Hard Drive sound and also sudden lagging/freezing of Windows and programs (High End PC)

starklet

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Jul 20, 2014
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Hello everyone !
Before i start this is a long post but i have tried my very best to explain my problems in the most detail possible and will also post my system specs below.

AMD FX 8350 4 Ghz CPU with Artic cooling Freezer 13 Cooler
GByte GA-970A-DS3 sAM3+ Motherboard
8GB corsair RAM cmv8gx3m2a1600c11
Geforce GTX 770 4GB MSI Twin Frozr OC edition GPU
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit
120GB Samsung 840 EVO SSD Basic
2TB WD Black SATA 3 Hard Drive (Storage)
600W SStone Strider ST60F-ES

Sadly, I have been running into some problem with my computer the past 3 days.
I will jump straight into it; starting with the hard drive sound.
When i first start up my computer, more often than not the hard drive will make a strange clicking sound when booting up and also when loading programs/games etc. i have looked around on the internet and seen the click of death. however my hard drive does not make the 'Click' sound but more of a deeper, and longer grinding sound with no sharp sounds but deeper ones. (the best i can describe it). 😛
Secondly, my computer over the past couple of days has been lagging and freezing even when opening the internet or new tabs (chrome), clicking the windows start button, opening documents and other programs. It mainly freezes just on windows related actions. It also makes my screen go washed out white (when the computer is not responding) and shows an error message saying "windows explorer is not responding". My computer never used to do anything like this before and has always performed to a high standard. Maybe this is due to a Virus/Rat/Malware.
So I when online to see what are the best anti-virus/malware software is. i was currently running AVG (Free) and malware-bytes. I decided to uninstall AVG (i heard this can use up a lot of V Ram and CPU power on games, explaining later) and install Microsoft security essentials and also SUPER anti-spyware. I did a scan and all Three said my computer had no problems, or infections. So maybe it must be a Rat of some sort?
Moving on, i have been using CCleaner since i can remember and i clean my computer on a regular basis, at-least once every three days, clearing out cookies, internet history and all the default options. So there isn't lots of unneeded files on my computer slowing it down and also this problem literally did occur overnight so i don't believe unneeded files would the the cause but i cleaned anyway. I used to defrag every 2 weeks on my old hard drive but now i have a SSD boots drive with a 2TB HDD now and i have heard NOT to defrag a SSD. Due to the problems being with windows not responding and such, i haven't really thought to defrag my HDD because that only stores games, pictures, music and other small programs.
Nearly there now, I have steam installed onto my SSD and have all but 2 of my games installed onto my HDD, the 2 being CS:GO and LoL (LoL not on steam but still on SSD). For some reason my CS:GO gets really bad fps drops only for a couple of minutes before it recovers and returns back to 60fps. this happens usually 2-3 times a 40 minute game which is really stressful. i cant seem to work out what is wrong with it or my computer because it is installed on my SSD which has alot better performance than a HDD. Also, i started playing planetside 2 again which is installed on my 2TB HDD (last played was around June 2014 on my old 500GB WD Green HDD) but the games suddenly drops to 5-12 fps from around 60 average. and the only way to recover is to restart the game. I don't know whether this is because my HDD is having trouble reading the data (the clicking sound) or if it is my GPU or CPU overheating or breaking? i checked my CPU temps using Core Temps and it is around 70-75*C average while the game is running. I Though i should maybe replace the thermal paste on the CPU but my CPU isn't overheating from the readings so it cant be that. maybe the CPU is failing? CPU purchased: 30th May 2013 (If this helps).
Also changed windows to windows basic and this helped a little bit but my computer still performs all the above problems.
Also, when i installed my HDD (2TB) the sata cable didn't 'Click' into place and dosent stay locked in, it sort of just sits in the connector which can be pulled out without having to press a lock on the sata connector. IT does stay in however, it just does not have a 'lock on' effect onto the HDD. maybe this is causing the problem or maybe it is my motherboard because it is over 2 years old now and was only £55 and has seen lots of heavy use (gaming mainly).
That's all the problems I am having and i really hope someone will be able to help me out, I spent alot of money and time on my computer and i am really upset to see such a problem occurring. 🙁 thanks for reading this far and if you require any more information on Components age or anything in that nature, just let me know! 😉
- Starklet
 

I have downloaded that software and running the test right now. i was actually thinking of getting new sata cables for both my drives to see if it was a cable or connection issue. Will get back to you when i have complete the test. also is it safe to do this test on my SSD?
thanks for your help :)

 


SSDs don't work the same way. Use Samsung Magician for diagnosing any SSD problems with your Samsung 840 EVO.

http://ssd.samsungsemi.com/ecomobile/ssd/update1.do?fname=/Samsung_Magician_Setup_v46.zip
 

Okay, so i used that magician software and it optimized my SSD to highest performance and it also told me to change to ACHI (Which i thought i did but i must of done it wrong). I also turned RAPID on because i don't see why not 😛 and there is a huge difference.
Before: http://gyazo.com/b73b75aad8ba56e41b60ef5530c011ed
After: https://gyazo.com/1aa9752ebf61e7b3894e574f051c54fd
Is that correct speeds for my SSD and is there anything else i need to do?
the short HDD scan came out as a pass, and will do the complete scan overnight as it will take a couple of hours and am currently using my computer. i will reply back here after that and will also see if i have any fps drops or performance issues because it may of been the SSD not being optimized or having the correct firmware or updates. (it did install an updates for the SSD when i optimised it which could of been the reason?). and should i let samsung magician run in my tray and on start-up so i can track performance or is it not needed?
Thanks for your help mate and sorry for all the questions :) I hope that sorted the problem!
- Starklet
 


A lot of that performance increase is attributable to the enabling of RAPID Mode (i.e. using system RAM for disk caching).

I always leave Samsung Magician running in the system tray.

It is really left up to you whether or not you want it to load during Windows startup. If you don't load it during Windows startup you can always manually run it when you want to.

Surface scanning an HDD for errors does take a very long time.