Hi If I could throw this one out to any techy specialists because Im completely foxed!! I am looking at a all in one Desktop PC HP ms215uk for a friend . Heres the issue He was complaining about intermittent lock ups freezing and blue screens. So I said I would have a look. What I noticed that randomly sometimes only after 2 hours the hard drive would make a clicking and wurring noise sometimes then followed by a blue screen and a restart. Convinced by the clicking noise from the hard drive I confidently ordered a replacement and set about installing a fresh copy of windows 7. All went well for a few hrs then BANG exactly the same error again with the new hard drive so a tried another hard drive and yet again the same fault after 2hrs or so ?????? So clearly its NOT the hard drive despite hard drive symptoms ie. clicking whinning etc. So what the hell is it ? some sort of random power issue to the drive from the motherboard ?? sata controller fault ? I am now testing out the ram with no hard drive connected using a boot disc and memtest 86 so far no issues so I am fearing the worst and it looks like a main board problem ? Its a real pig as all symptoms appear to point to the hard drive put clearly it just isnt the case ? Any help or suggestions appreciated.
This may be ignorant, but is there no corresponding entries logged in Event Viewer? I say this because I know that not all issues are logged; nor BSODs.
so I guess its a write off then ? or a new motherboard ?? non standard motherboard = silly price ££££ ?????
Hi thanks for your reply I did wonder about a bios upgrade but I checked out HP website there doesnt appear to be any update available for this model = hp ms215uk Im not sure if there is one available as its a custom board from hp for this PC called capirona
check HDD pins soldering points. also low possibility, but you can check RAM with memtest... sometimes it happens because of RAM - HDD clicking can be the consequence of sudden data transmission stopping(BIOS programming bug). If you get BSOD = it can still transmit data from and to hard disk drive. AND don't forget to check HDD cable first!
hi everyone thanks for all your help and suggestions I may have stumbled across a fix ? ? after each reinstall of windows 7 with each new hard drive I noticed as the updates came in it was auto updating the sata controller drivers each time ! so as a long shot before it stated to fault again I rolled back this amd sata controller driver to the original and then hid this windows update to prevent auto installation of the newer driver and so far so good ?? I have soak tested the pc for a whole day and as yet no original fault but because of the intermittent behaviour Im not 100% convinced just yet however so far its the longest its ran without faulting so we shall wait and see ? Its a poor show if this update has been the culprit all along ??? is this possible ?
Drivers can be the cause... some time ago I've been using automated driver installation software, after updates it caused BSODs in 3 out of 10 PC's.
DAM !! its failed after 24hrs + working perfectly I have tried yet another hard drive it lasted with a new windows installation about 30 mins before click noise and although mouse moves the PC ceases to open anything and locks up apart from cursor movement !! It must be the motherboard sata controller or another motherboard component failure . does anybody know can i flash the bios if the manufactuer website has no bios update available ? its a phoenix bios, I guess custom from HP ? also the original sata drive was speed 7600 and i have used 5400 apart from speed surely this wouldnt make any difference ??
Have you checked HDD cable that goes to the mobo? hdd rotation speed won't make any difference, and I think it was 7200. So this is desktop or laptop? 5400rpm HDD's on desktop seems to be a little old.
Hi Yes sorry of course I meant 7200 This is a all in one HP desktop MS215uk screen motheboard dvd drive all integral on a stand. The hard drive just slots into a sata port at the rear which I assume is just connected to the motherboard so there is no cable . To be honest I have just about given up !! apart from a bios flash which I seem unable to get ? I believe only a new motherboard is really the only cure and this will not be cost effective a real shame as this PC is only 2 years old and in mint condition.
Also guys just wondered can faulty sata controllers on the motherboard permanently damage the hard drive itself ? just wondered as one of these drives I fitted in trying to repair the issue now appears to have become faulty itself ????? maybe just coincidental ??
post event viewer info of the bug, it should be there... and what of version of windows you're using. also you can try running linux live distro and on the moment of hdd spindown(clicking) run dmesg and lspci commands and then post output of the commands here. it should tell where the problem is... I somehow think that the problem is not controller itself but contact between mobo and HDD, also reset BIOS, not programically, but remove all power(AC cord etc) and then remove BIOS battery and leave it for 15minutes, then place battery back, connect power cord and turn on pc and wait for BSOD/freezing.
thanks gabris for your help and advice you mention fault being contact between hard drive and motherboard ? It looks like these are attached together ( no cable ) remember sometimes after hard drive and reinstall of windows 7 fault doesnt show itself for over 24hrs + other times within 30 mins its very erratic intermittent and very annoying !! just when you think its ok ! BANG its back again !
Ok here goes !! removed tricky case rear cover etc. reseated sata interface plugs from board to drive ( custom made short things not standard sata lead ) removed battery on cmos for 15mins rebuilt then restarted windows 7 installation ( received warning message regarding loading bios defaults on restart ) windows 7 installation and updates currently in progress fingers crossed but NOT hopeful ??