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Bad Clusters on XPS 720
Hello there,
I am not entirely sure whether I am experiencing a hard disk problem or if something else might be going on, so I figured that I would start here. A couple of months ago, I purchased an XPS 720 (specs copied below). Its been working like a gem until a couple of nights ago. As I was gaming (World of Warcraft, doubt that it matters), I experienced a game crash. Trying to re-start, I was informed that game data files were corrupted and that it needed to roll back to a prior version. Fair enough, only the download of the previous version data files are also corrupted.
I have subsequently attempted to reinstall from my original disks, to a different directory on the drive, even to download Windows XP SP 3, all of which will plug away for a little bit but invariably report a corrupted data file. It seems like any file of some appreciable size is encountering this problem when I try to load it onto the drive, no matter from what source.
I have also run CHKDSK/Scandisk which reveals bad clusters that it reports in 5 different locations, supposedly clears them up, but which show up again in repeated CHKDSK/Scandisk runs. Also on the off chance I updated my virus protection, ran a full system scan which came up clean. I grabbed latest/greatest Spybot S&D, Adaware, and ProcessList. The only questionable content found were a few tracking cookies.
I'm a bit at my wit's end and wondering if I've just got a bum hard drive that I should call Dell to replace or what. Your insights and advice are greatly appreciated.
Specs
XPS 720, Intel Core2 processorQ6600 (2.40Ghz,1066FSB) w/QuadCore Technology and 8MB cache
4GB DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz OC 1066MHZ
512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT
250GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/ DataBurst Cache
Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005,English
16X DVD+R/RW CD-RW Combination Drive
Integrated Audio
mfinnan101
1.2K Posts
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May 23rd, 2008 13:00
It sounds like your hard drive has failed, or is failing - the Bad sectors and the problems with big files being the main indication.
A bad sector cannot be repaired, but it can be marked as unusable. Once marked as unusable, the Operating System will know not to attempt to store data in that bad sector. The storage capacity of the disk will be decreased by the amount of storage space in the bad sector.
Back up the hard drive up immediately. If the bad sector was caused by a faulty drive head, the problem can quickly spread to other sectors on the disk.
Since your machine is under warranty, it's best to contact Dell for a replacement.
Ryanh6178
670 Posts
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May 23rd, 2008 15:00
Before suggesting hardware....
What version of the Nvidia chipset driver do you have installed? There was a problem with a earlier version of the driver like 8.24 or so that could potentially shift the MFT (master file table) causing a catostrophic failure. I think that platform was using 8.22 before so it's possible the later version came over as an update.
Aside from checking that you may want to boot the diagnostics partition (unless hard drive is faulty) and run the hard drive diagnostics to ensure your drive is bad.
Mfinnan101 is right about making backups of critical data pretty quick too.
(By the way.... Nowadays, the drives have tons of spare sectors to allocate to when others are marked bad, so your capacity shouldn't diminish)
shesagordie
10 Elder
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46K Posts
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May 23rd, 2008 19:00
Try using Dell's diagnostic extended test, read, write, verify, on the hard drive, not the quickie express test.
How to use Dell's Diagnostic Utility
After the Dell Diagnostics loads and the Main Menu screen appears, click the button for the option you want.
Diagnostics can also, be run from the Drivers and Utilities Resource CD.
Bev.
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escotor
5 Posts
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May 26th, 2008 19:00
Thanks for the replies so far. :)
I've run the Dell Diagnostics in Custom, selecting most of the options for testing. Interesting enough, I got an error on the Low Bit Memory test, one of the RAM diagnostics. I am using the factory oc'd memory option with this setup, so I wonder if RAM might actually be the cause of corrupted data on large file downloads/installations. I'll be re-running the diags per the diag software suggestion, but its a little something more to go on at least.
shesagordie
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46K Posts
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May 26th, 2008 20:00
Try using the stand-alone Memory Diagnostic here.
Bev.
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escotor
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May 27th, 2008 12:00
shesagordie
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May 27th, 2008 18:00
Happy to hear that you found the 'culprit'.
Bev.
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Post the issue in the appropriate Board, where they will be answered.