Hard disk hangs

[evansri]

New build:

Core i5-750
Asus P7P557D deluxeMB
8GB DDR3
2 x WD 1.5 TB caviar green
XFX GeForce 210
620W power supply
Windows 7 ultimate

System boots fine, but every few minutes the hard disk light goes on hard and stays like it for about two minutes. During that time the system is unresposive. No errors in event log.

As far as I can determine, the disk reads/writes fine but sometimes with these huge hang times.

Does this sound like a disk problem? Chipset problem? Driver problem?

I've run the diagnostic program from WD and no errors were reported on either disk.

 

[Paperdoc]

Any chance you have a virus running?

 

[evansri]

Nothing is impossible, but I have done regular Norton scans with the latest definitions. Will try another one.

 

[Paperdoc]

Only other thing that comes to mind is automatic file indexing, but I really do not think that takes such a long time.

 

[evansri]

I'm sure it's not indexing - the disk light does not flicker; there is nothing doing much in the task manager. Programs just won't open until the hang time passes

 

[Paperdoc]

Yeah, the long hang times you mention do not sound like a system busy with some chore. They sound more like a subsystem is encountering an error and having to re-try many times until it clears. That's puzzling because the WD Data Lifegard diagnostics told you there were no problems with the drives. You might try checking the BIOS Setup screens to see if some device that does not exist is Enabled so that the BIOS keeps trying to use a non-existent device. Also check to be sure there is no disk in your Optical drive that it has trouble reading.

 

[ivan1973]

I had similar problem. Frequently, the drive reads (no light flickering) for about 4 full minutes and PC hang. after the 2 minute, the system resume normal. Initially when i built the PC it

was all right. Here's what I have done so far that does not help:

- remove indexing.
- optimise registry.
- defrag hdd.
- malware scan.
- spybot scan.
- spyware scan.
- virus scan.
- check power plan.
- harddisk scan for error and bad sector.
- monitor cpu usage while hang occur. No high CPU usage.
- optmize services (disable unnecessarry services).
- WD Data Lifegard diagnostic: no issue for extended test but problem with quick test.
- Disable all devices that is not in use in the BIOS.
- Swap Ram with another PC.
- Change to new motherboard.
- check temperature. about 47 degrees C.

What i have not done is to update the board BIOS, which is risky. In addition, i have also notice that when i do a hard reset, the BOIS setting is all gone and had to reconfigure again. Not sure if it has anything to do with the board.

BTW I am using Asus P5Q with WD Caviar Green Sata HDD.

With all these I am suspecting hardware failure some where between the HDD and Mainboard.

 

[TC15632]

I have the same problem and cant seem to figure it out either. PC was fine from OCT09 till about MAR10 then I started getting these hangs with HDD light on solid. I can move mouse and click on things but they don't pop up until system un-hangs, then each pops up in the order they were clicked. was running an ASUS M4A79XTD-evo motherboard thouoght it was the problem so i bought a Gigabyte 790XTA-UD4 board and i still have the same issues not sure what to try next probably the H.D. i guess. System isn't overclocked atm but i had it up +5% in the Asus bios eazy oc setting with the 4th core unlocked at one point and it was running great for 6 months. Also this is happening on Windows 7 (32 & 64 bit) I have tried both.

Rest of system is:
AMD Phenom II X3-720 black edition
Corsair TX650 power supp
4 gig Mushkin 1333 ddr3
WD green 500gb H.D
Saphire Radeon HD 4870 1 gig ddr5
Plextor DVDR
Antec Illusion 300 case

 

[ivan1973]

Same for me here, it only happened after half a year of usage.

 

[TC15632]

Im 99.9% sure I fixed the problem, it was the hard drive. Western Digital Green drives don't play well with windows 7, I think the excessive load and unload cycle count (158,956) in 6 months may have something to do with the drives early demise. I replaced it with a 7200rpm 640G WD Blue drive and all the problems with hanging are magically gone. Although I havent updated window 7 64 bit yet so I cant be absolutely sure but all drivers are in and can open all my apps and browse the net with out any of the app not responding b.s.

 

[TC15632]

All windows updates are now installed and systems been running fine for 3 days now so I can say ive 100% fixed my windows hanging problems

 

[ivan1973]

I second to that. After I remove the WD green and changed to a Seagate, everything works perfectly. However, when I add the WD green back as a slave, things happen again, especially when accessing large files. I will be removing the WD green away tonight to confirm. I think the WD green do not play well with XP too. Wondering if there are any firmware fix for this issue.

 

[TC15632]

Its been almost a month and still running great with the Western Digital Blue.. Ive just RMA'd the green drive and asked them to send me any comparable drive except another green version. I'm hopeful they will..