): Crashing

[Sodifficult]

Hello Everyone,

I'm here to seek help for an ongoing issue my desktop has been suffering from. It's less than a year old and it was purchased from pcspecialist. The problem is, I'll be in the middle of something (not even anything intensive), and my system will shut down, presenting me with that dreadful blue screen, featuring the ever so popular smiley face. Often when I try to turn it back on it tells me the following "Reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media in selected boot device" or sometimes says "Missing Operating System"

(note, I do not have an extended warranty). Any help would be greatly appreciated. I originally purchased this custom build for gaming and editing. For the most part, it does that.

PC Specifications:

 

[Boozad]

It sounds as if your HDD could be on the way out.

 

[ubuysa]

It might help if you listed the name of the Blue Screen error, on Windows 8 it's just after where it says "You can search for the error online". On Windows 7 it's a Stop Code (0x000000C4 for example) near the bottom of the screen.

Boozad's diagnosis is probably right though, it does sound like a flaky HDD. You could download HDTune from http://www.hdtune.com/index.html and check the SMART data for errors, you could also do a drive test and benchmark with HDTune (it's a 15 day trial version).

In any even you would be wise to backup all your user data to an external HDD as soon as you can.

 

[Sodifficult]

The error doesn't stay up long enough before restarting. What are my options. Replace the drive? Not sure how to go about installing a new one. I suppose it involves wiping my while computer?

 

[ubuysa]

The error doesn't stay up long enough before restarting. What are my options. Replace the drive? Not sure how to go about installing a new one. I suppose it involves wiping my while computer?

Not to worry, as Boozad said, it sounds like a drive problem or possibly a filesyetem problem. Get hold of HDTune as I suggested. The SMART data that it will display is recorded by the drive and it will be fairly easy for you to see if there are drive errors being reported. HDTune can also surface test the disk and benchmark it (which gives it a pretty good workout). The trial version can be used free for 15 days which is long enough for you to check the drive out.

It might also be worth checking your filesystem. The easiest way to do this is to click on My Computer, right click on your HDD and select Properties. Click the Tools tab and then click the Check Disk for Errors button. You will be asked to reboot so let Windows reboot and the disk check will run. At the end it will tell you whether any errors were found. Often the disk check can correct any errors.

Be sure to backup all of your user data before you do either of these things!

 

[Sodifficult]

Thanks for the response, running some tests on it now with HDTune, as suggested. I'll post the results here when done. The file system reported no errors, fortunately. Could it at all be related to a loose connection between the HDD and motherboard?

 

[Boozad]

It wouldn't hurt to check them.

 

[vanthus]

If the PC restarts too quick for you to read the BSOD error message,disable automatic restart.to do this type SYSDM.CPL in the Start Search box.
Click the "Advanced" tab and click the "Settings" button under "Startup and Recovery"
Un-check the option Automatically Restart.

 

[Sodifficult]

If the PC restarts too quick for you to read the BSOD error message,disable automatic restart.to do this type SYSDM.CPL in the Start Search box.
Click the "Advanced" tab and click the "Settings" button under "Startup and Recovery"
Un-check the option Automatically Restart.

Thanks, Vanthus. I've disabled automatic restart, so if these tests that are currently running do not show results, I'll at least be able to rely on the error message when it inevitably happens again.

 

[Sodifficult]

Alright, so here are the results of the tests I ran with HDTune

 

[ubuysa]

There doesn't appear to be anything terribly wrong with your hard drive. Can you click the Health tab and post an image of that please? That will display the SMART data for that drive, any errors will be recorded in there.

It might be worth checking all the drive connections if you haven't already and with the tip from vanthus you should be able to capture the BSOD error. You mention the "smily face" which suggests you're running Windows 8, so we'll need the text just after where it says "You can search for the error online" (we need the text that's in capitals). If you run Windows 7 we need the Stop Code (0x000000C4 for example) near the bottom of the screen.

 

[Sodifficult]

Not sure why that wasn't included in that post.

I am indeed running Windows 8.

 

[ubuysa]

I'm not happy with the Raw Read Error Count or the Seek Error Count, the CRC Error Count is also not good (and has been flagged as such). My hard drive has a Read Error Count of 1, a Seek Error Count of 0 and a CRC Error Count of 0, my Power On Hours (2342) is similar to yours so my drive has had the same use (roughly).

I would email PCS with that image and ask their advice. I know it says OK by those numbers but they just don't look right to me. Something looks to be amiss with that disk and I would want it replacing unless PCS could convince me otherwise.

 

[Sodifficult]

As an update, I contacted PC Specialist and got the following response,

"It does sound like you're having HDD issues if it is dropping out and can't find the HDD on reboot.

I think it would be worth replacing this preliminarily to make sure, as it should not be doing that!

If we can assist you any further, please do not hesitate to contact us."

Great.

 

[ubuysa]

They're good guys at PCS.

Edit: ....and I'm sure there are lots of good ladies too! (I've already made that mistake once ).

 

[Boozad]

As an update, I contacted PC Specialist and got the following response,

"It does sound like you're having HDD issues if it is dropping out and can't find the HDD on reboot.

I think it would be worth replacing this preliminarily to make sure, as it should not be doing that!

If we can assist you any further, please do not hesitate to contact us."

Great.

Problems happen with hardware all the time, it's how the seller deals with those problems that count. In this case you're dealing with PCS and they'll sort you out as quickly and painlessly as possible, try and remember they can't help a piece of third party hardware having issues.

 

[Sodifficult]

Problems happen with hardware all the time, it's how the seller deals with those problems that count. In this case you're dealing with PCS and they'll sort you out as quickly and painlessly as possible, try and remember they can't help a piece of third party hardware having issues.

Problem is, it's at a cost to me that a HDD is having issues despite not even being a year old. It's kinda frustrating. Also, as an update, my PC crashed today and as I did disable auto restart, here's the message it showed and the message after trying to reset.

 

[ubuysa]

Problem is, it's at a cost to me that a HDD is having issues despite not even being a year old. It's kinda frustrating. Also, as an update, my PC crashed today and as I did disable auto restart, here's the message it showed and the message after trying to reset.

View attachment 3980View attachment 3981

Actually that BSOD could be caused by anything, but given your HDD history it's likely to be the same HDD issue.

AFAIK PCS will ship your new HDD free to you so I don't see where the cost to you comes in? As Boozad said, hardware fails and it really isn't anyone's fault. There is no way PCS would have knowingly put a failing hard disk in your PC. The good news is that PCS will fix it, other manufacturers might be more difficult to deal with, some will insist that you return the PC to them to fix for example. It's just part of life's rich tapestry.

 

[Rakk]

AFAIK PCS will ship your new HDD free to you so I don't see where the cost to you comes in? .

If only the 'Standard' warranty was selected (which I think it was), then courier charges/postage may cost the OP since I presume it's over a month old (or if he is not in the mainland UK), that's the only thing I can think of for costs.

 

[Sodifficult]

Though after the message above to PCS, nothing was really said. Which of course makes me think I'm needing to purchase a new HDD. Also, this build had a failing GPU not long after purchase (07/01/2013) which they replaced. So naturally I'm a little stressed that it's given me a lot of grief, yknow?

"GPU Giving corruption under stress.
Replaced GPU.
Tested OK"