RAID 1 Chkdsk shows bad sectors

[goombawaho]

I personally (for a change) had a computer problem today. My PC shut off out of the blue and then I got a corrupt registry file message.

I managed to do a manual system restore of both SYSTEM and SOFTWARE registry files to get it booted again. Then I had a corrupt profile, which I had to migrate over to a new profile.

Here's the interesting thing and my question. It's a RAID 1 array with 2 hard drives (Promise Fast Trak Raid). When I did a ChkDsk on the file system from a BartPE command prompt, it told me twice in a row that I had x amount in bad sectors.

So, which hard drive is it referring to or is it part of the Logical drive???? I guess I need to take my own advice and run the manufacturer's hard drive utility on each drive separately and with one drive disconnected from the system to get an idea about the status of each drive.

Does anyone concur??????? There would be no way to tell from ChkDsk which drive is having the bad sectors.

 

[goombawaho]

Ok, so the Western Digital Extended Scan of each drive shows no errors/problems.

So, why does Chkdsk think there are bad sectors???

 

[Freestone]

A long shot, but have you tried running a memory check? Perhaps a memory error is causing Chkdsk to think sectors are bad.

 

[goombawaho]

Yep - memory tests just fine.

Same thing happened again yesterday - spontaneous reboot, corrupted registry hives, restored registry (this time via a windows system restore), then my new profile was corrupt (again). This is getting ANNOYING.

The ChkDsk says 4kb in bad sectors yet both hard drives (tested attached to a different computer and separately) test 100% fine.

I'm starting to wonder if it's the power supply - otherwise why the spontaneous reboot as if you pressed the reset button.

 

[firewolfrl]

have you looked to see if the CPU is getting too hot?
heat will do this.

I have to say you need to have the hard drive utility and test each drive to see if there is a bad drive....the corruption though I am seeing is you have a serious hardware failure.

Did you update the raid drivers lately?

I am leaning toward bad ram or CPU...
I am also leaning to a overheated drive

good luck

 

[kjv1611]

Could it not very well be the RAID card itself going bad? Seems to me that'd be the next possible culprit, since the HDDs both seem to check out... I'm assuming you've already at least glanced at the CPU temps, but regardless, I'm thinking the RAID card is the next most likely problem.

Have you tried reseating the RAID card?

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[goombawaho]

Well, it's weird. I had put an extra stick of memory in recently, though I tested the memory thoroughly before leaving it in.

After the 2nd crash, I removed the memory and did a regular system restore instead of one from the Bart PE environment. And now, things have been quiet for about 4 days (knock on wood).

So, I can't say that it was adding the memory or having not done a full System Restore from the windows environment that was the cause.

It is an older machine (circa 2002!!!) so anything is possibly just wearing out.

 

[firewolfrl]

Memory does that...sometimes there is no rhyme or reason.
You might want to check and see if the ChkDsk comes clean now that you removed bad memory.

 

[Freestone]

The best memory test is an Operating System since its read/write accesses are so random, so it may well have been memory. I guess the only way to prove it would be to add the suspect memory back in.

Any bulged caps in that older machine?

 

[goombawaho]

Yeah, I'm NOT putting the memory back in because it corrupts my profile when it does what it did and that's a major pain. This is my main PC, so I don't like playing Russian roulette with it. I'm just about to replace it, but I wanted a clean transition to the new machine not a "gun against my head" forced transition.

I will run Chkdsk when I get a chance.

 

[kjv1611]

I'm just about to replace it, but I wanted a clean transition to the new machine not a "gun against my head" forced transition.

I'm with you on that one for sure! I've been down both roads, and the clean transition is far more enjoyable.

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me