Hey everyone, not sure if this is the write place to post this but we'll see how it goes.
I have recently encountered a series of problems with my computer. To the point now that I am at a bit of a loss as to what to do, besides replacing components 1 by 1 until it works again (which is an expensive option)
First i'll outline my specifications, then i'll go into the problem
CPU: Core2Duo E7500 2.93GHz
RAM: 4x 1gb Kingston HyperX DDR2 800MHz
MOBO: Gigabyte P35-DQ6 rev1.1
HDD: 2x 500GB WD Caviar SATA2 (Mirrored)
2x500GB Seagate Barracuda SATA2 (Was Striped, then Mirrored)
2x 2TBWD Caviar SATA2 (Mirrored)
GFX: Gigabyte HD5870 1GB
PSU: Silverstone 750W
Sound: Audio Kontrol 1 USB.
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate x64
OK, so basically in the last 2 months,
I've had at least 4 hard drives fail, (sometims during RAID and SATA initiation when computer is booting, hard drives come up with FAILED next to them, but then will work after another reboot). In the perfmon, the Disk queue length is always maxed out on the graph, and this seems to coincide with CPU spikes. During these CPU spikes the computer would freeze for up to a minute at the worst of times.
Intel disk management reports hard drive failure almost every time the computer is started up and its scans constantly reveal verification errors.
Also Event Viewer linked the dll file ntdll.dll in relation to programs crashing during these hard drive failure moments.
Just yesterday i put two brand new drives in. after a couple of reboots, 1 failed in the bios checks, and windows 7 install will not install to them (I have them striped)
Also note that in the Intel Raid Management program, pretty much all drives reported failure, and continuously had verification errors (even new drives, even after fresh install and formats)
My graphics card has failed once, catastrophically, and was sent away under warranty for repair. and again when it was returned, and i had it replaced with a new card from the shop i bought it.
My CPU also started getting very hot, causing my computer to crash/shut down without warning. It turned out the thermal paste had begun to burn, and therefor not transfer the heat, (thermal paste only applied 12 months prior.) --- this may not be a symptom relating to my main problem, but still seemed weird.
So i've tried fresh HDDs to see if my old HDDs were broken, problems reoccured.
(New hard drives still have disk queue length that is almost permanently maxed out on the perfmon graph.)
I fixed the cpu with new thermal paste, but it still spikes to 100% at times when it shouldnt, causing media playback to slow down and distort, or halt all together.
I tried a windows 7 repair using the setup disk, which corrupted my os, so cant boot from that drive anymore.
Also note i ran tests on the RAM and they came up all good.
I think that covers everything....
so I am thinking its my PSU, but do PSU's fail this way? where the computer still operates but power is fluctuating in some way?
Or is it the motherboard some how.... i really am not sure at this stage.
would love to hear some thoughts before i burn more HDDs and my GFX card again. at this stage, im leaving the computer off, have pulled it apart and am giving it a good clean.
Thanks in advance, hopefully the answer is out there without having to drop hundreds on new components!
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