Jim said:
The subject message shows up in the "properties" for several errors in
the system events log (source: disk, event: 7) yesterday Not sure
what I was doing at that time There are also similar error message
from the CD rom. Those correlate with windows blanking out the desk
top and recovering, upon access to a CD-RW disk. Not so worried
about that, I can replace the RW disk. But what should I make of, and
do about the error on Disk D?. On my HP...the D partitiion contains
all the backup/restore/recovery files.
This is a common and serious problem that I see every month in my line of
work.
Most systems today do not have a separate drive controller card and instead
use a controller chip that's built onto the motherboard. It is very, very
possible that the electronics is going bad on one of your drives, most
likely a CD drive, and electrically interfering with the controller chip.
You can verify this by unplugging the AC power cord from the computer and
then, at the motherboard (preferred) or at the drive itself, removing the
flat ribbon cable/s that go to the CD drive/s. Note the red stripe on one
side of the ribbon cable, just in case the connectors are not keyed --
plugging a cable in backwards can severely damage things. Clear your Event
Logs and use the computer, watch those logs carefully for more error
messages to occur about a bad block (do a check for bad sectors, then look
at the Event Viewer). If you get more such messages, also disconnect the
ribbon cable/s for anything else you have except for C. Assuming that you
have a Drive A, you might have to tell BIOS that you don't have a Drive A
for the system to boot properly (depends on the BIOS) if you remove its
cable. Simply removing the power connectors is NOT sufficient (a drive with
bad electronics can still load or partly load the controller via the ribbon
cable, even with power to it disconencted).
The bad block messages are a serious error report of current device failures
and impending total device failure. They get reported in Event Viewer if a
feature, built into drives, called S.M.A.R.T. is enabled in BIOS (and if the
BIOS and the drive itself supports the feature). If it were me, I'd
immediately put the HDD's into a different computer (one at a time), as
slave drives, and do a full and complete check on them for bad sectors and
let errors be automatically fixed, and then check again for bad block
messages in Event Viewer in the different computer. If they show up there
too, after usage following the repair of any bad sectors, then there's
little doubt that the HDD is just about to fully fail and attempts to back
it up (make a disk image copy or at least save your user files) should
immediately be made and not to use it any more than is absolutely necessary.
This procedure can rule out a bad HDD and instead determine that it's being
electrically interfered with by another drive, a bad ribbon cable (they flex
in the fan generated airflow and over time the wires can break, just like if
you repeatably bent a wire by hand until it breaks), or the motherboard
controller chip itself going bad. You can usually determine which is at
fault simply by removing drives and cables and, ultimately, trying a
different drive all by itself to rule out the controller chip, and then
watching the Event Viewer.
Should you have the misfortune to ultimately decide that the controller chip
is at fault then you might (might) get some temporary relief by installing a
separate controller card. But they're as expensive as a new motherboard,
which I'd then be recommending be replaced because electronic problems only
get worse with time and never "heal" or get better. Eventually the failing
chip might go completely and then start interfering with the motherboard in
other ways.
After the repair, be sure to again check the drive for bad sectors. I know
this takes a long time to do, but it's definitely necessary.
Winguy
