computer crashes when moving big files

[Adi Head]

i'm having what seems to be a hardware issue. when trying to move big files (over 4GB) from one hard drive to another, after about half a minute, my computer crashes and restarts.

any ideas why this is happening?

[Rob Lohman]

Define "crash" please. Do you get any message at all?

[Lars Siden]

Hello Adi,

Just some general advices. Since the error shows on 4gb+ files it is close at hand suspecting:

1. FAT32 filesystem on one of the drives - go NTFS
2. Old driver for your HDD controller - make sure to get the latest from your motherboard manufacturer.
3. If you're on Win XP (pro) - first make sure that you're using NTFS, secondly install SP2 - will give you new drivers for almost all your (standard) hardware.

4. Far fetched idea - if you're using UDMA 5 drives, make sure that the cables connecting the HDD:s is indeed an UDMA 5 cable!

Good luck!

// Lazze \\

[Peter Moore]

Is one of your drives firewire by chance? That used to happen to me (I assume you mean blue screen of death followed by restart). It was the firewire drivers I think. It's also possible part of the disk could be corrupt so make sure to do a thorough disk check with the XP utilities.

[Adi Head]

hi. thanks for the responses.

rob: no messeage. it just turns off and reboots. when windows comes back on, it says there was an error and asks if i wish to report it.

lars: 1. all drives are NTFS 2. have latest driver 3. have sp2 4. not sure what udma 5 is, but i don't think i'm using them.

peter: drives are not firewire. they are both WD 7200 RPM IDE drives with 8MB cache.

i'm not writing from home at the moment, so i don't have all the spec info of my computer. i will post them the moment i can.

[Glenn Chan]

1- To help troubleshoot your problem, you can set Windows not to reboot on an error. Instead you will see a 'blue screen of death' (BSOD).

Go to Start --> settings --> control panel --> system --> advanced (tab) --> startup and recovery --> settings --> uncheck "automatically restart"

If your computer BSODs with a different error code each time, it's probably hardware. If it's the same, it's probably software.

2- You can run Speedfan and check on the SMART status of your drives. SMART is a self monitoring feature found in all of the new hard drives.

http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

3- You can check out Motherboard Monitor to see if you have problems with your power supply or a overheating case (which is really the northbridge chip in most cases).

http://mbm.livewiredev.com/download.html

4- What motherboard are you using?
What chipset is it?

[Adi Head]

hi glen. thanks for the advice and lincs. i'll run the tests you suggested and let you know what i find.

as for motherboard and chipset, i'm running an:

Intel Desktop Board D865PERL which usus Intel 865PE Chipset

[Adi Head]

hi glen. i checked out the links you posted. downloaded live wire. thanks.
the speed fan page has plenty of information about the software and a place where you can make a donation, but i couldn't find where to download the freeware anywhere.

wierd. or maybe i'm just missing it and it's right infront of me.

[Adi Head]

glen, i unchecked "automatically restart" as you suggested. but instead of waiting now for it to happen again and again, so that i can compare error messages, aren't the error messages archived somewhere where i can review them?

[Glenn Chan]

1- Downloading Speedfan: scroll down to the very bottom. There's a download section there.

Or hit Crtl F in your browser and search for "SpeedFan 4.15"

2- BSOD error codes might be in run --> eventvwr
or maybe not...

3- Your motherboard looks good. Intel chipsets generally have no stability/bugginess issues so it should not be a problem.

[Adi Head]

hi. i'm continuing this thread because the rebooting is still accuring. i have noticed that it doesn't only happen during transferring files. it happens also during rendering, or dvd burning. it doesn't happen consistantly. sometimes the operations are successful with no problems.

glen (if you're reading this), i unchecked the automatic restart configuration and it still restarts. i sometimes see a blue screen for a fraction of a second before it reboots. other times, the screen just goes black.

someone told me that this sounds like a problem with my power supply. but i don't feel like buying a new power supply only to realize afterwards, that my computer continues to reboot.

i'd like to run some tests (if there are any) to try and more or less figure out what the problem is.

can anyone coach me through such tests? i have no idea how to go about doing so.

thanks.

[Glenn Chan]

It might be easier to post a ticket at protonic.com, which gives free tech support (I volunteer there). The URL is http://www.protonic.com. Start a new account, put in your system specs, motherboard model # if you know it, and OS.

1- To check for PSU problems:

A- Try motherboard monitor. The readings for +12v, +5v, +3.3v shouldn't be off by more than +- 5%. Take readings when transferring a file or something like that.

B- Open up the side of your case and check that the capacitors aren't leaking or bulging. Pictures at:
http://www.careyholzman.com/caps/gallery.htm

C- If you have a volt or multi meter, you can manually measure voltages. Please ask for instructions. This is a little advanced though, but not difficult.

D- Swap PSU. (I wouldn't try this yet, see below.)

2- Try the following diagnostic programs too, which will stress test your computer.

Prime95
Prime95 is a distributed computing program that tries to find certain prime numbers. Its 'torture test' stresses your computer with mathematical calculations and checks the output against known results. This makes prime95 a good diagnostic for instability problems from your CPU and your RAM. Download it from:

http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft.htm

Run the “torture test” through options --> torture test --> Ok
Prime95 will stop immediately once it detects an error, and continue indefinitely if it does not. I suggest running Prime95 overnight as you do not need to watch this program run. Prime95 will log errors in results.txt in the installation directory. The icon will also turn from red to yellow when it detects an error.

Motherboard Monitor (MBM)
This program monitors your computer's temperatures and voltages. You want to get readings when your system is being stressed, so run MBM with another program like any recent 3d game or prime95. Download it and install it off:

http://mbm.livewiredev.com/download.html

Interpreting readings:
Right click the MBM system tray icon and click on settings. Click on high/low. The voltages (+3.3, +5.00, +12.00) should stay within 5% of 3.00V, 5.00V, and 12.00V. The CPU and 'case' temperature should be under 60C.

Try sending me a log file if possible.
A- Right click the MBM tray icon and click on settings. Click on 'Interval & Syslog' button in the left column of the settings menu.
B- Create the log file as a text document. Remember where you save it.
C- Follow the link at the bottom of this message.
D- Upload the log file by clicking on the Upload button and navigating to where the log file is.
Let me know if you encounter problems sending the log file.

*To get Motherboard Monitor working, you may need to know what motherboard you have. The utility CPU-Z can help you determine what model your motherboard is:

http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

Memtest86
Memtest is a good diagnostic tool for RAM. Run this if you are having problems with Prime95 (i.e. Your computer reboots or if Prime95 is finding errors). Decide whether you want to create a boot CD or boot floppy and download the right version off

http://www.memtest.org/#downiso

Use the installer to create a boot CD/floppy. Memtest will start testing immediately after you boot from the floppy/CD you have created. You do not need to press anything. If your computer did not boot into Memtest, you may need to adjust your BIOS settings so that the CD/floppy boots before the hard drive. The setting for this is usually named "boot device priority". If you do not find this, then refer to your motherboard's manual.

A single pass (look under the pass column) should be sufficient to check for RAM problems. Look under the errors column/listing to check if there are any errors. If not, hit escape to reboot and remove the CD/floppy. I recommend you start Memtest and leave it running overnight as it may take some time to complete 1 pass on old systems.

[Adi Head]

hi glen. thanks!!
i'll try out your suggestions. if i run into any problems i'll let you know.

adi