sata hdd freezing my comp?

bogwalrus

Hi there,

i have two 200gb sata hdds installed. I am experiencing freezes on the windows screen when i boot my computer while the 2nd storage sata drive is enabled. I have deduced that it is in fact this drive due to the computer working fine when it is disabled. when this drive starts to upset the computer i am unable to access it to disable it and must restart in safe mode in order to turn it off.

now it is a strange problem as sometimes i can have the two drives enabled and the computer works just fine. i can drag files and folders into the drive etc.

The problem usually occurs just after boot when windows screen starts. if i were to click on some software the comp slows down and then freezes. Task manager says explorer is not responding etc.

I have tried reformatting the drive and just trying to troubleshoot what the problem might be.

As always any help would be much appreciated.

tnx

mathias

Are they both the same model hard drive ?

If one is SATA 2 and the other isnt , which one is causing the problem ?
There are some motherboard chipsets out there that have problems with SATA II and in such cases produce exactly the kind of problem you are describing , the solution is to place a jumper on the SATA drive in question limiting the speed , then the drive works fine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_ATA

The issue Im talking about is here , quoted from the page linked ,

SATA 1.5Gb/s and SATA 3Gb/s

SATA is designed to be backward and forward compatible with future revisions of the SATA standard.[10]

According to the hard drive manufacturer Maxtor, motherboard host controllers using the VIA and SIS chipsets VT8237, VT8237R, VT6420, VT6421L, SIS760, SIS964 found on the ECS 755-A2 which was manufactured in 2003, do not support SATA 3Gb/s drives. To address interoperability problems, the largest hard drive manufacturer Seagate/Maxtor have added a user-accessible jumper-switch known as the Force 150, to switch between 150 MB/s and 300 MB/s operation.[3] Users with a SATA 1.5Gb/s motherboard with one of the listed chipsets should either buy an ordinary SATA 1.5Gb/s hard disk, buy a SATA 3Gb/s hard disk with the user-accessible jumper, or buy a PCI or PCI-E card to add full SATA 3Gb/s capability and compatibility. Western Digital uses jumper setting called "OPT1 Enabled" to force 150 MB/s data transfer speed.

It might not be your issue , but does produce the same kind of symptoms. Note that this would only be the case if you have one of the mentioned chipsets.

zod

what events are coming up in the system event log ?

skuzzb

Just a suggestion but try using different (new if ya have them) sata cables, they can sometimes casue issues for no apparant reason.

Also if you cant find a solution and its just a storage drive, consider buying a usb2 caddy for it and use it as an external drive. Lazy and not the cheapest option so maybe as a last resort!

bogwalrus

thanks guys for the advice. i'm troubleshooting what the problem is at the moment.

The two sata drives are exactly the same. I believe it could be a driver problem considering that the two drives work on some occasions and then freeze on other occassions. I will post the log when it happens again.

Thanks again.