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What the Fuck is killing my hard drives.
SkyGheNe
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I got a new computer.
So in two weeks, whatever drive has had the OS on it has died.
Completely dead. Not recognized in bios - 100% dead.
It is not an issue with the sata cables or whatnot...something is killing my hard drives and it's frustrating because it takes less than 5 days and costs money and data every time.
Does anyone have experience with this? What the fuck could be causing this?
Motherboard: EVGA triple SLI X58
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00400NQ3Y/ref=oss_product
Processor: i7 processor
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002A6G3V2/ref=oss_product
Video Card: EVGA Geforce 460 GTX
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003VWW2KK/ref=oss_product
Memory: 3 x 2 gb sticks of DDR3 triple channel kit (G. Skill)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231225
Corsair 750 watt PSU
http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-CMPSU-750TX-750-Watt-Certified-compatible/dp/B000X2677A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1294962517&sr=8-1
So in two weeks, whatever drive has had the OS on it has died.
Completely dead. Not recognized in bios - 100% dead.
It is not an issue with the sata cables or whatnot...something is killing my hard drives and it's frustrating because it takes less than 5 days and costs money and data every time.
Does anyone have experience with this? What the fuck could be causing this?
Motherboard: EVGA triple SLI X58
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00400NQ3Y/ref=oss_product
Processor: i7 processor
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002A6G3V2/ref=oss_product
Video Card: EVGA Geforce 460 GTX
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003VWW2KK/ref=oss_product
Memory: 3 x 2 gb sticks of DDR3 triple channel kit (G. Skill)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231225
Corsair 750 watt PSU
http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-CMPSU-750TX-750-Watt-Certified-compatible/dp/B000X2677A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1294962517&sr=8-1
SkyGheNe on
0
Posts
Second guess: Motherboard is doing the crazy voltage thing.
Third guess: You're getting drives from the same batch. They've all got similar manufacturing defects, and are failing as a result.
Does anyone else have access to your computer?
Do you have power issues in your area/home? Do have something that regulates the power provided to your computer, like a UPS?
Have you tried a different power cable from the PSU to HDD?
NintendoID: Nailbunny 3DS: 3909-8796-4685
1) First was an OCZ Agility SATA SSD 60 gb.
Second was a Seagate 250 gb 7500 RPM mechanical drive
First drive died within 5-6 days after installing windows 7.
second drive died within 5-7 days after installing windows 7.
I'd say behavior before failing was similar in that for about 5 minutes, things KINDA would skip here and there, but it was so light and infrequent that I didn't think much of it.
First one died after I rebooted. 2nd blue screened then died.
2)no one has access to my computer but me
3) I have a power strip that the computer connects to - that then connects to the wall. Just as an FYI - my old computer (a quad core I built myself) never had this problem. In fact, it's what I'm using to talk to you guys right now. Same wall, same outlet in the power strip etc.
4) Tried a different power cable...still dead. I've tried putting the drive in 3 different computers...still dead.
Seriously, my immediate guess is that this power supply is just fucking with me, but I'm not positive. THe only reason why I DON'T think that's the case is because I was using that power supply to power my quad core. I took my quad core and the rest of the components and put them into a different case, different power supply.
So in other words, the only thing that has changed is the Mobo, processor, ram, and video card (hell, even the video card was in my quad core for a while).
This has to be a voltage issue, but how the fuck do I isolate that? Maybe my motherboard is doing something screwy?
Also - I think it's important to note that it's ALWAYS the C: Drive.
Yes - I have.
I'm wondering if this board just has an issue with killing shit. Look at this.
http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.aspx?m=453789&mpage=1
I had default bios settings, so I don't think Virtualization Technology (that's what I assume VT means) was on, but apparently tons of other people are having the same issue as myself.
Is that a possibility?
2. that 250gb hdd sounds rather old. It could have just finally died on you.
In all honesty if it's not just a coincidence i would say it's probably the psu causing problems.
<Qs23> I just need to get my dicks in a row
<prox> i work for dicks
#paforums_pax, all about the dicks.
Have you thought of buying another PSU, same wattage, different MFR, since you're pretty much throwing money out the window?
Have you contacted your mobo MFR and asked about it?
Let me explain why I don't think it's the power supply...this case used to house my old parts - a quadcore setup, evga mobo, evga 8800gt, etc. Ran fine - I swapped in the new mobo, processor, memory...and suddenly it fries drives...I mean, it still might be a power issue, just not necessarily the power supply. 750 watts should also be more than enough for this system.
My brother handed me six drives...what we've done is unplugged everything but the dvd drive, the hard drive, two case fans and...that's it. If it kills another drive - we'll then move on to removing all but 1 stick of ram (so 2gb), putting my old graphics card in (8800 gt), and then running it.
If it kills again, we'll test the 600 watt power supply, but I really don't think it could possibly be the 750 watter because I wasn't having this issue two weeks ago with my old system
Either way - the one consistent thing is that the computer kills a drive in about 5-6 days...so if it is a power related issue, something will happen.
Thanks for the support and input everyone...this has been rather trying and depressing.
@eggy - luckily the OCZ hd is covered and I'm sending it back to them...im out of luck on the seagate though...
i'm leaning towards this being a mobo issue since there's no physical signs of power problems and because of the old parts working well with it...but who knows...i'll keep everyone posted.
So, instead of killing a few more drives, why don't you sent return or RMA the motherboard?
Does your BIOS show the info about your motherboard voltages? If so, just go into the BIOS and watch it for awhile to see if they're going out of range frequently. If your BIOS doesn't there are programs that read them from Windows and you can watch them there.
I was just thinking Subwoofer...
Though if you're pursuing the power possibilities, I'd recommend Hardware Monitor by CPU-Z. You can configure it to log to a text file (preferably on a different drive than the one you're killing).
My friend made her monitor a freaky color with her shitty quality speaker. Degauss did nothing to fix it either.
Thought this was just generated while the drive was in use? Though, I guess that wouldn't make much sense if the PC is on unless it turned off for power saving or something, and the person had a really shitty set of speakers.
If one of the drives that died was an SSD, I would think the issue has to be the power supply, wouldn't it?
I mean Hard Drives have all sorts of points of failure, you've got the big spinning disks, the read head that hovers over the surface, tons of motors and moving points. Factors like vibration, heat, and magnetic interference could cause all sorts of wonky operation that leads to permanent damage to the working parts. Motors could blow, the read head could scratch the disk, etc. etc.
But an SSD is just a bunch of NAND flash memory chips soldered to a control board. No moving parts, practically impervious to most of the issues that plague regular HDs. Unless the SSD was defective from manufacturing or transport, the only way I can see it dying that quickly is from over/under-voltage from the PSU.
I don't think the mobo would come into play at all. Mobos control the voltages sent to stuff like memory and the CPU, but I think peripherals get power directly from the PSU. The mobos only relation to a HD would be in reading and writing data.
And while I understand that this PSU should be high enough rated to support everything, understand that PSU's can degrade and go bad. It could be that your PSU has been slowly degrading the whole time, and while it was still good enough to power your old system with no problems, this new system has higher demands and it isn't able to keep up. Alternatively it could be that you inadvertently damaged the PSU during the new build, maybe you yanked a cord too hard or jostled it the wrong way, who knows.
Definitely check the BIOS for voltage readings. Make sure the 3.3v, 5v, and 12v lines are outputting at those specs (give or take a 5% deviation). But if those readings are ok your issue may only happen when the system is under load, and that's much trickier to conclusively pin down.
We looked in the bios and all the voltages are fine after 20 minutes idle.
I have a utility that I'm currently using to monitor the voltages.
No speakers nearby. Should also be good in this regard.
Thanks for all the info. I'm going to keep monitoring it and put it under some major stress over the next few days by playing starcraft 2 on max. Voltages on my right monitor, game on my left.
In regards to the systems...one needed 450-500ish watts, this one needs 555ish, so if a 750 watt corsair degraded that much in just two years I'll be pretty :evil:
It is possible both drives just up and died...but that would be kinda freaky...and possible evidence of a higher being existing and hating me enough to kill two drives in two weeks haha.
Hah...D: