Hard drive failure??

[Dreaming]

So just wondering, is it most likely the PSU at fault or is that speculation?

[this_is_gav]

I'm speculating, but it's certainly not helping matters. I'll put it another way - if I were to have a system with that PSU, I wouldn't be loading it up with 3 hard drives.

[Dreaming]

Ah.

Could you advise me as to the best upgrade path. It seems one of my RAM things may be faulty now too, argh! I'm a grand in debt, between jobs and can't afford this right now lol (fortunately 0% interest).

What's a good 'solid' reliable no thrills PSU? Prefer quieter ones as my system is pretty quiet all round. Have a P180 chassis as well so a long cable to reach the 24ppin on the motherboard is a plus. Thanks gav

[this_is_gav]

First of all, check the memory separately - give Memtest86 a go and let it run a couple of passes.

For that system, a the 430w Seasonic should be adequate. I've no idea if the cable will stretch (I've a 'standard' layout - might be best ordering the extension (1) (2)
from Scan too while you're at it. Certainly give it a Google - the chances are someone else somewhere will have the combination, as they're both pretty popular among enthusiasts.

Please remember though that I'm not saying the hard drive failures are being caused by the PSU. I'm just saying I wouldn't even be tempted to run it. Secondly, if you're starting to get more issues (looking at the RAM), then perhaps the PSU really is struggling and is putting out some dirty rippling power, unable to sustain what's being asked of it (cheap PSUs are almost always measured by peak power rather than what they can sustain) - that can cause issues, especially hard drives, them being mechanical, if they're constantly switching. Thirdly, a new PSU might not bring back the hard drive to the way it should be. If it's been damaged, it's going to stay damaged. If it is just constantly switching on and off though (which will certainly be audible), then chances are it'll still work. Fourthly, I really wouldn't be overclocking with that PSU

If at all possible try to borrow some parts from a mate - a chunkier (brand rather than wattage!) PSU would be perfect to check out everything - failing that, an external hard drive enclosure for the 3rd hard drive (they have their own power supply, so take the load off one of yours).

Think I'm done now.

[Dreaming]

Well I use 4 drives in my optimal set up, which is going to go up to 5! So really do want a fair bit of watts to play with.

There is no mechanical failure with the hard drive - I've got one of the same model that works fine. When I put it into a raid array with the other one scan sent me though, it threw up a smart error after a day, saying that it had used up it's reserve sectors when i checked it (basically, every time it ****s up and write a bad sector, it uses a reserve sector. when these get low you get a s.m.a.r.t event warning saying it's running out). I got a replacement, but the exact same thing happened with that. Weird thing being, the first hard drive works fine.

Sorted an RMA for the second one, but certainly perplexed. It could be the power - if it's not giving it a steady stream of power I can imagine it could mess up writing a sector meaning it's no longer usable, and if it's a continuous issue it could keep happening.

At the moment I'm taking a big risk as I've two t7k500s in raid0 to store stuff on. This is going to change into a raid5 in the future, but as my onboard controller has 4 ports, the hitachi drives will also need a seperate raid controller.

Going to give memtest86+ a go, just need to work out how it works . Burn .iso and boot to it I think? *shrug*

Thanks for your advice. I'd never considered a PSU an integral part of the system before but am beginning to see why most enthusiasts see it as the foundation stone of every good system.

And I may have found a job. Good day for me today!

[this_is_gav]

Originally Posted by Dreaming

Going to give memtest86+ a go, just need to work out how it works . Burn .iso and boot to it I think? *shrug*

Exactly - when it starts up, it will do everything without any input.

[Dreaming]

It's not the memory . Is related to higher fsbs, but who knows... got another thread going in hexus.help for that anyway.

[Dreaming]

So sent the second faulty one off yesterday, and now the first one I got is reporting a smart event. Ive ordered a new psu, and a UPS as well. When I get them I'll check the motherboard though, because setting the fsb to 400mhz causes blue screens, so it's not very happy.

Really confused as to what counts as RMA-able though. Becuase I bought the motherboard, power supply and hard drives from scan (the RAM is ok). So do I do another RMA and send the motherboard back? But I can get it to hobble along, it just seems to be killing hard drives :/. So maybe it's the PSU that's faulty (well, I'm replacing that anyway to rule it out) - do I RMA that?

It's £20 a time if it's not faulty on it's own, which I don't think any of them are. Frustration!

Or if there's a good simple c2d board with wifi that I can buy it might be easier than chasing ghosts. Really disappointing though, can't imagine what caused it.

RMA everything or what?

[markbrown83]

Originally Posted by Dreaming

At the moment I'm taking a big risk as I've two t7k500s in raid0 to store stuff on.

Why are you taking a big risk?

[Dreaming]

Just for the novelty. There's nothing *essential* on there, just like game patches. Only using a tiny bit of it. But I realise if one goes then both of them do. Was more of a trial run .

I had a brainwave. The three hard drives I've had were all on 4 in molex connections. The two working ones are on sata style connections. Not sure why that makes a difference, but maybe I can rule out the motherboard.

The reason it can't set the fsb higher is because it doesn't have the clean voltage perhaps. The reason it's writing bad sectors to hard drives, is because it doesn't have clean power... My new psu (newpower, would have got it from scan but they didn't have one) should be healthy and eco friendly too

Not sure if the PSU counts for an RMA because it's still *working* in that my system is still using it at the moment. Later on today will take it out this system to revent it damaging anything though. According to Pc wizard there are 15 volts on the +12 rail (probably wrong mind), and the others are out of specification by up to .5 of a volt too.

Far be it from me to preach, but if it does this after a few months then should scan be selling this kind of psu? I know you get what you pay for and all... but I thought the fact that scan's buyers had gone for it would be some small form of garuntee that the product wouldn't be utter cack (as appossed to ebuyer for example, where it's just rebranded refurbished melted stuff).