Hardrive failure?

Sorry for all the questions, its just atempting a new build, along with my current computer "crashing" ... leaves me with alot of them ...


My current computer wont boot .. a few nights ago, i cleaned it all out, uninstalled useless programs, cleaned out around 60gigs worth of random crap, then i started to defrag. Left it to run over night (takes like 4 hours) and i woke up, and the computer was on .. but i wasnt getting video ..

So i restarted the comp, thinking it was just a glitch, and it gave me a HD error, saying my HD could be damaged, but after a few seconds it started a normal boot.

It went to the windows loading screen, and just stood for 3 - 4 mins, then completly froze (the little loading bar stoped moving) ..

I figured it needed to be reformatted anyways, so i pop the windows disk it, and atempt to reformat, i deleted the old partiton, and started a fresh install.

At the install part, the loading bar would freeze at 0% for around 20 mins, then go to 2% for another 10 mins, and then would shoot to 100% in a few mins, then would say "this hardrive cannot be formated, please check connections blahblah"

So i checked all the connections, there fine, and the hardrive is spinning, so i know it has power, and the BIOS is detecting the hardrive, so i dont think its the SATA cable.

I tried to use DBAN to wipe it for a fresh format, but when i run it, (autonuke) i get an error saying could not unzip.system halted

So i dont really know whats going on, i ordered a new hardrive, hoping thats the problem. If its not, i can use the HD on my new build, so .. i just hope i can get it up and running ..

any ideas?

List your systems configuration. Try resetting the bios firstly, if that doesnt work then swap out IDE cables.. If that doesnt help any then it could be any number of things.. RAM, board, PSU, The drive as well could have been faulty. Try testing out your RAM with mem test on a bootable CD after all the other stuff, and if you have a spare hard drive, try using it. Even a 10 GB would work if you use XP (I ran a 10 GB for a month or so due to my 160 dying.)

SeasonalEclipse said:

List your systems configuration. Try resetting the bios firstly, if that doesnt work then swap out IDE cables.. If that doesnt help any then it could be any number of things.. RAM, board, PSU, The drive as well could have been faulty. Try testing out your RAM with mem test on a bootable CD after all the other stuff, and if you have a spare hard drive, try using it. Even a 10 GB would work if you use XP (I ran a 10 GB for a month or so due to my 160 dying.)

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I'll try resetting the BOIS, and i dont have a spare drive ... the one i ordered should be here on tuesday..

ill look into memtest too.

I reset the bios, same error, running memtest, looks like theres errors allready, ill post when its finished

what is memtest doing? testing RAM?

Theres several red bars with alot of errors .. is that bad? lol

Metallica said:

what is memtest doing? testing RAM?

Theres several red bars with alot of errors .. is that bad? lol

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Yes, Memtest tests RAM

If you have ANY errors, the RAM is having problems. Either the default voltage is set too low, the timings are too tight or the memory is dying. It needs to be fixed.

Yes that means you have bad ram. If you have more than one stick test one at a time to find out what one is bad

What is your power supply? Sometimes a bad PSU can cause all this (and much more if left untreated)

SeasonalEclipse said:

What is your power supply? Sometimes a bad PSU can cause all this (and much more if left untreated)

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/cry lol

Well, memtest is still running .. does it ever stop >.<

Seems to be alot of errors .. ill try using just one of each see if just one of them is bad ...

I assumed it was the HD because i thought if you had bad memory .. it wouldnt even boot .. useally gives you some sort of beep error ... :/

Erm it doesnt stop lol you have to stop it on your own.. it repeated over and over. And if you have bad memory it can still boot.. but... depending on how bad the memory is really if you can or not.. the memory probably corrupted your windows installs and such. Just write down how many errors the memory has had and try swaping sticks in different slots to see if its the memory, or the board. SOmetimes the board may have a bad ram slot. Also try the ram in singles as well to single out the bad stick (if only one is bad). Run memtest for about 2 hours each time and you should get a accorate read out of whats wrong.

SeasonalEclipse said:

Erm it doesnt stop lol you have to stop it on your own.. it repeated over and over. And if you have bad memory it can still boot.. but... depending on how bad the memory is really if you can or not.. the memory probably corrupted your windows installs and such. Just write down how many errors the memory has had and try swaping sticks in different slots to see if its the memory, or the board. SOmetimes the board may have a bad ram slot. Also try the ram in singles as well to single out the bad stick (if only one is bad). Run memtest for about 2 hours each time and you should get a accorate read out of whats wrong.

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So if the memory is good, there should be NO errors? at all?

Yep if RAM is fine then you shouldnt have any error on memtest.

outercipt said:

Yep if RAM is fine then you shouldnt have any error on memtest.

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Well, both sticks are getting identical errors, i tried them in all of the slots, one at a time .. no matter were there at, same errors .. =/

Whats the number of the error?

SeasonalEclipse said:

Whats the number of the error?

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Were would that be? They both get:
under pass:3
under count 23


and a few others at the bottom, but i looked for those mainly, and they both get them ..

i could run it again and get the exect lines

Well, You definitely need to list all the parts of your PC now.. The board, RAM, and PSU are the main things you need to list. If you can put that information out there it should be easy to find out if the ram is being under/over volted and that might be whats causing your problems, not bad memory, just unstable memory.

SeasonalEclipse said:

Well, You definitely need to list all the parts of your PC now.. The board, RAM, and PSU are the main things you need to list. If you can put that information out there it should be easy to find out if the ram is being under/over volted and that might be whats causing your problems, not bad memory, just unstable memory.

Click to expand...

It's a gateway, ill look up the model number, and get that info.

I dont know it off the top of my head. I sure hope its the HDD lol

Well if you got memory errors it isnt the hard drive probably.. Is it still under warrenty?

SeasonalEclipse said:

Well if you got memory errors it isnt the hard drive probably.. Is it still under warrenty?

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Probally .. its not realy worth taking it in and everything, it was given to me by my grandpa, he lives in another state .. he has all the warenty ****

CPU overheating, bad motherboard or motherboard overheating, or powersupply as was mentioned could all cause errors in memtest