ATAPI/DISK Errors

[Craig321]

Hi,

In the event viewer every so often I'm getting DISK and ATAPI errors.

After a few of these errors the channel my main hard drive is on gets put into PIO mode which is basically turbo slow mode only giving 3mb/s to my hard drive, so everything lags and nothing starts.

I have to uninstall the channel from the device manager, reboot and then it goes back to DMA 5.

This happens every few months.

Here's the 'atapi' error:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: atapi
Event Category: None
Event ID: 9
Date: 05/01/2007
Time: 08:14:00 PM
User: N/A
Computer: SCAR
Description:
The device, \Device\Ide\IdePort2, did not respond within the timeout period.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 0f 00 50 00 01 00 a4 00 ..P...¤.
0008: 00 00 00 00 09 00 04 c0 .......À
0010: 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0018: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0020: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0028: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0030: 00 00 00 00 07 00 00 00 ........
0038: 40 00 00 0e 00 00 00 00 @.......
0040: 00 20 0a 12 80 01 20 40 . ..€. @
0048: 00 10 00 00 0a 00 00 00 ........
0050: 00 30 51 85 90 dc 44 86 .0Q…ÜD†
0058: 00 00 00 00 08 90 b7 85 .....·…
0060: 02 00 00 00 bf e0 80 0f ....¿à€.
0068: 2a 08 0f 80 e0 bf 00 00 *..€à¿..
0070: 08 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........

And the 'disk' error:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Disk
Event Category: None
Event ID: 11
Date: 06/01/2007
Time: 03:40:36 PM
User: N/A
Computer: SCAR
Description:
The driver detected a controller error on \Device\Harddisk0\D.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 03 00 68 00 01 00 b6 00 ..h...¶.
0008: 00 00 00 00 0b 00 04 c0 .......À
0010: 01 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0018: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0020: 00 9e 1d d8 29 00 00 00 .ž.&#216...
0028: 1e 10 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0030: ff ff ff ff 03 00 00 00 ÿÿÿÿ....
0038: 40 00 00 8f 02 00 00 00 @......
0040: 00 20 0a 12 40 03 20 40 . ..@. @
0048: 00 00 00 00 0a 00 00 00 ........
0050: 00 00 00 00 78 ac 14 86 ....x¬.†
0058: 00 00 00 00 48 aa 14 86 ....Hª.†
0060: 02 00 00 00 cf 0e ec 14 ....Ï.ì.
0068: 28 00 14 ec 0e cf 00 00 (..ì.Ï..
0070: 40 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 @.......
0078: f0 00 04 00 00 00 00 0b ð.......
0080: 00 00 00 00 08 03 00 00 ........
0088: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........

From those error reports, can anyone tell what's actually causing the errors please?

EDIT

It seems that these errors actually happen during bootup sometime... User: N/A.

Thanks,
Craig.

[this_is_gav]

It's caused by something on 'hard drive 0'. That's not necessarily the first hard drive in a loop, more what the BIOS sees first. Could be SATA or IDE (which is what the 1st message is implying), but doesn't appear to be an optical drive.

First IDE drive that the BIOS picks up? Cable (as it's beyond intermittent)? Turn on SMART if it isn't already - if you've got a potential disk problem slowly creeping in, you're going to want to know about it.

[Craig321]

Not sure what the BIOS first picks up, but it's layed out like this:

On IDE port 2 there's my CD/DVD drive and my CD-RW
On SATA port 2 (I think it's port 2) there's my main drive.

I will try and see what the BIOS detects first on my next bootup.

Other than the 2 cd drives and my main hard drive, there's nothing else in there.

Could this be caused by one of my CD drives? (hopefully )

EDIT

These errors have being going on for months now, I do do regular backups, but surely if it was the main hard drive itself causing these errors then it would have broken already? Also, SMART hasn't warned me about anything.

Craig.

[this_is_gav]

Fair enough. Not sure what approach to take - the fact you've got SMART on and are doing regular backups pretty much suggests you're on top of the situation. It's all you can ask for.

It does specifically say hard drive 0, so I seriously doubt it's either of your optical drives.

Personally, I'd just carry on as I was, taking regular backups, and dealing with the situation as it arises.

It could be one of 5 things: hard drive, IDE (or a slimmer chance of SATA) cable, motherboard, dodgy XP installation (highly unlikely given the frequency, or lack of), or my personal favourite, the PSU.

The PSU or cables are the only things that I can really imagine causing such a problem. Out of interest, what is it? //edit: never mind, I've checked your 'my system', so a cheap knock-up of a Q-tec is out of the question.

[Craig321]

PSU: Akasa Ultra Quiet 460W ATX 2.0

I went into the BIOS and wrote down the order of the drives. Here they are:

Primary IDE Master: N/A
Primary IDE Slave: N/A
Secondary IDE Master: TSSTCorpDVD-ROM TS
Secondary IDE Slave: LG CD-RW CED-8120B
Third IDE Master: My main hard drive
Fourth IDE Master: N/A

Third and fourth IDE master must be SATA ports one and two.

I managed to just about see the detection order & the 2 ATAPI CD drives get detected first, after that the hard drive is detected.

What confuses me is the fact that the ATAPI error says IDE port 2... IDE port 2 is one of the CD drives? Surely if the ATAPI error was my main HDD then the error would be "The device, \Device\Ide\IdePort3, did not respond within the timeout period." ?

I think it's pretty much obvious that the DISK error is pointing to my hard drive:
"The driver detected a controller error on \Device\Harddisk0\D". It says Harddisk0 so I guess that one's definitely something to do with my main HDD?

Do you think maybe I should be trying a different power plug into my HDD?

Thanks,
Craig.

[this_is_gav]

Worth a shot I suppose. It's hard to diagnose such a problem, as potentially you have to wait months for an answer.

The only concern I'd have at the moment is that it's a Maxtor

That said, they're well known for dying while hot, not when first being turned on...

[Craig321]

Worth a shot I suppose. It's hard to diagnose such a problem, as potentially you have to wait months for an answer.

The only concern I'd have at the moment is that it's a Maxtor

That said, they're well known for dying while hot, not when first being turned on...

This one seems fine, perfectly cool & working well.

I'll give another power plug a try, hopefully it works.

Thanks,
Craig.