disk errors in event viewer

[RokLan]

something seems to be corrupting my Harddrive. I always get this error in the event viewer: The device,\Device\Harddisk0\D, has a bad block. What's causing it? the motherboard, harddrive, memory, bios settings??? i am able to run chkdsk and fix whatevers wrong but the comp will only run for a day before the errors come back. If i leave it alone and don't fix the errors i would get a corrupt registry and not be able to boot into XP, i would get this error during bootup (windows/system32/config/system is corrupt or missing...) i am able to fix that by repairing the hive file but the computer still gets the disk errors and i end up repeating the whole process over again. Please help im tired...


Specs --

Asus A7N8X
Athlon XP 2200 @ 1830mhz (166 x 11)
Samsung PC3200 512mb x 2
Swiftech MCX462+ Heatsink w/ Thermaltake Smartfan 2
Maxtor 40gb - Master
Maxtor 120gb - Slave
I currently have the bios settings at optimal (errors still occur)

 

[RokLan]

i decided to run the PowerMax disc utility from Maxtor... and i also changed the ide cables but...

...PowerMax doesnt recognize that any of the 2 harddrives are installed - this happened before and after i changed the cables - What could be the problem?????

 

[Roadkill]

Have you tried reformating and a fresh reinstall? Does it happen when you're not overclocking? Did you try running memtest to make sure you don't have a bad stick of RAM.

Those are my quesses for now....

 

[RokLan]

Yes it happens when im not overclocking...

I ran memtest and there are no errors so the memory is good...

No i havent tried reformatting and a fresh install, i was hoping to leave that as a last resort.

 

[RokLan]

in PowerMax i tried running the basic test on whatever i could (since it sees none of my harddrives) and it said that the Bios Extension Support Failed... What does this mean? Would updating the Bios solve the problem? The Bios recognizes the harddrives and so does Windows... what the hell is going on??

 

[RokLan]

i've done a fresh install but the errors still happen...

Is it the motherboard?

 

[Splinter]

Did you by chance download the nvidia drivers for your motherboard from the nvidia site? If so, go back to the site and follow the directions posted there about how to remove the drivers and reinstall the correct ones. I have the same mb that you do and experienced the same things. I had to reformat and fresh re-install to fix the problem. I go back to the nvidia site and low and behold, the drivers I had downloaded had been removed and directions for removing them had been posted. Just a thought. Good luck!
http://www.nvidia.com/view.asp?IO=nforce_udp_winxp_2.03

 

[RokLan]

well i didnt download the drivers from the nvidia site, i used the one on the cd with the mb. Should i still download the drivers from the site to see if it works??

also...
Can i run the Master harddrive on the secondary ide connection on the motherboard, if the primary controller is causing the errors??

Is it ok to have the main harddrive not connected to the primary ide connection??

 

[RokLan]

well i installed the drivers from the nvidia site and i seem to be having more problems. In the device manager, my harddrives are seen as SCSI devices, and in the event viewer i get warning errors: An error was detected on device <device path> during a paging operation. and some other scsi related errors... i think i'll just go back to the other driver.

 

[RokLan]

ok i got a new harddrive (Maxtor) and i want to make sure i install it right...

now how do i want to format the harddrive? do i use the maxblast software to format it and follow the instructions in the manual for a windows xp os installation... or do i just let the windows xp installation format it??

 

[Sling Shot]

The reason why Powermax does not recognize you hard drives is because the wrong chipset drivers are loaded onto the floppy disk. This is not your fault.

I have a KT333 chipset, and the Powermax utility would not recognize my drives either. I called Maxtor tech support, and they emailed me updated chipset drivers. I can send the file to you if you want it. To use the file. Put Powermax floppy disk in drive. Open the file. A window will open that says the file is already there, and do you want to overwrite it. Just click yes, and the new chipset driver will be installed. You can give the one I have a shot, and if it does not work, call Maxtor tech support to get the right file.

Do not use the MaxBlast utility to partition and format the hard drive. Use Windows to do it. I was told this just the other week buy Maxtor tech support. SS

 

[RokLan]

i got the the drivers for Powermax from a site and got it to work, thanx anyway...

i installed the new harddrive and had windows format it...

so far no disk errors, lets hope it stays that way