Win 7 issue
I have Win 7 Pro upgrade from Win XP Pro. Without warning, my HDD indicator LED goes solid red and certain programs like Firefox become "Not Responding". Disc activity is at 100%, but I can't tell why, because the all "Disk" panes in the Resource Monitor go blank.
December 13th, 2009 2:21am

Had similar issues it was down to the generic drivers in W7 try this utility it solved my problems by finding new drivers for sound, keyboard and SATA controller.Link: http://www.thewindowsclub.com/check-for-new-driver-updates-with-device-doctor
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
December 13th, 2009 4:03am

I don't use generic drivers. I use the SATA and audio drivers that came with the motherboard installation disk and my keyboard is a Logitech G11 and uses it's own dedicated drivers. On the Resource Monitor, the Disk View pane shows a blue line. When that blue line reaches the top of the graph, I lose complete use of my browser and other programs. This blue line has no handles or processes identified with it and help won't tell me what that blue line is tracking. The green tracks obvious accesses.
December 21st, 2009 1:04pm

All of my drivers are up-to-date, but that blue line is still there and still interfering.
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
December 21st, 2009 3:04pm

Hi,did you check yor HDD for errors with chkdsk?Regards
December 21st, 2009 3:12pm

Yes, with TuneUp2010.
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
December 22nd, 2009 12:30am

Please check with chkdsk. Manual steps to run Chkdsk from My Computer or Windows Explorer Double-click My Computer, and then right-click the hard disk that you want to check. Click Properties, and then click Tools. Under Error-checking, click Check Now. A dialog box that shows the Check disk options is displayed, Use one of the following procedures: To run Chkdsk in read-only mode, click Start. To repair errors without scanning the volume for bad sectors, select the Automatically fix file system errors check box, and then click Start. To repair errors, locate bad sectors, and recover readable information, select the Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors check box, and then click Start. Note If one or more of the files on the hard disk are open, you will receive the following message: The disk check could not be performed because the disk check utility needs exclusive access to some Windows files on the disk. These files can be accessed by restarting Windows. Do you want to schedule the disk check to occur the next time you restart the computer? Click Yes to schedule the disk check, and then restart your computer to start the disk check. Regards
December 23rd, 2009 9:07am

This happened after a complete reinstall, so spare me the chkdsk crapola.
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
December 27th, 2009 10:40pm

I have done another complete reinstall. Installed the latest motherboard drivers. The ONLY thing that changed was that the take-over starts later.
March 13th, 2010 11:19pm

Suffice to say, given the total lack of tech support, that this will be the LAST Microsoft product I will EVER buy.
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
March 13th, 2010 11:29pm

Maybe your HDD is broken?
March 14th, 2010 10:55am

How? I have it plugged into a USB adapter cradle and I have had no problems accessing those parts not used by the OS itself. This is not a hardware issue as this happened on TWO DIFFERENT HDDs! That's right, I have two 1TB SATA HDDs. I have reinstalled 7 Pro SIX TIMES between the two drives. Yet, when I use XP on those exact same drives, I do NOT HAVE THIS PROBLEM, so, genius, explain THAT. This is an OS issue. Of that, I am certain.
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
March 14th, 2010 11:36am

Yes, maybe Win 7 is not compatible with your HDD. Happens. Did you try a firmware upgrade? Please state the exact name of your HDD so we can provide further help.
March 14th, 2010 3:31pm

Hitachi Model Number: HDT72010SLA360 SATA 3.0Gb/sec 7200RPM
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
March 23rd, 2010 8:57pm

Ichigo - First off, getting snippy won't help solve the problem. Keep that Bankai in check dude. Nobody likes getting their head bitten off when they're only trying to help. Keep in mind we're not members of the Psychic Friend's Network - we only have the information YOU supply to go on to resolve your issue. We don't know what kind of system you've got, what software you've installed and so forth unless you tell us. The more info you provide, the better the chance one of us will pull the right answer out of our hats instead of stabbing blindly in the dark at whatever the problem might be. Secondly, you're right. It likely has something to do with the OS. Keep in mind that XP is an entirely different beast than Vista and Windows 7. A lot of the subsystems got a total rewrite - especially the ones relating to how the OS handles files. It sounds like something is being loaded into memory and that something is cranking up the disk activity and likely the CPU and memory useage. Have you opened the Task Manager and checked to see what is hogging the CPU's cycles? Third, you mentioned Firefox in your original post. Does it ONLY happen when Firefox is open? Or does it happen when other apps are up and running? Or if the system's just idling away? And which version of FF do you have installed? Fourth, have you checked for any malware/viruses? Do you have anything installed along those lines - i.e. Norton AV or some such? Norton AV is notorious for sucking down way too many resources and CPU cycles. Throw us a bone - give us some info.
March 24th, 2010 2:20pm

It happens no matter WHAT I'm doing, even when I'm doing nothing at all. Without warning, the HDD active time goes to 100% with a disk I/O of ZERO, then all disk activity panes on the resource monitor go blank and everything freezes, except for the cursor. Once this happens, the ONLY thing I can do is to literally pull the plug. This even happens in Safe Mode. I haven't used Norton since IS 2006. This happened shortly after a complete reinstall after a full HDD reformatting. No software was installed that hasn't worked well in XP. So far, I haven't had it happen with Win 7 Pro 64-bit on an IDE drive, but I have not yet reinstalled any of my SATA drives internally. THAT'S when the real test takes place.
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
March 24th, 2010 2:58pm

Another question: did you buy the HDD retail or have you got a pre-configured PC (like DELL or HP)? This a link with Support Tools offered by Hitachi. Maybe there is something for you that helps. http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm
March 24th, 2010 7:29pm

Ichigo - Ok.. Now we're getting somewhere. So it's not any one known app that's doing it - it's just going off on it's own regardless of what's running. Assuming you can't give it the "3 fingered salute" (Ctrl-Alt-Del) to bring up task manager then. Now then... Does it happen roughly after the same amount of time has elapsed after you booted? In other words, you boot the box, and this happens say, roughly 3 minutes afterwards? And is it a consistant amount of time between boot up and the hard drive going nuts? Also... Have you ever just let it go for any length of time to see if whatever task was being run ever finished? If so, what was the maximum amount of time before you pulled said plug?
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
March 25th, 2010 12:26am

Task Manager will NOT open. The time is fairly consistent. I let it run over night.
March 26th, 2010 7:45pm

Another question: did you buy the HDD retail or have you got a pre-configured PC (like DELL or HP)? This a link with Support Tools offered by Hitachi. Maybe there is something for you that helps. http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm I build my own computers.
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
March 26th, 2010 7:46pm

You can download the Diagnostic Tool from Western Digital and check for errors. It works with all HDDs, not only WD. http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=606&sid=3&lang=en
March 27th, 2010 12:09am

I already have the LifeGuard Tools CD that came with my WD 250GB IDE drive that is currently my D: drive...I also have Tune-Up Utilities 2010....
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
March 27th, 2010 11:42am

Task Manager will NOT open. The time is fairly consistent. I let it run over night. Ichigo - Ok... So something, it can be assumed, is taking up 100% of your system resources. Not a good thing. How long do you have before it goes nuts? And I'm assuming it isn't finishing whatever it's doing overnight. If at all possible, the next thing I would do is open up MSCONFIG.EXE and start cutting everything out of the start up list AND killing off any non-Microsoft services. Reboot the system and if all is well, start adding things one at a time until the culprit is found. Another option - start Task Manager as soon as you can - and watch the process tab to see what's going nuts.
March 27th, 2010 1:30pm

At first it happened within an hour after startup completed. When I changed drivers to 64-bit type, I gained an extra 1-2 hours before it happened. Since I switched to an IDE drive as the system drive, it has NOT happened even once and I've had the thing running for the past 52 hours straight. I never shut down, unless I have to, and I only reboot when forced to, usually by some stupid, tiny little MS update....
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
March 28th, 2010 12:29am

At first it happened within an hour after startup completed. When I changed drivers to 64-bit type, I gained an extra 1-2 hours before it happened. Since I switched to an IDE drive as the system drive, it has NOT happened even once and I've had the thing running for the past 52 hours straight. I never shut down, unless I have to, and I only reboot when forced to, usually by some stupid, tiny little MS update.... Ichigo - Hmmm.. Now that IS odd. Windows shouldn't really give a flying fig about what kind of hard drive it's installed on - IDE/PATA or SATA. In fact, I'm typing this right now on a Win 7 Pro system that was installed on a 1 TB Western Digital SATA drive. And no, I don't think brand is an issue here. And like you, I don't tend to shut down unless I need to. My current uptime is about 3 days. Of course, since you're running it from an IDE drive now, and it seems to be running OK, I'm guessing we can't really do much in the way of testing - unless you've still got it installed on one of your SATA drives. Given it seems to take 2 - 3 hours, opening Task Manager shouldn't be too big a problem. Ok.. Silly question - do you have any gadgets on your desktop? I seem to have had an issue back in the day when I was running Vista. One of the gadgets would take up a LOT of system resources. It was an eBay gadget. Though I do have one other question - you're running the 64 bit flavor - right? As such, I was under the impression you had to have WHQL signed 64 bit drivers to make it work. What sort of drivers did you have installed when you first installed it?
March 28th, 2010 9:24am

The drivers that came on a DVD that came with the motherboard.
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
March 31st, 2010 10:24pm

Ichigo - OK.. Those should be WHQL certified. Might be slightly out of date, but should still be good to go. What motherboard do you have?
April 2nd, 2010 7:05pm

ASUS P5Q Pro Turbo.
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
April 6th, 2010 11:28pm

Ichigo - Hmmm. The board is of recent enough vintage (early 2009). Offhand, I'd have to say it's likely an issue with the SATA drivers from Intel or ASUS. I figure it's gotta be something like that if you have the same exact software installed on the SATA install as with the IDE install, and there isn't any other difference in the install, or what got installed on top of Windows 7, it stands to reason that may very well be the culprit. Just because the drivers are "up to date" doesn't mean they are 100% bug free. It's either that or perhaps it may be the firmware on the drive itself. IF you have spare cash, you might try another manufacturer - Seagate or Western Digital. But if it works without going nuts on IDE, and you're able to live with that, then is it even an issue at this time? I would contact ASUS US support and see what they have to say about it.
April 7th, 2010 1:32pm

This topic is archived. No further replies will be accepted.

Other recent topics Other recent topics