PC stalling for short periods

[Zirro]

My pc has been stalling recently for anything from 5 to 20 sec at a time before continuing as normal.
If I invoke Task Mgr (& resource monitor) while it is stalled they do not show any processes hogging the CPU or HDD etc. The PC is just not responding at all - a hardware fault?

I have done every test I can think of including a clean install of Win7x64 and low-level scans of my HDD's. All results were good except for the odd result I got HDTune.

Can anyone enlighten me as to what this result means?

 

[usasma]

Depending on how you did the "clean" install - and what programs you've installed - this could be a hardware issue.

Please provide the info from this report: http://www.sevenforums.com/crash-lockup-debug-how/66913-sf-diagnostic-tool.html

It appears (to me) that the system is accessing the hard drive for some reason.
Try this way of using Task Manager:

Task Manager:
Also, you can monitor the system for excessive resource consumption. To do this, open up Task Manager by right clicking on the Task Bar.
Then select the Processes tab.
Then select the "Show processes from all users" button (in the lower left)
Then select the View menu item, then select "Select columns"
In the Select columns window, place checkmarks next to I/O Reads and I/O Other.
Click OK to accept the changes.
Resize the Task Manager window so you can see the most of the columns.
Wait for the system to freeze.
Look at all of the columns to see if there's anything that looks excessively high - if so, let us know the Image name of the process.
FWIW - System Idle Process is supposed to have high CPU readings - anything else with high CPU readings is an issue.

 

[Zirro]

The problem was hardware - my 2nd hard disk,
It is a Western Digital 500Gb SATA II Caviar Green. These drives park the heads to save power & reduce noise, but some are slightly faulty and park too soon, so you get excessive load cycles etc.
I was able to fix it using Crystal Disk Info to disable the AAM/APM power saving function.
Everything is back to normal now.

 

[usasma]

That's good to know info!!!
Thanks Zirro!