Disk read error and BSOD's

stevepohler

Honorable
Aug 16, 2012
7
0
10,510
Hi there,

I've had my computer for about a year now:
MSI 970A-G45 MOBO
AMD Phenom II X4 955
Radeon HD 6770
GSkill 2x 4GB, 2x 2GB (DDR3-1600 9-9-9-24 1.5V)
Edit: *Corsair CX430*

A little over a month ago I installed a second 1TB HDD which is when I started having problems.

The drive had been formatted and I'd been using it for about a week when I got a disk read error.
I did startup repair to fix it (Fix MBR) and didn't have problems for a few days. I was able to transfer all of my files to the other drive and not lose any data.

Then I got the disk read error again+BSOD's and higher temps than usual (about 60C). I upgraded the stock heat sink fan on my CPU at this point and reinstalled windows 7. This was fine for a while, with good temps. Both drives were readable and writable with no problems.

Two or three weeks later (now) I was able to boot into windows (took longer than usual), but after a few minutes the system hung and I really couldn't do anything. I restarted and got another disk error and more BSOD's. Before the BSOD though I got a message saying that overclock settings weren't good. I've been running with default [auto] settings since the problems started, after fidgeting with lower CPU voltages.

Today the CPU temp was around 50C which is higher than usual. I'm a bit of a noob and my roommate has run out of ideas (he helped me build, it's my first).

Are there any suggestions for things I may try? Any help is much appreciated. I can give more details if I missed something.
 
Solution
I'm a little confused - so I'll just say how it Should be done with either of your drives.

1- only connect 1 drive to the computer and do a fresh clean install after deleting any partitions on the drive, and creating one to install the OS on
2- once that's done, you still have a lot of work to install all the drivers for your motherboard, any cards you have installed like video, etc - and Then running Windows Update and rebooting several times after the updates have downloaded and installed

Once windows update is all complete, then you have a reliable running system if you've managed to not get errors for drivers. At this point you can connect the other drive and use as a data drive.

stevepohler

Honorable
Aug 16, 2012
7
0
10,510
So I just checked my drives. The new one I bought is the exact same model as the old one I'd been using for a year.

I unplugged the old one and now the computer boots up like there was never a problem, but from the new HDD that I bought in June (so it's been two months not one). I can't run chkdsk on the old one because it won't boot up with the old drive attached.

This seems strange to me, because the old drive apparently failed at coincidentally the same time I bought the new identical model drive. I know it's the old one because it has a layer of dust that the new one doesn't have yet.
 

stevepohler

Honorable
Aug 16, 2012
7
0
10,510


I only have it installed on my primary (new) drive. The other (older) drive just has the filesystem but no OS installed. I formatted it after reinstalling windows on the newer drive.

Would it be a good idea to disconnect the newer primary drive that works and try an Ubuntu live cd, for example, to troubleshoot the older one? The MBR should be on the new one so that wouldn't get messed up...
 

dingo07

Distinguished
I'm a little confused - so I'll just say how it Should be done with either of your drives.

1- only connect 1 drive to the computer and do a fresh clean install after deleting any partitions on the drive, and creating one to install the OS on
2- once that's done, you still have a lot of work to install all the drivers for your motherboard, any cards you have installed like video, etc - and Then running Windows Update and rebooting several times after the updates have downloaded and installed

Once windows update is all complete, then you have a reliable running system if you've managed to not get errors for drivers. At this point you can connect the other drive and use as a data drive.
 
Solution

stevepohler

Honorable
Aug 16, 2012
7
0
10,510
I've previously done a fresh install on the new drive. I then transferred files from the old drive to the new one then reformatted the old drive and was using it as data.

It was stable even including the data drive, but now after a few weeks I got another disk error, and by disconnecting the data drive, the system works again.