Hard Drive Imminent Failure?

[AuroEdge]

I have been receiving blue screens once or twice a day recently. Only useful info is it states there's a "Memory Parity Error" and within Windows of course the event log states there was an unexpected shutdown. Did the usual MemTest for 24hrs and Prime95 for 8 (both in DOS). Did fine.

This is the point where I'm wondering if the HDD is the culprit. It's 4+ years old after all. Here's the SMART data from HDTune:

HD Tune: Hitachi HTS721010G9SA00 Health

ID                               Current  Worst    ThresholdData     Status   
(01) Raw Read Error Rate         100      100      62       0        Ok       
(02) Throughput Performance      115      115      0        3419     Ok       
(03) Spin Up Time                253      253      33       0        Ok       
(04) Start/Stop Count            100      100      0        1048     Ok       
(05) Reallocated Sector Count    100      100      5        0        Ok       
(07) Seek Error Rate             100      100      0        0        Ok       
(08) Seek Time Performance       118      118      0        37       Ok       
(09) Power On Hours Count        27       27       0        32140    Ok       
(0A) Spin Retry Count            100      100      0        0        Ok       
(0C) Power Cycle Count           100      100      0        1024     Ok       
(BF) G-sense Error Rate          99       99       0        65538    Ok       
(C0) Power Off Retract Count     100      100      0        46       Ok       
(C1) Load Cycle Count            57       57       0        439964   Ok       
(C2) Temperature                 137      137      0        589864   Ok       
(C4) Reallocated Event Count     100      100      0        17       Ok       
(C5) Current Pending Sector      100      100      0        0        Ok       
(C6) Offline Uncorrectable       100      100      0        0        Ok       
(C7) Ultra DMA CRC Error Count   200      253      0        0        Ok       

Power On Time         : 32140
Health Status         : Ok

[MJA]

it could be from recent BIOS update,to video card driver ,,,
did u update/install anything?

did you test the hard drive using sea tools,or WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostic (works on any hard drive)
http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=502&sid=3&lang=en
try it under "extended test"

if you update the video card recently from your computer maker website.try to install one from ATI,or Nvidia

[AuroEdge]

I have not upgraded any hardware in the near past. Also, the issue persists after reinstalling Windows 7. I will try those extended tests. If the video card were to blame how would I be able to determine this?

[sum_guy]

I'm about 100% certain a memory chip is failing. A parity error gives an error state between the time the memory is written to and read back.

Another Possible solution, If you are trying to run with ECC enabled on a motherboard that supports both parity and ECC, change the ECC/parity BIOS setting to straight parity and try to reboot. If the parity error goes away, and returns when ECC is re-enabled, the chances are high that you have false parity memory in your PC. False or "logic" parity memory is designed to fool the standard motherboard parity circuits but will not work if you set the machine to run with ECC. The only good solution is to replace the memory.

The parity error may occur consistently or intermittently. It is also normal to see parity errors in Windows but not in DOS because Windows exercises the memory much more than DOS does.

Look at the error screen to see if the system is giving you any sort of memory address that indicates where the parity error is occurring, write it down. Reboot and run the system and see if the same address comes up again, and then reboot a third time. Take note of whether or not the memory location changes.

Parity errors are generated whenever the built-in error detection and correction system in the chipset determines that a memory error has occurred. The message is generally the same whether standard parity checking is enabled, or the more advanced ECC detection and correction. When an error of this sort occurs with ECC enabled, it means that an error of two bits or more (which ECC cannot correct) has been encountered.

I've seen this alot in pc hardware over the years, if you don't have addressing conflicts in device manager etc, doesn't do it at boot up or does it randomly, you need some new memory chips.

[AuroEdge]

Exactly as you have predicted from experience, this glitch occurs completely at random. There is no memory address referenced. If it happens again, which I'm sure it will, I will replace the RAM with modules I know to be in good working order. Rinse, wash, repeat. I guess even Corsair RAM fails too .

[Bjs]

Enter bios and check memory timings is not set to auto ... if so change to the required setting, save and reboot ... see if blue screen problem has reduced ... if continue but less frequently return to bios and lower memory timings ... save and reboot.

It's what you should do before considering buying replacement memory to be sure the issue is ram related.

[TimA-C]

Windows will often throw out memory sounding error messages even though it's actually a problem with the hard drive that caused the error. That's because Windows refers to it's swap and temporary files as virtual memory, so it could still be a hard drive problem. Before you start doing all the drive checks, please make sure that you've got everything important backed up. If the drive is starting to fail, stressing it like that could cause it to die completely.

Another few things to check;-

1. CPU and motherboard chipset temps - check that none of the heatsinks are clogged up with fluff and that the fans are clean and freely spinning.

2. If you've got more than one stick of RAM in, try removing all but one of them and see if the problem still happens. Cycle through the sticks to make sure that a) they all work by themselves, and b) that they work together - i.e. no timing issues.

3. Check the voltages from your power supply. Ideally they should all be within plus or minus 5% of their nominal values. (Power supply should also be "man enough" to run your system, but if you haven't changed anything recently then this shouldn't be an issue)

Any one of the three things above could account for the fault you describe.

Good luck in tracking the problem down and let us know how you get on.

[Nelson37]

Memory testing software is a complete waste of time. Absolutely worthless. Probably been over 10 years since I bothered to run one. They don't tell you they are bad when they are, plus they tell you they are good when they aren't.

Swap the memory sticks, with the frequency of error you describe you will have an absolute and complete answer within 4 to 8 hours. Side bonus, when you find out what the problem was it will already be solved.

[TBoneit]

Memory testing software is a complete waste of time. Absolutely worthless. Probably been over 10 years since I bothered to run one. They don't tell you they are bad when they are, plus they tell you they are good when they aren't.

Swap the memory sticks, with the frequency of error you describe you will have an absolute and complete answer within 4 to 8 hours. Side bonus, when you find out what the problem was it will already be solved.

I will somewhat disagree with memory tests being useless.

If they say the memory is bad it has always been proven bad.

When they say the memory is good it is not always good.

OTOH I see that HP has started including a memory test in the setup on some laptops and Dell has had a decent memory test and hardware diagnostic tests in their diagnostic partition for many years. They must feel it is worth doing.

[AuroEdge]

I swapped the RAM and the errors persist. They happen at least once every two days and as much as 3-4 daily. Let me note that the laptop does have one of those mobile nvidia video cards from the line that had a lot of failures. It's possible that if it's failing it could cause blue screens of this variety?