Hard drive damaged?

By ozo Posted July 29, 2008 13:47:18

I have actually two problems... and a feeling that they're connected.

First is that Spore trial installer (as i said in other thread, though i've now given up with it) and a couple of other installers complaing about non-matching files or something like that and that storage device I.E. my laptop's hard drive might be damaged and this is what worries me. Also some zip, 7zip, rar etc. files have corrupted files (appear either as gibberish or the unzip program thinks they're encrypted [programs used: 7zip, IZarc and TUGzip, all have same problems]) no matter where i download them or how many times. Particularly sound and picture files have problems (a Starcraft map pack had a map that had sound files and program kept that map as corrupted too). My other computer doesn't get "corrupted" files when downloaded from same source. No stuff installed from CDs have this problem or SDcentral or Blizzard's WoW patch DLers but which i find a bit strange.. It doesn't matter whether the same file is downloaded with IE or Firefox2/3... it's still corrupted. Renaming when the browser asks where to put file doesn't help either.
Scandisk and the disk repair tool (what's it in english?) don't find mistakes on harddrive and no viruses on disk neither...
EDIT: Noticed just that certain sized zip, rar, etc. files are "corrupted". I think those that are are over 15MB are easily corrupted... and it doesn't matter what the zip contains. Doing further testing now.
EDIT2: Made a 7z file that contained 4 .exe files, size just over 20MB and unpacked it... no problems... maybe this concerns only downloaded files.

Second problem is that Flash videos on browsers (possibly others too) tend to freeze but sound still works, even if the file's fully downloaded. Same with downloaded avi, wmv and some other types.. Also pics viewed with Firefox (as i don't use IE regularly, only if i have to test whether something works at all :/) are sometimes... disarranged, apparently corrupted (as i said, zipped pics tend to be "corrupted"). They work usually after restart though.

I have feeling that you really can't help but i'd like to hear what you thing this problem might be.

Also here are the laptop's specs:
Asus' laptop
Vista home premium (works fine, if a bit slow shut down/restart, sometime frozen during those and i had to forcibly close the laptop, if the HD is damaged this might be the reason...)
ATI radeon (mobility) HD 2600
3 gigs of memory
HD is some 250 gigs large, split in two drives C: and D:.
Web connection is WLAN, the older computer is in same modem but wired connetion, no problems with this.

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It may be a software issue rather than hardware. Have you scanned for viruses and/or malware?

I thought i said that the HD is clean of viruses etc.
Registry is fine too, no problems there.
And the "corrupted" installers stated that storage device, I.E. the hard drive in this case, might be damaged.
So... that's why i'm worrying it might be hardware problem.

Another possibility is that this laptop has heat problems with HD but i don't get any shutdowns or crashes even when playing something graphics intensive so this isn't very propable.

hard drives have to get really hot to overheat. this sounds too extensive and systematic to be a few bad sectors on your HDD. and the thing about hard drive failure is, when they die, they die completely. usually the only symptoms beforehand are clicking noises or long access times. most HDDs have error recovery protocols build into their firmware, so even when they do make the occasional mistake, it's invisible to the user.

this sounds to me like data corruption is happening on the motherboard (similar to the data corruption errors on 780i chipsets). the only other idea i can think of, it could be that the CPU is overheating. you could try under-clocking it in BIOS, but before anything else, if the laptop is still under warranty, you should call ASUS support immediately.

The laptop certainly doesn't overheat... and no strange noises. Motherboard problem?
Craaap...
The laptop was bought few months ago, warranty was 2 years i think.
I'll back up stuff and call support... and probably have to wait a couple months till the laptop comes back from support right?

Thanks for help anyway.

BTW did i mention that this has been problem only for few weeks, some 4-6 weeks i think.
...
No i didn't mention, but that probably doesn't matter.

I don't understand how i run into different problems so often :/
I certainly don't do anything wrong, except maybe shut down the computer improperly.
Lol.

and probably have to wait a couple months till the laptop comes back from support right?

i'm not too sure about that. Asus is known for very strong support, though my sense there is limited to their North American support division.

BTW did i mention that this has been problem only for few weeks, some 4-6 weeks i think.

the same thing happens with nVidia's 780i chipsets. some people experience flawless performance; others would go through 5 montherboards in 2 months. it's just the (bad) luck of the draw.

I don't understand how i run into different problems so often :/
I certainly don't do anything wrong, except maybe shut down the computer improperly.
Lol.

that really shouldn't matter, unless by "improper shutdown" you mean completely removing the battery/power supply while the computer is on. that wouldn't be such a good idea.

some people just have bad luck. i've only ever had one piece of hardware fail on me, a 270 watt PSU in a crappy little Dell. can't say that was too much of a surprise.

The improper shutdown (dunno really the right words here... i understand english very well but writing and speaking...), i meant that i just keep the power button pressed till the laptop shuts down. Usually this has happened when i first try to restart or shut down Windows... i lose my patience with Vista's long shut down process or that and press power button. I'm pretty sure it has crashed few times during shut down process... I know better than to take of the battery while the computer's used.
I can imagine the results

Hmm i need to check what chipset is on this laptop... (Can i see this in Windows or do i look for the printed manual?EDIT nothing in manual, didn't find anything in Windows, when i restart this, i'll check BIOS..)

As for other stuff, i have a slightly pessimistic view on the world. I just remembered that i've read somewhere that Asus has good support. And as for my luck... well i was born 13th of april 1990... and 13th day happened to be Friday. I'm not superstisious though

Usually i have ok luck but when it comes to computers etc. *grins grimly*

EDIT about support... The laptop was packed in two boxes. A large box that had the carrying bag and etc. and smaller box where the actual laptop was... I assume that the larger box didn't have any serials or anything else as anyone could've seen them and used them for something (o.O can't really think why though). The smaller box has the serial and something about specs... i hope we didn't make mistake when when we threw the large box to dumbster... it didn't seem to have anything relevant.. *sigh*

The improper shutdown (dunno really the right words here... i understand english very well but writing and speaking...)

i have no problem understanding you

the comment about improper shutdown was a joke.

my guess would be that it's something from the intel 900 series. a few of the models there were optimized for low power usage. i highly doubt it's an nvidia chipset, and i can't imagine it being a 780i. i only mentioned that as an example. intel chipsets are pretty good in general, but there's no accounting for the occasional defect.

i hope we didn't make mistake when when we threw the large box to dumbster...

most of the time OEM (original equipment manufacturers) print the serial numbers their support teams will need directly onto the product. there's a good chance there's a label somewhere on your laptop itself.

good luck with Asus! i myself have a bad pattern of not having problems with things until the day after the warranty runs out