Performance Pro 256 freezing on chkdsk or disk scan

[EggRogue]

Hi,

 

As the title suggests I'm having an issue where a chkdsk will freeze at exactly the same spot every time I run it. This is when using the "scan for an attempt recovery of bad sectors" option.

 

In the past I have performed numerous scans without problems but now it fails every time at the same point.

 

One this occurs, I must eventually reset the machine, as otherwise it will never progress.

 

After resetting the machine, the drive will then no longer be detected by the marvell controller and I cannot boot.

 

From here I must power down the computer. Once I've powered up again, everything starts and runs normally.

 

I've also used HD Tune to do an error scan with very similar results - it gets to a particular spot when the scan freezes - and eventually the whole computer stops responding.

 

I would like to image the drive and get a new one, however any imaging software I use also runs into the exact same issue - when attempting to read that particular bad sector it will freeze. So a disk image is not possible.

 

I've attached an screengrab of HDTune's health stats - you can see there are no reported errors or bad sectors. The only suspicious stat is power on hours count - I've had this drive for 14 months - that means it could only have been on for approx 10,000 hours, and that's if I had left it on 24 hours a day since I obtained it, which I haven't. So the figure of 17,000 is impossible.

 

Any thoughts appreciated.

[Toasted]

Plug the drive into a Intel SATA port. Does it still freeze?

[EggRogue]

Plug the drive into a Intel SATA port. Does it still freeze?

 

Hi Toasted,

 

Thanks for your reply. I could try that, but I'm just wondering if you have reason to believe that would solve the problem. Have you experienced this before? It's been in the marvell SATA port for over a year without issues until now. Any reason to think the controller would be responsible for the freezing?

 

Thanks again.

[Toasted]

I've seen people on this forum who plug their drives in a third party controller e.g. Marvell and experience problems such as freezing, drive not being detected and other errors.

 

I'd suggest you plug it into the Intel SATA ports just to make sure the drive is working or you can plug it into a different computer. I also forgot to add, run a ATTO benchmark. That will test the drive's performance.

[EggRogue]

I've seen people on this forum who plug their drives in a third party controller e.g. Marvell and experience problems such as freezing, drive not being detected and other errors.

 

I'd suggest you plug it into the Intel SATA ports just to make sure the drive is working or you can plug it into a different computer. I also forgot to add, run a ATTO benchmark. That will test the drive's performance.

 

Thanks again Toasted,

 

I appreciate your response, and I understand where you're coming from. However I just want to be clear that:

 

1) The drive has run perfectly for 14 months in the Marvell controller, with full chkdsk scans, ATTO benchmarks and everything else completing without problems.

 

2) The drive is still working now - I'm still using the computer with no problems - it boots, loads and runs fine - except for when I do a full disc scan/image, and only then freezes on the same exact point every time.

 

3) It's only once I've gotten to the freeze point that the drive is not recognised on reboot - almost like it's still 'stuck' somehow. Powering down is then the only way to 'unstick' the drive.

 

In short, the drive is functioning as thought there is a bad sector - but for some reason it is not possible to flag that bad sector as bad and simply avoid if in the future - which is what would happen with a conventional drive.

 

My thinking is that a controller issue would have caused problems long before now, but I'll try your idea anyway as it seems I've got no other option.

[Mikesnow]

I am assuming these are the performance pro 3 drives? I have 2 of them in raid0 and encountered a similar issue. Those drives if I remember correctly have a marvell controller on the drive and that's why I bout them for raid0 since there was no trim support the marvell controller on the drive used a similar technology for garbage collection. So even in radi0 you had trim. When mine hung before I imaged them and secure erased them, then reinstalled, and I haven't had an issue since. The only time it ever happened was when windows wanted to run a chkdsk. I won't speculate as to why this happened, however get your data backed up asap, then I would try a secure erase and reinstall. If it won't fix the issue then it could be bad and need an rma. That's what I would try if you can. there is a sticky thread that will walk you threw it if you need it.

[EggRogue]

I am assuming these are the performance pro 3 drives? I have 2 of them in raid0 and encountered a similar issue. Those drives if I remember correctly have a marvell controller on the drive and that's why I bout them for raid0 since there was no trim support the marvell controller on the drive used a similar technology for garbage collection. So even in radi0 you had trim. When mine hung before I imaged them and secure erased them, then reinstalled, and I haven't had an issue since. The only time it ever happened was when windows wanted to run a chkdsk. I won't speculate as to why this happened, however get your data backed up asap, then I would try a secure erase and reinstall. If it won't fix the issue then it could be bad and need an rma. That's what I would try if you can. there is a sticky thread that will walk you threw it if you need it.

 

Hi Mike,

 

There is no such thing as a Performance Pro 3. There is only Performance 3 (older) and Performance Pro (newer). Mine is the Performance Pro.

 

Also I currently cannot image the drive as the imaging process runs into the bad sector and causes the drive to hang.

 

I wonder if there might be the possibility of a Corsair response to this...?

[Mikesnow]

Hi Mike,

 

There is no such thing as a Performance Pro 3. There is only Performance 3 (older) and Performance Pro (newer). Mine is the Performance Pro.

 

Also I currently cannot image the drive as the imaging process runs into the bad sector and causes the drive to hang.

 

I wonder if there might be the possibility of a Corsair response to this...?

 

if you look at my pc spec link thingy near my name it seems as tho you have the same ones I have. They will respond it takes time, but they will likely tell you to do what I just told you. If you can't image the drive can you at least get your important data from the drive? you said it works fine, but only hangs when you try to run chkdsk. If it's doing like mine it's stuck in the chkdsk before you can boot into windows, and you will need to pull the data off from within dos. Can you get it to boot into safe mode to get your data? You might have to lose all your data, the secure erase and reinstall normally fixes these types of issues your having, and that's why they have it sticky at the top of these boards. The corsair people will likely take several hours to respond since it is several hours out of their normal business hours, if I had to guess a minimum of 10hours.

[EggRogue]

if you look at my pc spec link thingy near my name it seems as tho you have the same ones I have. They will respond it takes time, but they will likely tell you to do what I just told you. If you can't image the drive can you at least get your important data from the drive? you said it works fine, but only hangs when you try to run chkdsk. If it's doing like mine it's stuck in the chkdsk before you can boot into windows, and you will need to pull the data off from within dos. Can you get it to boot into safe mode to get your data? You might have to lose all your data, the secure erase and reinstall normally fixes these types of issues your having, and that's why they have it sticky at the top of these boards. The corsair people will likely take several hours to respond since it is several hours out of their normal business hours, if I had to guess a minimum of 10hours.

 

Mike,

 

As I've already mentioned, the drive is working and I can boot to windows. The only issue is when doing an operation that runs over the entirety of the disk, such as chkdsk, or a disk scan or disk imaging that it will then hang.

 

A full reformat and reinstall and then restore old data is a heck of a process to go through just on the off chance it might fix the problem.

 

You say 10 hours? It's been three days since I originally posted with no corsair response...

[Mikesnow]

Mike,

 

As I've already mentioned, the drive is working and I can boot to windows. The only issue is when doing an operation that runs over the entirety of the disk, such as chkdsk, or a disk scan or disk imaging that it will then hang.

 

A full reformat and reinstall and then restore old data is a heck of a process to go through just on the off chance it might fix the problem.

 

You say 10 hours? It's been three days since I originally posted with no corsair response...

 

Well all anyone can do is make a suggestion to you how to correct your issues. You can either choose to try that, or call corsair tech support get an rma send in your drive they can do it for you and send the drive back refurbished, turn around time of which is likely over a month, and you'll lose all your data. I'd say the solution that was given to you is quite better then the alternative. It should take less then an hour to copy your data, secure erase, reinstall, and recover data. I'd say the choice is yours at this point, either try to fix it yourself, or get an rma and send it in. At least corsair don't void your warranty for trying to fix it with thier recommened methods, worse case senario is it don't fix it and you still have to rma it.

[EggRogue]

Well all anyone can do is make a suggestion to you how to correct your issues.

 

Mike I was hoping that someone (particularly a Corsair tech) would actually know that the drive is either a) definitely faulty, or b) definitely can be fixed.

 

I'd be surprised if a tech would respond that this behaviour is unknown and I can only experiment and hope for the best.

[Mikesnow]

Mike I was hoping that someone (particularly a Corsair tech) would actually know that the drive is either a) definitely faulty, or b) definitely can be fixed.

 

I'd be surprised if a tech would respond that this behaviour is unknown and I can only experiment and hope for the best.

 

well I guess for your sake, I hope they respond to you. you might consider picking up the phone and calling before your warranty expires.

[EggRogue]

well I guess for your sake, I hope they respond to you. you might consider picking up the phone and calling before your warranty expires.

 

Thanks Mike. I live in Australia so there is no phone number for me to call. The product has a 3 year warranty so it's not about to expire soon. I've now logged a ticket on their support site, I had assumed that corsair online help could be obtained through these forums.

[Toasted]

You can call Corsair via Skype using their toll-free number.

[archangel82]

Hi,

 

I am having the exact same problem as the original poster. Tried 3 different ports to no effect.

 

Just wanted to check if somebody found an alternative solution to secure erase and reinstalling windows or if at least it is sure that this would definitely solve the problem?

 

Any help would be very much appreciated.

[Incriminated]

I think you should do what Toasted recommended you to do: Plug it into the Intel SATA-controller and test it with ATTO, then try scan-disk searhcing for bad-sectors again. Stop moaning about how long it used to work with the marvell... probably you did updated your marvel-driver or simply the marvell-controller may have a fault of itself that suddenly applied. As you know not every defect has to be there right from the beginning, it is possible that a defect happened after 14 months first..

 

So test it and report if it is hanging at the same action. If still not work it is a drive-failure, but if it works fine on the Intel port than you have to ask the SATA-controllers vendor (marvell) or your motherboard supplier for a solution.

 

You said "but I'll try your idea anyway as it seems I've got no other option." but you didn't told us what's the result of that try was. Please give that feedback.

 

P.S.: Not to sound sharp: It is totally ok if it's the same problem on the Intel-Controller... but we need to know!

 

 

BTW: Whatever driver you have installed may be the cause of that fault... So did you tried setting SATA-controller driver in windows-device-manager manually to "Standard AHCI 1.0 Serial ATA-Controller" and did you try to do a bad-sector-scan with that driver in particular??? And did you checked that SATA-mode in BIOS is set to AHCI???