Hard drives and general disc failure

[jeffk55]

Since we bought them (myaopen compact boxes like the shuttle) weve had system failures due to (apparently) bad writes to the HD. Windows will basically re-boot, report a serious problem (?) and then go happily on it's way. Generally if you send an error message and click on the "more info" link Microsoft just tells you it a hard drive error and check a few (apparenty) useless things. My take is since these are small form factor boxes it is due to some strange overheat error causing a glitch in the HD bus. Problem w/ that guess is sometimes the error occurred on first boot, so nothing should be very warm. This has been going on for a few years w/ little or no detrimental effects since no info is really stored on them. They are basically just slaves to the network. Win XP Pro will write a minidump and I just mostly monitor the number on a monthy basis. Sometimes it's only a few per month and, rarely, it never happens for a month.
Anyways the question is "is there a way to troubleshoot/fix this situation"?

 

[myocardia]

Minidumps are caused by your RAM, not your hard drives, assuming you aren't overclocking the processor. Your RAM may in fact be overheating, though, which can cause it to error.

 

[jeffk55]

OK, excerpt from the Microsoft "solution"
Problem caused by a hard disk drive error

Windows was temporarily unable to read your hard disk drive. This problem is general in nature and we are unable to determine the specific cause of the problem from the problem report. In most cases this problem is temporary and can be ignored.

Common causes of this problem include:

* Large file transfers from secondary media, such as an external
hard drive, to a local hard drive........................................................ on boot so not likey)
* The loss of power to a hard disk drive that causes inconsistent
data sectors....................................................... maybe
* Problems entering Hibernation or Standby Mode......................no.
* Hard drive lag caused by filter drivers, such as virus scanners........... possible.

*Troubleshooting*

------------------------------------------------------------------------

The following steps are provided as general troubleshooting steps that might or might not prevent the problem from recurring. If you cannot resolve the problem using the following steps or are uncomfortable performing them, we recommend you contact your computer manufacturer for assistance.

1. Back up your files and folders immediately to prevent potential
data loss. Go online to read the article How to Use the Backup
Utility to Back Up Files and Folders in Windows XP Home Edition
(removeds) to learn how to backup
your data.
2. Run a hard disk drive error checking tool. Go online to read the
article How to perform disk error checking in Windows XP
(removed)to learn how to run a
hard disk drive error checking utility.
3. Make sure the drive cables are plugged in. If they are plugged in
and you're still receiving errors, consider replacing the drive
cables.

*Note*: As a general rule, we recommend you backup your files on a
regular basis in case of any unexpected hardware problems.

 

[jeffk55]

Web search of this error led to few possibilities BUT one person solved a similar problem by updating BIOS..
Will have to chek into that one...

 

[RebateMonger]

If you have a spare PCI slot, I'd try a cheap PCI hard drive controller. If it was only one troublesome PC, I'd change out the hard drive power and data cables, too. As you noted, I'd also make sure that the motherboard's BIOS is up-to-date. Change one thing at a time, so you know what fixes (or doesn't fix) the problem.

If it's an overheating problem, then repeated boot attempts should fail quicker and quicker as things get hotter and hotter.

 

[jeffk55]

Got to start somewhere.. was hoping the BIOS would be the easiest but for some stupid reason Aopen Bios's for their MB say there not for that MB.
Sounds confusing but to sum it up Evergreen reports MB to be
S661 Fxm (-S)/ s661 Fxm-7 in each of the 2 boxes.
There are different BIOS's for each variation but the current BIOS dates are different in each box and do not match ANY of the versions listed for any update package. To top it off any of the s661 based BIOS update packages don't like what it see's "not correct BIOS for this MB messages" so I'm currently stuck w/ whats there...

 

[Mondoman]

jeff, you may just be having build/design quality issues. After trying a couple of different non-Shuttle SFF boxes, I switched to Shuttle boxes because of frustrating intermittent USB and disk issues (not the same on each box). Shuttle puts a lot of engineering and quality control effort into its systems; the higher prices of Shuttle systems reflect that extra effort.

 

[jeffk55]

Yes, my thoughts as well. We bought these (Aopen custom models) because at the location they were going to be put, the size was perfect. I believe at the time (and apparently not anymore) aopen had a choice between these and shuttle boxes. Since I had good luck w/ most aopen products opted for the cheaper config. Odd thing was the newest exhibited the problem almost immediately, where the year older one was well behaved (this has currently changed and it's behaving like the second one).