My hdd died

[Sybarite Paladin AxL]

So 3 days ago I was playing WoW and suddenly my PC freezes. I restart and it won't boot "press ctrl+alt+del" error a couple of times. After a few restarts "memory buffer overflow". I'm like , k, no more messing with it. I talk to a techie on the phone and he says it was because I had too many virtual drives with my daemon tools. I'm like "WTF? I've been using daemon tools since 2 years ago and I've never had any issue with it..." and he says it was because my hdd failed to count the virtual drives ( I had 4 at the time ) and that's why it failed and gave me that error... any thoughts? I think it's really weird. I have a 250 GB maxtor sata

[Robert]

Sounds more like a ram problem or something hardware-related.

That's my first guess.

[LoRd_SnOw]

Reminds me when my xbox hard drive died. i hardly had a thing on it except for Gamesaves. Well i guess the only thing you can do is bin it and buy a new one.

[Haldrie]

I'm using a Sony VAIO right now that has a 200GB Maxtor SATA HD in it and a few weeks ago I was running a defrag on it and the computer reset on it's own. The defag was only at about 25% completed and the MFT got corrupted due to this. I spent the next four days with some data recovery software that I had backing up as much data as I could that wasn't completely lost or corrupted from the reset and trying to get the recovery software to run since I never burned any discs. Luckly my grandmother had a Sony laptop and I pulled some files off of and managed to finally get the recovery to run and then burned the recovery discs once it was up and running again. These Maxtor drives must not have a very long lifespan.

 

As for the tech guy saying that Dameon Tools is the cause, don't believe that bull. He's paid to tell you not to use curtain software and to try and get you to buy whatever he can from his company. That is why I never tell them about that kind of software so that they will tell me what is really wrong with my computer instead of twisting my arm making me do things that I know have nothing to do with my problem. I use Alcohol 120% with 4 virtual drives on my laptop and have never had any problems either.

 

Now, as for your problem it could be that your RAM might be failing. WoW is a memory hog as I have learned from experience. Try swaping out RAM chips and see if maybe that will fix your problem. If you have more then one RAM chip in your computer try running with just one or the other only and see if you have any problems with the individual chips. Yes, this could slow down your computer with only half the RAM it's use to so don't try playing WoW to test it. If you have problems with one chip and not the other then toss the problem chip and get a replacement. Also, there are several freeware RAM checking tools out there that you can use to be absolutly sure. I have one that boots and runs from a floppy disc and is OS independent. It boots up and runs the check until you tell it to stop. Then it reboots the computer after telling you to remove the disc. A simple, yet powerful tool. If I manage to find it again I'll see if I can send it to you. In the mean time try the check I mentioned above. Try using some simple programs that consumes a lot of memory like a hex editor or something. It would also be a good idea to start backing up your data just in case the problem is your hard drive.

 

Sorry for typing so much but I hope at least some of this helps.

[Sybarite Paladin AxL]

Well I wouldn't really think of this particular techie that way seeing as his company doesn't actually sell software or whatever and he's not advertising anything in any form, not to me at least. Guy's been fixing my pc for the last year or so and he's been right about stuff but I'm really puzzled. If Daemon Tools did indeed break my hdd (I still think it's my hdd's fault but I will eventually buy myself a new pair of ram chips), then why didn't it do so in the past? I think it's because this new hdd is relatively big (250 and SATA to boot) so it would be more prone to breakdown. Or perhaps I just need a new rig AMD this time no more Intel crap... but I wouldn't really know.

 

I'm still trying to find out what "memory buffer overflow" means. It's the error I got in bios when it was trying to boot windows. And I haven't rulled out the possibility of a malicious virus attack. I've read somewhere people find exploits in your hdd and can damage it with viruses or something by killing your memory buffers.

[ken_cinder]

Your "techie" friend is yet another "I went to school, so I know what I'm doing" person I'd shoot and piss on if they came within 100 feet of my machines. It's too easy to go to school now, get taught nothing (or taught WRONG) and come out with certification to diagnose and repair computer problems these days. 90% of graduates know NOTHING. I had my first computer when I was 4.......school couldn't teach me anything.

 

A memory buffer overflow error is usually caused by faulty RAM. Reproduce the problem the same way, and test it by pulling a stick of RAM at a time until you can't reproduce the error.

 

Oh and tell your techie friend he knows f**k all.

[Shibathedog]

Your "techie" friend is yet another "I went to school, so I know what I'm doing" person I'd shoot and piss on if they came within 100 feet of my machines. It's too easy to go to school now, get taught nothing (or taught WRONG) and come out with certification to diagnose and repair computer problems these days. 90% of graduates know NOTHING. I had my first computer when I was 4.......school couldn't teach me anything.

 

A memory buffer overflow error is usually caused by faulty RAM. Reproduce the problem the same way, and test it by pulling a stick of RAM at a time until you can't reproduce the error.

 

Oh and tell your techie friend he knows f**k all.

 

True that

 

try running some RAM Diagnostics software on boot, i beleive the ubuntu ISO comes with it (so you can boot from a CD easily)

 

As for daemon tools breaking it, dont buy it, that has nothing to do with anything

 

and if theres one thing i learned the hard way about computers, is if you do something wrong, they dont just randomly break down the road, they break right then and there and your screwed

[Ghosty]

Actrully, it is possible that it may be the HDD. Open up your PC, do you hear weird noises from your HDD? This is what happened to me once or twice.

 

Yes, 4 Virtual drives is a lot, and I'm assuming that you just have the 1 master drive, that would be a lot of stress on the HDD, espeshally if you've been doing this for 2 years.

 

I mean, one of my HDD died after 9 months because it was being heavy used for the entire 9 months.

[ken_cinder]

Actrully, it is possible that it may be the HDD. Open up your PC, do you hear weird noises from your HDD? This is what happened to me once or twice.

 

Yes, 4 Virtual drives is a lot, and I'm assuming that you just have the 1 master drive, that would be a lot of stress on the HDD, espeshally if you've been doing this for 2 years.

 

I mean, one of my HDD died after 9 months because it was being heavy used for the entire 9 months.

 

Has absolutely nothing to do with a memory buffer overflow error. And I run 4 virtual drives in DT, have for far longer than 2 years......has nothing to do with it.

[Sybarite Paladin AxL]

Well, it's more or less fixed. He replaced my seagate (was a seagate not a maxtor ) with a samsung, same specs. All my data was saved apparently.

 

I most certainly hope it's not a RAM error. Because if it is, my new HDD is gonna suffer the same crap and I can't stand to pay for another HDD and RAM... This time, no waranty saved me from paying the bill, although I did manage to sent it over on my dad's PC bills, so I'm not actually paying anything.

 

Now the thing is I did hear some nasty noises coming from my PC the last time I tried to boot it and it really sounded like the hdd was breathing way too hard for its own good, so I stopped there with my messing and took it to the doctors.

 

Now, the thing is, I only did get the "memory buffer overflow" error once. All the other times my PC wouldn't boot was because it was simply giving those kinda "failure to boot, press ctrl+alt+del" errors. And the first time it did happen I got an error saying I was missing a file from my system32 folder. Then I left it alone for a bit, then it suddenly magically fixed itself . So then I booted, entered Windows, then after 20 seconds of functioning it froze completely. Had to reset, the windows freezing repeated itself for about 7 times, then again PC was working fine. Resumed my WoW playing and after 3 days I get another freeze and then, for the first time, I get a memory buffer overflow error, then some more "failure to boot, press ctrl+alt+del", then sounds started coming out of my case so I left it alone for good and took it to the techies.

 

Now, here's a question. I wanna change my RAM from 512 to 2 gigies. What's the best combination of RAM chips you guys would recommend me to buy?

 

edit: note on ghosty's comment, I've been using DT for 2 years now, but not with the same HDD. This HDD was a fairly recent aquizition, like 3 months ago or so.

[ken_cinder]

Well it would have been better for you to explain that. I was under the impression you were recieving this error often/every time. In the case you were, I would blame it on RAM.

 

As for a recommendation on RAM, why don't you let us know what you're running for starters? What RAM are you currently using, on what motherboard?