SATA controller clogging!?

[bernardv]

I have a pretty strange problem; over time my onboard SATA controller seems to be getting slower and slower until it clogs up completly and disks become unoperational. Then I get a bluescreens or a no boot etc.. This gradual deterioration takes about a month. The only way to get back to normal is to:

- shut down the computer

- unplug SATA cables

- power on without the disks

- power off and re-plug the cables

 

After that everything is back to normal and I'm good for another month! I used to have a single disk, now I have two and it makes no differene. I also went from XP to Vista and now to Win 7 - no difference.

 

Another thing, I have a high bandwith internet connection and if I open a torrent, there can be a lot of traffic in both directions. This seems to speed up the process of clogging the controller. If I don't use a lot of P2P I can can go without a SATA unplug-re-plug for a longer time.

 

My specs:

MSI K9A2 Platinum (790FX/SB600 - yes SB600 is crappy but still it shouldn' do this)

PhII [email protected] (downclocking has no effect on this problem)

4 GB DDR2 RAM@1GHz

Radeon 4850

2 different SATA disks

[joel.monteiro]

I cant understand clogs up in sence ur HDD is getting full or does the speed get slow by time,this can be a problem with ur HDD also,have u tried using othere HDD on ur Pc?

[ebarone]

If its truely a motherboard problem, then try re-flashing the BIOS, ideally to a newer version. Then I guess try to find some chipset drivers, and lastly, maybe try to find a sata -> ide converter cable. If they exist, idk. If not, then its time for an upgrade!

[bernardv]

If its truely a motherboard problem, then try re-flashing the BIOS, ideally to a newer version. Then I guess try to find some chipset drivers, and lastly, maybe try to find a sata -> ide converter cable. If they exist, idk. If not, then its time for an upgrade!

 

My BIOS was updated when I bought the board, I don't wna't to do it myself since I've had some bad luck with that before. Drivers can't be the cause, because when the computer is in a bad state even BIOS can't find the disks. I'm not sure what would I do with a SATA/IDE converter.

 

As for upgrading; I have no need for a faster CPU whatsoever. I might buy a similar board, something with a SB750 if some magic solution doesn't appear in the near future. I'm worried though it might be the PSU. Changing the board is a masive undertaking if you count reinstalling the OS and all. If it turns out something else is the cause ... :angry2:

 

PS

I flashed the board. What the hell, I should at leats try this before I buy a new one. It went OK. I'll see in a few weeks if there is any difference.

Edited April 23, 2010 by bernardv

[ebarone]

No need to reinstall any OS if you get the same board! Anyways, good luck

[bernardv]

It was the #%!&%$! disk. I started benchmarking them when problems reapeard and one of them drew some pretty strange performance graphs. Then I bought a Seagate 7200.12 with the same 500 GB capacity, copied the contents over (including Windows 7 installation) and it booted no problem. Solved my PC at last and it cost me only 50€ and not much work! :thumbsup2: