Possible hard drive problem... or maybe it's windows update?

[McClane]

I'm a bit confused as to what the problem is here so I was hoping to get some input to help me narrow it down. Here is what happened.

The other day Java notified me that an update was available so I decided to update it and while I was doing that I thought I might as well check if there were any updates for xp. I came across a couple of important security updates, some not so important updates (including a really old one to do with file and setting transfer between 32bit and 64bit versions of windows, or whatever that update is) and a network card driver. I got on with downloading these updates and everything was going well.
However, when my computer rebooted after the updates my screen went black for about 30 seconds after the windows loading screen. Once it decided to show me what was going on the whole system was going at snails pace and my hard drive led was constantly on. I decided to give my system 5mins to sort itself out but it never settled. The hard drive led was still constantly on and programs were either taking 2mins to respond or not responding at all. At that point I decided to restart the machine.

While rebooting my keyboard decided not to work so I ended up booting to ubuntu. Ubuntu started to inform me of a load of errors on my hard drive and advised me to run chkdsk (or at least I think that's what it was, I'm a linux noob). I rebooted and this time selected to boot to windows. Windows then ran chkdsk and came up with a couple of errors on my Z partition (my swap space). It proceeded to flag these up as bad sectors and then fixed my MBR. Great I thought, everything seemed to be in working order now.

However, I woke up this morning to find that my computer had blue screened but there was no writing at all. It was just completely blue! This is the second blue screen I've had since installing the updates (I don't remember at what point the first one happened). The first time it blue screened I was stupid enough not to write down the error message. I've not had a BSOD for years. To fix the blue screen I just hit the reset button but my computer wouldn't detect my IDE devices. I then turned my computer off and back on again and it booted fine.

Now I'm a bit confused as to what the real problem is. All my problems have started since the windows and Java updates. However, I do think it's my hard drive on the way out. I have noticed a SLIGHT slipping/clicking sound when turning on my computer (I'm not sure how long this has been happening for as I turn my computer off about once every two weeks). I have very good experience of hard drives failing, although these were mainly IBM(Hitachi) drives. Right now I have seagate, maxtor and WD drives so I'm not sure if the sound of a drive dying would vary enough to disguise itself.

Any help would be really appreciated. I'm coming towards the end of my second year of uni and so the work load is really full on at the moment. This is typically when I have all my computer related problems :/

[McClane]

I am now finding that videos freeze every few minutes. All my videos are on a separate hard drive (SATA) to my windows partition (IDE). If it is in fact a hard drive dying I'm guessing it's my windows drive. Are there any test I can run to determine the health of a drive?

[vinnyT]

I think the thing to do is to go to the drives manufacturers website, on there (prob in support page) you should find a utility to check your hd for faults (ie maxtor drives have maxblast, seagate have seatools, etc.). Download and follow instructions, you may have to make a boot floppy (usb stick, cd) and run the sware from that. The utilities are not perfect, but are a guide.

If that shows that the drive is ok, then I would uninstall the updates, one at a time, after each uninstall reboot and try the pc for a while (games, video, etc) and see if there is any improvement.

Hope this helps.

[McClane]

Thanks for the feedback I'll give that a try when I get the time (probably next week) and post the results.

[notsobig]

Yes, to me it sounds like hard drive problem too and it's probably one of sata drive you have, from the sound of it. I personally think those updates you mentioned are not directly related to this problem though, I think it's more like your drive gradually worn out over time and that reboot after update has really nailed it. I agree with vinny I think it's better for you to take backup of important file now and then try those utility manufacturers giving out at thier website and if you get any error just fill in return's form and send it back to them and get replacement. I'm 80 percent sure new drive will fix your problem, just make sure you take backup as fast as you can because your drive might die in any moment.