Hard drives becoming corrupt

[davethejake]

I don't know where exactly to put this, but it always ends with me having issues with my hard drives, so I figured I would put it here. I've had a weird issue, that's spanned several years, and it just boils down to a roulette of BSODs that will happen at seemingly random times. I notice them most often when I'm playing a game, and have a video playing in Chrome, but its not limited to that. I also didn't notice it before I migrated over to Windows 10 from Windows 8.

I'll be doing something on my computer, and it'll lock up, forcing me to reset it, or it'll give me a BSOD. The BSOD messages I get most often are IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL, MEMORY_MANAGEMENT, and KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED. There are a few others, but I can't remember them, and they haven't happened recently as I started recording the ones I got. The same one never happens twice in a row, they always alternate and they always happen in clumps. I can go several months without experiencing this issue, then get 4-5 over the course of a couple of days.

I generally look up how to fix them after I get them, and have done scans in command prompt, updated my drivers, and checked my hardware. Nothing seems to ever fix the problem. Eventually it'll get to the point where Windows won't boot up, and this last time, it took me to some troubleshooting screen, where I had the option to boot in safe mode, open command prompt, reinstall Windows, etc. Nothing I did there seemed to work, and every time I would try to reinstall Windows it would fail. So I installed a new hard drive (4th one since this has started) and finally had the idea to slave my old drives to see if I could retrieve anything on them. Each one I checked looked like a bomb went off on it, and there were just tons of missing files in seemingly random places. I don't know a lot about computers, but I assume this meant that sectors on my hard drive became corrupt, so to me, it seems like something is slowly corrupting each hard drive I install, and I have made no progress in understanding how to fix it. So I finally decided to tell others about my problem and seek out help.

 

[Calvin7]

MEMORY_MANAGEMENT errors are often caused by your choice of memory. Try posting your system specs including memory part number(s) or link to memory.

 

[davethejake]

Is there an easy way to do this? Posting the specs I mean. I just looked at CPU-Z and noticed my two sticks of RAM have different max bandwidths. One is PC3-12800, and the other is PC3-10700. I seem to remember those needing to be the same based on your computer. Is this related to what you're asking? And thanks for answering.

 

[ko888]

What's the brand and model of the system's power supply unit (PSU)?

 

[davethejake]

I looked on the side of the PSU, and its an Antec 550W. For model, it says BP550 Plus. It also says Basiq Power 550 Plus at the bottom.

 

[Solandri]

It's extremely unlikely that you've gotten four bad drives in a row. More than likely, something about your computer is corrupting them. Your error message would suggest you have bad memory (bits are randomly flipping, causing data to be corrupted and blue screens). But the SATA interface and SATA cable connecting the drive are also suspects too.

Try running memtest overnight to see if it detects any flaws with your RAM.
https://www.memtest86.com/

Unfortunately, passing is not necessarily an indication that your memory is fine. The random bit flips may be so infrequent that it might not happen during an overnight test. A more surefire test is to remove one memory module (if your motherboard supports running with just one), and use the computer that way for a few days or weeks, then switch to the other memory module and use it that way for a while. Hopefully one module will be fine while the errors continue on the other module. Then you know which module is causing the problems and can ditch it (or exchange it - most memory manufacturers offer a lifetime guarantee).

Different speed memory is generally not a problem as long as your computer supports the slower speed. The motherboard will just clock the faster memory down to match the speed of the slower memory. (If your computer doesn't support the slower speed, it can cause the problems you're seeing as the motherboard tries to run the memory at a faster clock than it's rated to support.) However, the electrical signaling in modern computers happens so quickly and tolerances are so tight that occasionally things that are not supposed to cause problems sometimes do. So it is recommended to use two identical sticks of RAM whenever possible (e.g. buy a 2x8GB package, instead of getting two 8GB sticks from different people on Craigslist).

That it began happening after upgrading to Win 10 would suggest a driver is somehow complicit. Windows 10 seems to prefer generic Win 10 drivers over manufacturer-provided Win 7/8 drivers, which has caused me and my clients all sorts of headaches (e.g. printer which used to work fine after upgrading suddenly stops working when Win 10 decides to "update" its drivers). Double-check that you've got manufacturer-provided Windows 10 drivers installed, especially all the motherboard drivers. After you install them, keep an eye out to see if Win 10 Update replaces any of them (check the update history). If the problems begin again after such an update, then you can roll back the driver and tell Windows 10 not to update it anymore.

Unfortunately, Microsoft keeps rearranging and changing things in the Win 10 UI, so I don't know if these steps are what currently works with the latest version of Win 10.

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/take-back-control-driver-updates-windows-10/
https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/disable-automatic-driver-downloads-on-windows-10

 

[davethejake]

It's extremely unlikely that you've gotten four bad drives in a row. More than likely, something about your computer is corrupting them. Your error message would suggest you have bad memory (bits are randomly flipping, causing data to be corrupted and blue screens). But the SATA interface and SATA cable connecting the drive are also suspects too.

Try running memtest overnight to see if it detects any flaws with your RAM.
https://www.memtest86.com/

Unfortunately, passing is not necessarily an indication that your memory is fine. The random bit flips may be so infrequent that it might not happen during an overnight test. A more surefire test is to remove one memory module (if your motherboard supports running with just one), and use the computer that way for a few days or weeks, then switch to the other memory module and use it that way for a while. Hopefully one module will be fine while the errors continue on the other module. Then you know which module is causing the problems and can ditch it (or exchange it - most memory manufacturers offer a lifetime guarantee).

Different speed memory is generally not a problem as long as your computer supports the slower speed. The motherboard will just clock the faster memory down to match the speed of the slower memory. (If your computer doesn't support the slower speed, it can cause the problems you're seeing as the motherboard tries to run the memory at a faster clock than it's rated to support.) However, the electrical signaling in modern computers happens so quickly and tolerances are so tight that occasionally things that are not supposed to cause problems sometimes do. So it is recommended to use two identical sticks of RAM whenever possible (e.g. buy a 2x8GB package, instead of getting two 8GB sticks from different people on Craigslist).

That it began happening after upgrading to Win 10 would suggest a driver is somehow complicit. Windows 10 seems to prefer generic Win 10 drivers over manufacturer-provided Win 7/8 drivers, which has caused me and my clients all sorts of headaches (e.g. printer which used to work fine after upgrading suddenly stops working when Win 10 decides to "update" its drivers). Double-check that you've got manufacturer-provided Windows 10 drivers installed, especially all the motherboard drivers. After you install them, keep an eye out to see if Win 10 Update replaces any of them (check the update history). If the problems begin again after such an update, then you can roll back the driver and tell Windows 10 not to update it anymore.

Unfortunately, Microsoft keeps rearranging and changing things in the Win 10 UI, so I don't know if these steps are what currently works with the latest version of Win 10.

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/take-back-control-driver-updates-windows-10/
https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/disable-automatic-driver-downloads-on-windows-10

Hi and thanks for replying. I've actually done a 24 hour memtest run in the past, but it never yielded any results. I'll try your other suggestion of taking out a stick of RAM, and testing each one. I'll most likely just replace the slower one if this turns out to be what has been plaguing my computer so much.

How can I confirm that I have manufacturer-provided drivers? Furthermore, how can I confirm that all of my drivers are up to date? In the past, when I tried to update my drivers in hopes of fixing this problem, I often felt like I never really knew for sure if what I was doing was helpful at all, and I rarely ever found drivers that needed to be updated.

 

[Solandri]

How can I confirm that I have manufacturer-provided drivers?

You can right-click This PC -> Manage -> Device manager -> right-click the device -> properties -> Driver

That should tell you who the author of the driver is. However, sometimes Win 10 picks the right driver manufacturer, but the wrong driver for your exact hardware. So a safer way is to go to the manufacturer's support website, and download the appropriate drivers for your hardware. Disable your Internet connection (or Windows may try to update it again), then install it. Do the above procedure, and note the driver author and version. You can run without Internet for a while to see if the problem goes away, or re-enable Internet, let it sit for a while, then check to see if Windows has replaced the driver.

If not, then use the computer and see if the problem goes away. If it has replaced the driver, you'll need to use the procedure in one of the links I gave to disable updates for that particular driver. Then install the manufacturer-provided driver again.

 

[davethejake]

I got my first BSOD since I pulled one of my sticks of RAM. I was playing a game earlier, and I got DRIVER_OVERRAN_STACK_BUFFER. Then, before it could get me back to the login screen, I got KERNEL_SECURITY_CHECK_FAILURE. Does this shed any light on what's happening to my computer?

 

[ko888]

Have you tried opening a command prompt and running the following command:

sfc /scannow

to check for any corrupted system files?

 

[davethejake]

Yeah, that's one of the things I think I've done every single time I try to look into fixing this. There's never been anything that it found wrong.

 

[ko888]

What are your complete system specifications?

 

[davethejake]

Where's the easiest place to get those and copy/paste it?

EDIT: I just ran another scan of SFC /Scannow and it yielded no results.

 

[davethejake]

Host Name: DESKTOP-BVDDSNO
OS Name: Microsoft Windows 10 Home
OS Version: 10.0.16299 N/A Build 16299
OS Manufacturer: Microsoft Corporation
OS Configuration: Standalone Workstation
OS Build Type: Multiprocessor Free
Original Install Date: 2/20/2018, 7:48:17 PM
System Boot Time: 4/23/2018, 8:19:53 PM
System Manufacturer: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
System Model: GA-78LMT-USB3
System Type: x64-based PC
Processor(s): 1 Processor(s) Installed.
[01]: AMD64 Family 21 Model 1 Stepping 2 AuthenticAMD ~3300 Mhz
BIOS Version: Award Software International, Inc. F4, 10/19/2012
Boot Device: \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Total Physical Memory: 8,190 MB
Available Physical Memory: 3,748 MB
Virtual Memory: Max Size: 9,470 MB
Virtual Memory: Available: 3,365 MB
Virtual Memory: In Use: 6,105 MB


I looked up how to find system specs, and I copy/pasted this from command prompt, and just took out anything that looked personal or not relevant.

 

[davethejake]

What else do you need, or what else should I be doing?

 

[ko888]

The fact that your motherboard has at least six engineering revisions tells me that there is a major design flaw in the GA-78LMT-USB3.

 

[schoolgoat1]

you mignt need to move your files on to a flash drive then get your disk wiped

 

[davethejake]

The fact that your motherboard has at least six engineering revisions tells me that there is a major design flaw in the GA-78LMT-USB3.

I remember reading about a faulty motherboard causing hard drive issues, but it was just a suggestion on one of the many posts I read about that were similar to mine. Is there any way of checking if its the cause of my problem? I also know that this motherboard is extremely annoying to install drivers to, because every time I tried, more problems would come up, and I would be forced to revert them. I even downloaded an app from the motherboard site that was supposed to update the drivers anytime new ones came out, and I had to uninstall it as well, because the drivers it installed would give me some error message every time I logged into Windows.

 

[davethejake]

I got System_Thread_Exception_Not_Handled last night. From what I looked up, it seems based on my graphics card drivers. I tried to update it via device manager but it told me it was up to date. I had to manually look it up to find there was an update. Could this be related to my slew of other problems, or just an isolated incident?

Edit: As I am installing the new driver for my graphics card, I get Pfn_List_Corrupt