mikesown Posted October 23, 2006 Share Posted October 23, 2006 My computer exhibited some strange symptoms when I was trying to install vista. My computer would ALWAYS bluescreen when it was copying files. It showed a non-helpful machine check error message. Whenever I reboot(pressing the reboot button, never 'turning off' the power totally), my BIOS freezes up where it should be detecting IDE drives. This can be fixed by completly power cycling the system(i.e. press the power button until the power is off, then turn the computer on). The computer then boots again. I managed to get a nLite XP install going, but it throws bluescreens every few days with the same symptom of the BIOS 'freeze' and the same machine check error. Luckily, this deposits an error log in my event viewer. The log says the source was 'disk' and the error message reads Event Type: Error Event Source: Disk Event Category: None Event ID: 11 Date: 10/23/2006 Time: 3:54:39 PM User: N/A Computer: MIKE Description: The driver detected a controller error on DeviceHarddisk0D. For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp. Data: 0000: 03 00 68 00 01 00 b6 00 ..h...¶. 0008: 00 00 00 00 0b 00 04 c0 .......À 0010: 01 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........ 0018: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........ 0020: 00 6e c1 06 00 00 00 00 .nÃ..... 0028: d7 04 00 00 00 00 00 00 ×....... 0030: ff ff ff ff 03 00 00 00 ÿÿÿÿ.... 0038: 40 00 00 8f 02 00 00 00 @..Â.... 0040: 00 20 0a 12 40 03 20 40 . ..@. @ 0048: 00 00 00 00 0a 00 00 00 ........ 0050: 00 00 02 00 c0 69 13 85 ....Ài.… 0058: 00 00 00 00 90 67 13 85 ....Âg.… 0060: 02 00 00 00 b7 60 03 00 ....·`.. 0068: 28 00 00 03 60 b7 00 00 (...`·.. 0070: 58 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 X....... 0078: f0 00 04 00 00 00 00 0b ð....... 0080: 00 00 00 00 08 03 00 00 ........ 0088: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........ I'm not sure as to whether this is a controller error or a disk failure. One thing that is important to note is that when I launch iTunes, SOMETIMES I will get an error saying "wmidx.dll cannot be found," but I can relaunch it and it will work. The data is clearly not gone, but this is a problematic issue. Windows occasionally freezes up when booting up when the progress bar is going across the screen and simply reboots and runs fine the next time. This brings me to the question, Is my disk failing, or is my controller failing. Obviously disks have moving parts, whereas controllers do not, but is it likely that a sector could read most of the time but not all of the time? I ran maxtor's hard drive diagnostics test, and it turned out fine after some 13 or so passes. Prime95 also has run fine overnight with the stress test. Memtest86 also shows no problems. What's my best action at this point? Should I buy a controller or hard drive from newegg? Is there anything I can do to further diagnose my problem? I'm using a Biostar NF4ST socket 939 motherboard with an AMD 3200+ 64-bit processor. Thanks, Mike EDIT: Just found out another interesting tibit of information: the logs for the disk error all have the exact same data(in terms of the numbers and charactars). I don't know if this refers to a specific portion of the disk, or is just a general error message. I also found something interesting about the ATAPI port 1. This occurs aswell, but just less frequently, and is the same exact error: Event Type: Error Event Source: atapi Event Category: None Event ID: 5 Date: 10/10/2006 Time: 11:31:20 PM User: N/A Computer: MIKE Description: A parity error was detected on DeviceIdeIdePort1. For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp. Data: 0000: 0f 00 50 00 01 00 a4 00 ..P...¤. 0008: 00 00 00 00 05 00 04 c0 .......À 0010: 03 00 00 80 00 00 00 00 ...?.... 0018: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........ 0020: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........ 0028: 06 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........ 0030: 00 00 00 00 07 00 00 00 ........ 0038: 40 00 00 8f 02 00 00 00 @..Â.... 0040: 00 20 0a 12 80 03 20 40 . ..?. @ 0048: 00 00 00 00 0a 00 00 00 ........ 0050: 00 00 00 00 e8 e3 31 86 ....èã1? 0058: 00 00 00 00 70 1e 31 86 ....p.1? 0060: 02 00 00 00 f7 c1 23 00 ....÷Ã#. 0068: 2a 00 00 23 c1 f7 00 00 *..#Ã÷.. 0070: 80 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ?....... I'm starting to REALLY suspect a controller flaw now... what do you guys think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moonlit Posted October 23, 2006 Share Posted October 23, 2006 Have you checked your cables, connections and power? These can all make HDDs act weird. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uber_tom Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 The disk is more likely to go than the controller, but isn't vista still in beta or RC? It could be a bug even big companies like Microsoft have the occasional bug. have you checked your software, could be the media. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moonlit Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 Yeah bad installation media or corrupt install files can cause some rather nasty but random problems, it'll tell you maybe your RAM or your HDD is shot when really it just failed to read the installation media or perhaps corrupted a file while copying it. Don't always trust error messages, they sometimes lie, especially when installing OSs. Edit: I just read the OP again and it does seem like a hardware issue if the machine pauses indefinitely at POST... As I mentioned before double check all your cables, ensure they're plugged in fully/correctly and if in doubt try the drives with different cables in a completely different machine. Also check jumper settings, especially if you're added, disabled or removed any drives lately and check your BIOS to see if the drives are being detected correctly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikesown Posted October 24, 2006 Author Share Posted October 24, 2006 Yeah bad installation media or corrupt install files can cause some rather nasty but random problems, it'll tell you maybe your RAM or your HDD is shot when really it just failed to read the installation media or perhaps corrupted a file while copying it.Don't always trust error messages, they sometimes lie, especially when installing OSs. Edit: I just read the OP again and it does seem like a hardware issue if the machine pauses indefinitely at POST... As I mentioned before double check all your cables, ensure they're plugged in fully/correctly and if in doubt try the drives with different cables in a completely different machine. Also check jumper settings, especially if you're added, disabled or removed any drives lately and check your BIOS to see if the drives are being detected correctly. I dobut this is the issue. I burned(wasted) about 6 DVDs burning both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Vista. My XP install still throws bluescreens while running every few days even though it completed the install fine. I haven't got too much time on my hands, but during the weekend I'll swap out the cables and see if it works. Thanks for the advice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PoyBoy Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 Beta 2 of vista wouldnt even install because it picked a fight with my hdd controller. RC1 worked fine, however. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaKo Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 Try taking everything out of the case (using anti static bags etc, and even going as far as removing the cpu), cleaning out all the heatsinks and fans with a soft brush and putting it back together. For some reason just the simple act of taking it apart and rebuilding it has fixed many a computer for me. Just don't spill coffee on the ram. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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