
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I have a couple fans daisy-chained.

Kornowski said:
You've done a clean install and Raptors aren't slow, so I don't really know what could be up... :(
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The winding, or spinning noise sounds like the hard drive is having a problem accessing data. That's what leads me to believe it's a hardware problem. The only software changes are the OS and the mobo drivers. So, yeah, I'm clueless at this point. :confused: :mad:
 
Fans shouldn't really be a problem, especially with a decent PSU like yours.

Is this a new HDD? It could be faulty?
 
Kornowski said:
Is this a new HDD? It could be faulty?
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I've been using both Raptors since August '07. They're not necessarily new, but they haven't really been used that hard either. I'm wondering if it's possible for a faulty RAID controller to damage hardware.
 
raptors have a 5 year warranty, so you may want to take advantage of that. I would also look into bad RAM, since memory can cause a lot of BSODs since it is constantly being paged in/out. Check out memtest x86
 
Kornowski said:
If you can, that'd be great, at least then, IF the problem persists, you can rule them out!
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I ran memtest86 on one of the new Ballistix sticks and received an error after two passes (40 minutes). When I clicked on the link to this thread, I heard the winding noise and had a 10 second delay before the thread would open. I don't know what the hell is going on but I'm losing my patience. :mad: :P

And yeah, that's right. I'm not sure if it's the hard drives, but I can at least rule them out. ;)
 
Have you tried installing the 64bit edtion with only 2gb of memory on a fresh partition? Even MS advises removing 2gb when seeing errors trying to install any 64bit edition with 4gb of memory on. There's quite a few threads on the MS forums on 64bit there too.

Now that you are using the drives separately try a totally new primary if the one on either drive is still the same with only 2gb installed. Once Windows is up and running good you can add the other 2gb in unless you try running each by themselves. Besides a 4gb total drivers can cause blue screens if you ended up with 32 not 64bit going on.
 
PC eye said:
Have you tried installing the 64bit edtion with only 2gb of memory on a fresh partition? Even MS advises removing 2gb when seeing errors trying to install any 64bit edition with 4gb of memory on. There's quite a few threads on the MS forums on 64bit there too.
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Yeah, I did that. As you know, it's almost impossible to install Vista 64 bit with all 4GB installed unless you slipstream the updates into a separate install disk. :)

PC eye said:
Now that you are using the drives separately try a totally new primary if the one on either drive is still the same with only 2gb installed. Once Windows is up and running good you can add the other 2gb in unless you try running each by themselves. Besides a 4gb total drivers can cause blue screens if you ended up with 32 not 64bit going on.
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I'm not really concerned with the blue screens - that's not really happening any longer. My biggest concern is this odd winding noise when I attempt to open a file, program, webpage, or install an installation package. It's not the normal HD activity noise you hear from the hard drive. I'm trying to figure out whether there's any hardware damage.
 
He got the error running memtest x86, so the OS is not even an issue....


I would contact WD support and let them know of the issue with the noise. those 10k rpm drives do tend to get loud but you have been running them since August, correct? So, you should know how they originally sounded.

Also, what exact errors do you get with Memtest x86, and you did download the newest version correct?
 
You can't always go by memtest reporting errors. One board here saw 68 errors on one set of dimms and 578 on the replacement pair. When later tested on the next build 0% errors seen there on both sets. It turned out to be a board problem.

A noisey drive especially any clicking sounds would be more of a hardware problem where I would at least look at the knowledge base if not contecting WD directly.
 
tlarkin said:
I would contact WD support and let them know of the issue with the noise.
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Yeah, I'm gonna call them this morning.

tlarkin said:
those 10k rpm drives do tend to get loud but you have been running them since August, correct? So, you should know how they originally sounded.
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That's right. It's definitely not a normal sound. So far I've unplugged both Raptors, installed Vista on a partition on my Hitachi drive and haven't heard the noise or had any problems.

Tlarkin, is it possible that my Intel RAID controller damaged both of the Raptors!?

tlarkin said:
Also, what exact errors do you get with Memtest x86, and you did download the newest version correct?
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I'm not sure if I used the latest version. It was a version I created three or four months ago. I received one error. It listed a bad memory addresss. You know, several letters and numbers.

PC eye said:
You can't always go by memtest reporting errors. One board here saw 68 errors on one set of dimms and 578 on the replacement pair. When later tested on the next build 0% errors seen there on both sets. It turned out to be a board problem.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I hear ya. I'm actually using XMS2 at the moment, but I'm going to install the Ballistix after I finish updating Vista. I may RMA the new kit back to newegg just to be on the safe side.

tlarkin said:
A noisey drive especially any clicking sounds would be more of a hardware problem where I would at least look at the knowledge base if not contecting WD directly.
Click to expand...

I read some of the KB stuff at the WD website. Nothing that described my problems, but I'm going to contact them today and see if they'll give me replacements.
 
I doubt the RAID controller made your drive go bad, however I guess its not impossible. Your problem sounds mechanical though since it is noise related, not electrical and I would have to assume any issue caused by the RAID controller would be electrical.
 
tlarkin said:
I doubt the RAID controller made your drive go bad, however I guess its not impossible. Your problem sounds mechanical though since it is noise related, not electrical and I would have to assume any issue caused by the RAID controller would be electrical.
Click to expand...

OK. Thanks. ;)

Honestly, I highly doubt that both drives are damaged but this problem only occurs, it seems, when the Raptors are active. I ran the SMART tests and chkdsk on both drives and everything appears to be normal. Like you said, though, I may as well take advantage of the warranty and try to replace the drives.
 
Personally I never felt confident when looking at the raptors and simply stayed with the standard Cavier models both ide and sata. You may want to take a look at one article on Raptors seen at http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=2922&p=1

One thing I heard some doing with Raptors was placing felt washers between the drive and drive cage/bay to cut down on the noise level since they get as loud as SCSI drives at times. But if you can get replacements...
 
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