Several System Errors

[freefaller]

Hello all, I have had a number of problems creep into my system not limited to but mainly during the past 3 months (had PC for 11) and I am unsure what the cause is; whether it is a hardware failure or not i.e. disk drive or RAM etc.

An exhaustive list is below:

1. Having to reinstall Norton Internet Security numerous times due to application errors
2. Latest NVidia driver stopping responding causing blank screen before recovering
3. Start up errors which requried safe boot as normal boot would perform automatic shutdown and memory dump; start up repair requiring registry roll back
4. Frequently requirng disk checks and finding files needing bad clusters replaced
5. sfc checks which have discovered corrupt files that could not be repaired (I have a copy of the log)
6. Numerous critical event log errors regarding applications etc.
7. Recently backed up files onto another internal and two external drives and then defragmented all drives, now disk defragmenter will not open manually with the following error isk Defragmenter is currently using customized settings created by another program. Before you can modify the schedule, you must remove the settings. Click remove settings problem remains (I have not changed settings)
8. Looked online for defragmenter issue and some threads suggesed fix through Task scheduler (I have never used) however when I opened task scheduler I received the following error messages:
1.User_Feed_Synchronisation-{C5C78372-7499-4A82-A52D-9ECC5AF5E101}: The task image is corrupt or has been tampered with.
2. Task ScheduledDefrag: The task image is corrupt or has been tampered with.
3. Task Windows Backup Monitor: The task image is corrupt or has been tampered with.
4. Task AutomaticBackup: The task image is corrupt or has been tampered with.


As you can see I have a number of system issues which are making the PC unreliable and troublesome to use, and I cannot afford to spend large amounts of time repeatedly attempting to fix errors if the issues are not being resolved. Any help you could provide in solving these issues would be much appreciated.

 

[Pete]

It does sound like a physical disk problem, you might find that formatting and a reinstall will solve it (in the short term) as it will possibly use non problematic parts of the disk.

I would ring PCS, see what they suggest first, i'm fairly confident they'll just swap your HDD.

 

[freefaller]

Thanks Pete, currently running WD DLGDIAG to see if there is a recognisable error. Was hoping that I would not have to format and reinstall (never done anything like that before). I also see from Asus website that there is a BIOS update, would this make a difference, can't imagine it would solve all the above issues. Also, regards updating the BIOS, would doing so wipe my OC settings?

Anyway, first things first, verifying disk drive first.

Btw, I see that you have a very similar spec to me, how long have you had and have you ever had any bother with your WD drives?

 

[Gorman]

BIOS update would indeed wipe any saved OC profiles and is unlikely to help anyway, BIOS updates are best used to target specific issues that they address.

To me, as above i would be looking at the hard drive first.

 

[Unwina]

BIOS update would indeed wipe any saved OC profiles and is unlikely to help anyway, BIOS updates are best used to target specific issues that they address.

... snipped

so if that were to happen say, I lost the OC settings that is, how would I get them back. I was hoping I might save them to disk but I guess not.

Just curious as I've had tendency to always update BIOSes as they don't always mention the items that are fixed in my experience in the past any way.

 

[Pete]

i can't see a bios update helping myself, and no; my pc is only 6 months old and no HDD problems thus far (touch wood). Any drive from any manufacturer has a lifespan, there is no real way of knowing if it's 1 week or 11 years, normally they go after a short period or last for years and years.

a reinstall or setting up windows on a new HDD is straight forward, just need to insert and boot from your windows CD and it will guide you from there. If you do indeed have a dodgy disk then there is no real benefit in reinstalling as you'll just be delaying the inevitable and all this will happen again.

at least you have backups, that's the main worry - you're lucky the disk is struggling along, often you'll just hear a "clunk" and that will be it.

 

[freefaller]

so if that were to happen say, I lost the OC settings that is, how would I get them back. I was hoping I might save them to disk but I guess not.

Just curious as I've had tendency to always update BIOSes as they don't always mention the items that are fixed in my experience in the past any way.

If you log on to main site the settings are on your order; I was interested to see whether a BIOS update was needed/required, unfortunatel my disk is cooked

 

[freefaller]

Thanks Gorman and Pete for your responses, ran WD DLGDIAG extended test, drive failed test with error code 08- which apparently is a SMART Error: Self Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology (SMART) Error returned during SMART Status/Self Test Command. The drive is defective.

WD's recommendation, replace drive (Noooooooooooooo!!!). Chose not to attempt repair of bad sectors just in case it wiped areas I may have wanted to access in the meantime.

As you say Pete guess I am lucky it has survived this long, the errors just kept creeping in and me doing patch repair jobs by reinstalling programs/applications and disk checks.

Time for a new drive I think, take it I shouldn't be too worried about receving the same model as all components bust from time to time?

 

[Pete]

i would be happy with any make drive these days, i tend to stay clear of the largest size drives and wait until they're reliable - also means by then they're cheaper. I thought 2 or 2.5 would be the limit at the moment but i see Samsung have a 4tb drive in prototype and Seagate & Western Digital produce 3tb - won't be touching them for a while. :¬)