Constant soft hangs, freezes, no BSOD

[MrLarkins]

I just did some upgrades to my pc. Here are the current specs:
Motherboard: Crosshair V
CPU: AMD FX 6100
GPU: eVGA GTX 680 HC
RAM: 4x4GB Ballistix Tactical Tracer
PSU: Corsair 750Watt
OS: Win7 x64 Clean Install
HD: WDC-WD2500KS-00MJB0

Like it says above, this is a clean install. I have tested the RAM with Memtest86+ for 8 hours and found no errors. I have tested the HD with Seatools and found no errors. I have run Prime95 for hours without errors. I water cool my CPU and GPU and temps max at 37C.

The OS constantly hangs, freezes, or whatever its called NONSTOP. Most of the time I'm able to move the mouse but can't DO anything with it. Eventually (within minutes) it comes back to life and does everything I'd been trying to do while it was frozen. I don't get much time inbetween freezes (a minute max between freezes). I've reinstalled the OS several times and no joy. At first I thought it was a bad motherboard, so I RMA'd it and it is still having the same issue. These freezes began happening well before video drivers were even installed (or any other drivers for that matter). It even does the same thing in SAFE MODE.

from the EVENT VIEWER:
In the last hour: 19 Service Control Manager Error 7001
In the last hour: 44 amd_sata Warning 129 (this one always comes in pairs and always 30 seconds apart)
In the last hour: 169 Service Control Manager Information 7036


I'm open to suggestions.

 

[Vir Gnarus]

This can be caused by thrashing or an interrupt storm of some kind. Check to see if the same problem arises in Safe Mode.

If you are getting amd_sata warnings, it means you are using the 3rdparty AMD SATA AHCI Drive Controller driver. If you installed this from a cd that came with your motherboard, then that's probably your issue right there. You'll need to uninstall it then reinstall the latest version. To uninstall it, best way may be to go into Device Manager and then right click your drive controller and then opt to uninstall it (or uninstall drivers in the Properties window). This will cause it to default to the standard Windows AHCI driver. Then you'll want to take this time to find update drivers and install em. While you're at it, update all drivers (and BIOS) that pertain to your motherboard and uninstall all motherboard software and anything pertaining to USB, including USB "drivers". They're all gimmicky and broken.

Most likely this is caused by an outdated and/or buggy SATA driver like what has been aforementioned (hence the warnings). You'll either want to update it, or - if that doesn't work - remove it altogether. It's not entirely necessary, and I'm not aware of any performance reduction by eliminating them.

 

[MrLarkins]

Well, I did what you suggested. Now, there are 6 ATA Channel Drivers (0-5) that weren't there before and 1 Standard ACHI 1.0 Serial ATA Controller. All installed by Windows after 2 or 3 reboots.

I uninstalled all USB 3.0 in Device Manager. I don't have any devices that would use it anyway...

Still getting hangs, freezes, etc.

Also, here's an observation. I have 4 gadgets on my desktop monitoring things. Drives Meter, Network Meter, GPU Meter, All CPU Meter. Everytime there is a freeze, all four flatline.

One more note: I installed CrystalDiskInfo 4.6.2 and its showing a CAUTION b/c Reallocated Sectors Count is at 197. This is a 250GB HD from WD, could this be my problem?

I'd like to add something. Before this installation, I tried to install Win7 on a RAID 0, but everytime I did, I would get data corruption and windows CHKDSK would always end up deleting stuff during bootup. Installation on one single drive was the only thing that would work. Everything is fine except for the soft-hangs.

This last part might be unrelated, but the location of my desktop icons (where they are placed on my desktop) is never saved.

Would my log files be helpful? I can copy/paste or upload them. Just tell me how.

 

[MrLarkins]

Update:
I've run several tests.
GPU Furmark and Video Card Stability Test - passed with flying colors
I disabled my Network adapter.
I swapped out my RAM and CPU for know working components
I ran Iozone to test the HDD

all tests passed. no errors given, freezes still occur...during tests as well!

please help.

 

[MrLarkins]

I just tried to reinstall the chipset drivers for my motherboard from the ASUS website...got my first BSOD...when it rebooted...black screen says :

BOOTMGR is missing
Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart

any ideas?

 

[MrLarkins]

well, I had to switch the sata cables and rebooted...it loaded, but still freezes

i did get the chipset drivers reinstalled...

 

[Vir Gnarus]

Did you manage to update the drivers related to your drive controller? I'm not sure if the chipset driver suite would incorporate the drive controller drivers or not. You should update them anyways as a just-in-case.

The reallocated sectors count is bad only if it increases rapidly and/or consistently. All drives come with a modicum of bad sectors and they are designed to accommodate for that by marking them bad and deferring access to them to other sectors that are settled in a special portion of the drive reserved for backup sectors. Yet if the drive is starting to reallocate to the backup sectors increasingly and is doing so rapidly or in a consistent manner, it's conducive of a drive that's failing. I recommend you watch that value of reallocated drive sectors diligently. To be honest though, that's a good bit of bad sectors for a drive that young (I assume it's young?).

As for the drivers that popped up, check the driver details for em in the Properties window for your drive controller (right-clicking it in Device Manager) and check to verify if each of the drivers are stamped by Microsoft. If it does not have Microsoft's name on them, then most likely those got repopulated by ASUS. In which, case, you'll wanna use Driver Sweeper to clean em out.

If no manner of driver changes for your drive controller fixes anything, then the drive is the culprit, with the drive controller chip itself beyond second possibility.

 

[MrLarkins]

thanks for responding, I hope you stick around and continue to help...help is hard to find for me.

as per updating drivers....yes I have. I have tried reinstalling (clean install) several times on a RAID 0 as well, but it keeps getting corrupted/missing files at the end on the installation process.

I'm working here as well:
Frustrated Builder...Help me Clean Install Win7 on RAID 0 ...Specs inside as (MrLarkins)

and have made a post here:
ASUSTeK Computer Inc.-Forum- AHCI/RAID issues as (TROY)

so to recap:
with RAID 0, installation won't complete
with AHCI, constant freezes.

 

[Vir Gnarus]

How many actual physical drives are you using? Just one? In which case, why RAID? You'll need at least two drives for that. Anyways, you should stick to AHCI or IDE. I'm trying hard to deal with this as it sounds like it is a driver issue, but given that both uninstalled drivers and updated drivers do not work, and you did replace the mobo, I'm getting a strong vibe we're dealing with a bad drive here. The relatively high reallocated sector count for a drive this young also points finger at it, and I'm sure when you go to test it again it may have already increased. Time to put that warranty to use.

The last ditch options you have right now is to switch to IDE mode for the drive, and if that doesn't work, then updating the BIOS.

 

[MrLarkins]

I'm using 2. Both are identical. Western Digital 250GB 7200RPM. I used these two drives in a RAID 0 with my old motherboard. Install and use was flawless on that board. Drives had great performance. Then I buy this new motherboard and try to do a clean install and I get this nonsense. I'll try to install Win7 on just one drive in IDE mode then use the registry hack to enable AHCI. However, I'd love to get my RAID 0 performance back.

 

[MrLarkins]

well, i went into the bios and switched from RAID to IDE and tried to install Win7. It showed one hard drive, unallocated and I couldn't install to it. Error was as follows: "Setup was unable to create a new system partition or locate an existing system partition."

 

[MrLarkins]

with a RAID 0 i managed to install win7 and made it to the desktop. explorer kept restarting...i couldn't run the motherboard manufactorers installation cd. rebooted and chkdsk started deleting corrupt files.

i booted with seatools and i'll post the results of long tests on both drives....

this is getting ridiculous. I wish i had two more sata hdd to try.

 

[MrLarkins]

seatools tested both drives...no errors found.
i'm now using darik's boot and nuke to completely erase the drives. I will create the raid 0 again and go from there.

 

[Vir Gnarus]

There must be some major malfunction with your motherboard's drive controller, perhaps some elusive compatibility bug in it, or the hardware itself is at fault. If either drive is causing woes even with IDE mode, then my initial diagnosis is accurate in that the drive controller is at fault. Get the mobo replaced. It happens. :\

I think the reason why Seatools isn't finding any problems is that the issue may be during writing, which ultimately causes corruption. Seatools only reads sectors until you run the self test which fixes problems, and even then it only writes if it detects a bad sector and fixes it up.

 

[MrLarkins]

I ran Darik's Boot and Nuke on both drives. throughput was 1000KB/sec, real slow, wiping 2x250GB took nearly 3 hours for 1%

I cancelled it. tried to reinstall from a flash drive copy of win7...no go, same problem with corrupt files. Guess I'll RMA this motherboard and try with another.

 

[Vir Gnarus]

EDIT: reading comprehension is good.

 

[crazyjls]

please help i am having the same problem same drives did u resolve the problem i also have already rmad my mobo once and am still having the same issue with soft hangs

 

[Vir Gnarus]

It's best that you create your own thread so you'll get the best attention. If you need to refer to this specific case, just link to this thread when you explain your issue.