Intermittent hard disk I/O errors

For the past 2 years or so (4 year old custom build) I've been getting random moments where everything stops responding (or takes a very long time to respond) followed by I/O and HDD not detected errors on restart. To fix it, all I usually need to do is unplug my SATA cables from the HDD and mobo and plug them back in again and the problem disappears, at least for a little while (it ranges anywhere from a day to a few months time). Sometimes even a startup repair does the job. I've done multiple reformats and have also ran chkdsk more times than I can remember and both do not seem to help in the long run. Both the drives seem to be exhibiting the same problem. Have both my hdds been "dying" for the past couple of years, even though they are fully functional besides these occasional hiccups? Does the issue lie elsewhere? All feedback is appreciated.

System specs:

Biostar Tpower i45 mobo
2x WD Caviar 640GB HDDs
Zalman 750w psu
Radeon 5870 gpu
2x2gb Gskill DDR2 RAM

Win7 64

AugB

Posted 2012-09-01T19:28:59.467

Reputation: 31

1Try contact cleaner on the SATA connections and/or new SATA cables. – sawdust – 2012-09-01T19:37:57.940

Just having a stab here that maybe the motherboard is at fault, and I'm sure you've tried using different SATA ports. Looking forward to any more solutions that come your way, hope all goes well for ya. – Jonathan – 2012-09-01T22:10:17.533

Answers

I've been having exactly the same problem for ~3 years now, and as it happens, I'm also using a Biostar T-power I45. My best theory so far is that the SATA cables repeatedly work their way loose over time, because the SATA ports on the I45 don't have the little lip (which most boards have) for the clip on a SATA cable to latch onto. I'm going to see if I can find a PCI SATA Controller to try next.

David

Posted 2012-09-01T19:28:59.467

Reputation: 31

Seems like there is some problem with the SATA cable.
I had similar problem with my portable, I found out that the connection at port was lose, So I bought a new cable and changed the casing with a cheap duplicate. Its been 2 months and it is working fine.

Ankit

Posted 2012-09-01T19:28:59.467

Reputation: 4 082

Nice suggestion. Seems worth a try. – Jonathan – 2012-09-01T22:09:24.213

I would try good quality sata cable replacement to. I had a drive loose connection on one of my systems and just moving it to a different port worked. since you tried that I would go with a new cable then I would suspect the controller on the system. If you have a cheepo pci... sata card you could try it off that to. – Kendrick – 2012-09-02T04:44:38.607

Try replacing the CMOS battery - as according to our conversation, when you reset the CMOS, it fixes the issue. So maybe your CMOS battery is dead or dying.

Jonathan

Posted 2012-09-01T19:28:59.467

Reputation: 351

Just remove all power cables to HDD drives and replug again. It solved problem ot intermittent freeze of windows 7 for me.

Momin

Posted 2012-09-01T19:28:59.467

Reputation: 1