Hard Drive corruption

I was trying to see if I could pump up the FSB some more..so I set it to 210 x 11 and rebooted. It posted fine but then it showed an error that there was a missing or corrupted file in C:\Windows\System32 or something like that. I cleared the cmos and rebooted, but I can not get back into the OS, and it keeps posting that same error message.

So did I corrupt the data on the hard drive just by briefly upping the FSB? Are hard drives easily corrupted from overclocking and are there drives that are better than others for oc'in? Or is it not the HD's failure but rather the IDE bus/etc...?

Thanks for any suggestions

there's a lot of cache writing that's dependent on good memory timings with the drives. Bet if you ran memtest86 v3 at the higher fsb's you'd most likely get errors on a longterm test.

That's why I use memtest for fsb/mem timing runs. It loads off of a floppy or cd and helps keep the os on the drive from getting crapped out. Watch out, the bios cmos can crap out too. That's one reason why they put the cmos jumper in.

99% of the times when you get a HD corruption it is caused by memory...either running the memory to far past the limit or running the memory timings to tight...and when this happens all you have to do is either lower the FSB or lower the timing and the OS will correct itself...Odds are you had the timing too tight for the FSB you had tried and it corrupted the OS with too many errors to fix itself...

Ok thanks for the info..
I'm wondering if I should spend more and get some cas 2 memory..My Mushkin is good at 2.5, but I dont know if it'd be worth all that cash to get cas 2..

I'm the last guy to answer that one. I'll always jump on the latest and fastest to see if memory is the cause of a hold back.

At least run the memory tests on your current set up. Even though XP boots, it doesn't mean you aren't getting memory errors and as a result, slow drive corruption.

fwiw, I found the rev 1.04's died around 195 when using a 333fsb. Errors in memtest86 would show up. If that happens with you, try changing the cpu_fsb to the non default 100(200fsb) setting, clear the cmos, reset the bios defaults, and run it again. A lot of people found it got them above 200fsb with no errors with memory. Give it a shot, it doesn't work for everyone but you never know.

About a month ago I was running my Asus A7V8X and I got HD corruption trying to get my FSB up to 185 with the KT400 chipset(LOL). I tried everything, but eventually had to reinstall XP.

Run your Mushkin at CAS 2. Isn't that what yours is rated at?

No, I'm pretty sure my Mushkin is rated at 2.5....That's why I'm wondering if I should get some cas 2 stuff...

I tried setting the FSB jumper to 200, that didn't help me overclock any better, also tried Uber Bios, those caused problems..The most stable Bios I think for my board is 1002.

I can't decide if my memory is my limiting factor, or the motherboard? I need to figure out which it is so I can figure out what I need to upgrade...

Before I upgraded to pc3700 I did the vdd mod and got an improvement. That's cheaper than new ram. Have you tried that along with improving the nb cooling?

Yeah, as u can see in my sig..I have the icberg cooling on the NB and heatsink on the south...I have pretty good airflow through my mid tower case, my mobo temps are usually around 31-32. Do you think getting a full tower case would help that much for temps..I like the case I have now..its not too big, not too small..I dunno if a full tower would be overkill as I wouldn't really use all the extra room, but maybe its better for cooling.
As far as the VDD mod..i never tried, because I don't want to mess up my mobo...I tried the Uber Bios, which was suppost to add a some voltage to the chipset, but those Bios always crash my computer or create instability...
I'm thinking the limiting factor is the mobo, but not sure yet...

Last week i got that error saying that the windows/system32/config/system file was missing or currupted which i believe is the same problem you have. Its happened to me before even when i didn't have my system overclocked so i don't think it has anything to do with your hard drive becoming corrupted. But its an easy problem to fix though if you know what you're doing. All you have to do is put in your WinXP cd and make sure you can boot from your cd rom drive. After its finished loading everything you press 'R' to enter the recovery console. Once you're at your command line screen change your directory to windows\sytem32\config by typing cd system32\config and hit enter. Then type dir system and press enter to check to see if your system file is there. Then type ren system system.bak. All this does is renemae the file so its has the .bak extension. Now the final step is to type copy c:\windows\repair\system and press enter. You should get a message saying "one file copied". Now you have a new copy of the system file in your system32\config directory and when you reboot everything should work fine now if you did it right.

Maybe I'll try that next time instead of re installing WinXP..lol

I think I have a reinstalling bug...everytime things start to error or I notice little bugs...I think "time to reinstall"...its not too big of a deal with me because I back everything up on a seperate drive...(don't use ghost images..I dont trust those, maybe I'll give em a try again sometime..) but it sucks when your OC'in a lot and trying to find stability and then the OS craps out...

hows about a link to the memtest?

The rev 1.4 boards are notorious for not reaching 200 fsb and those that do don't run very stable. You can either do the v/mod, get a revision 2.0 board, or get say an NF7 rev 2 . I would do that before I spent extra money to buy ram that you will receive little if any help from. Good luck.