HD failing i think

[ironzombie99]

ok first off things seem to be getting worse since the BSOD i had the 11th, here is the link to the message that i posted about it... bsod last night (http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=135758) . Well latly I have been having problems installing programs, mostly games from disk to the hd, the installers always freeze up and they have to be closed out. Last night I managed to get some games to install and I was playing Railroad Tycoon 2 for a while and when i quit I went to install another game and all of sudden I heard a loud clicking noise and i thought i was going crazy but I found the sound to be coming from the HD so I shut it down b/c i knew that wasnt normal.

I turned back on the system even though i read i shouldnt but I had to transfer all my files across my LAN to another PC. I left the computer on overnight and there are no problems. It seems to be fine during activites like surfing the net or what ever but it has problems installing programs.

I have ran the WD ultility program after that BSOD and last night and it says there are no errors on the disk.

Oh yeah when I was installing the game it gave me an error right before it started to click, i wrote down the things quickly so lets see if i can read my hand writting, also they are not the full errors word per word either...
One error was- Shutdown Initated NT Authority\System
C\Windows\System32\Services.ese terminated unexpectedly
Status code 128

Second error- Unkown Hard Error (there was not number or anything like that)

I know for sure I have no viruses, spyware, adware just to make that clear.

Shuttle An35N Ultra
Athlon XP Barton 2800
Sapphire 9800 SE
1 GB PC 2700 DDR RAM
WD 80G hard drive
Lite on DVDRW
Lite on DVD ROM
Windows XP Pro

The specific hard drive info is as follows Western Digital Caviar SE WD800JB 80GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache IDE Ultra ATA100 Hard Drive - OEM

It has a 3 yr warranty from the WD according to Newegg, just wondering how long does a RMA transaction fully take from requesting to recieving new drive with WD, wondering cause I have to move away for school real soon and I may have to just get a new HD (been eyeing a 160 or 200 GB haha) and RMA the 80GB later.

[Gizmo]

I found this (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315105) at the M$ Knowledge Base.

[cmillar6]

any "clicking sound" coming from your harddrive is not normal and a sign of imminent failure. I would look into having the drive replaced.

[Auriga]

Just to add to the above post...start backing up stuff you need!

[ironzombie99]

I moved all my vids, music, documents, pics and what not all over to another pc i just built for a friend, looks like i finished it at the right time and its good he doesnt get the pc until mid august when we get back to school lol.

I looked at the database and the fix was for windows 2000...

[ironzombie99]

The hard drive hasnt had a problem yet, the computer has been on for about 20 hrs running but i havnt done anything more intensive than surfing the net and IM so I am going to maybe try to install a game and see if it does it again, even if it doesnt happen again should i still look into another HD since it could fail at anytime with it showing some symptoms?

[cmillar6]

yes, as I mentioned in the earlier post, clicking from your harddrive is NOT normal.

[Gizmo]

I know the fix is for Windows 2000, I just referenced to it because it might be worth reading. XP is pretty much the same as Windows 2000 just lots of eyecandy, so I thought it might've been worth a read. But yes, the clicking from your hard drive is a sign of a failing drive.

[glc]

Perfectly healthy hard drives CAN click if there's file system problems, it doesn't necessarily indicate a failing drive but if you don't correct the problems it can damage the drive. You need to run CHKDSK /F on the drive, followed by a defrag. If the WD diags come up clean, WD won't replace the drive without a pretty convincing phone call. If you can back up everything on the drive you need, you could do a zero fill and repartition/format it, that will take care of any logical errors for sure, that's what WD will want you to do before authorizing a RMA on a drive that passes diags.

[ironzombie99]

ok will do glc

[ironzombie99]

So far my hd hasnt been clicking anymore but I went ahead an ordered a new 160GB hd from newegg just incase, ill be heaidn off to school soon and i dont want to turn on my pc and find a dead hd and loose all class work. I decided i will write the zeros and then set the 80gb as slave and install all my games to it so if it does fail then it wont be to much of a problem. Thanks for the help