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Something on computer is fubar

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4wd:
Assuming they are SATA cables, use some decent quality ones with locking clips, (like Gigabyte provide with their motherboards).  One of the worst designed connectors ever IMO.

FWIW, I've been having problems that are not too disimilar to your own.  The HDD LED lights up permanently for about 30 seconds, (in this period anything that requires access to a HDD just freezes), then it'll go off for about .5 a second, then back on full for another 30 seconds.  This cycle will continue for approx. 2-3 minutes and it has been doing it for about a month on both XP Pro and Win7HP.

Unfortunately, at the time it started I had the misfortune to have done a few things to the PC all at once, eg. board upgrade to use DDR3, added another 1TB HDD, caught the f'n Conficker.J on a LAN meet  :wallbash: , upgraded Thunderbird/Firefox and other minor tweaks.

After screwing around disinfecting the HDDs, (really slow over 4TB+), testing hardware, re-installing OS's at least 6 times, etc, etc, I've narrowed it down to either Thunderbird 3 or Firefox 3.5+.

I've tried all versions of Firefox from 3.5.5 to 3.7a1, portable/not portable, enable/disable add-ons, etc, etc - made no difference.  If I do not use Firefox or Thunderbird then there is no problem - the system works fine.

I now believe it to be Thunderbird 3 that's the problem and have gone back to Portable Thunderbird 2.0.0.25, (besides the fact TB3's "Smart" Folders were giving me the sh!ts), and Portable Firefox 3.7a1, (both of which ran for months without problems), as of today to see what happens.

As in your case, Task Manager shows absolutely nothing out of the ordinary, and although it has all the symptoms of Delayed Write Fail the Event Log shows nothing wrong also.  Process Monitor didn't show anything wrong, nor did DiskMon, or anything else I could find to try and track it down.

So, the above may or may not help you but I thought my fault sounded suspiciously like yours.

cmpm:
@4wd
Maybe it's an update.
Heard about the one for MS Office that's supposed to do something.
It was about that lawsuit settlement.

Also if you have an ip blocker like Malewarebytes has,
enable it, sounds like something following you on the net.

cranioscopical:
I've narrowed it down to either Thunderbird 3 or Firefox 3.5+.
-4wd (December 31, 2009, 06:47 PM)
--- End quote ---
Interesting. FWIW I've recently had some freezes. Don't use Thunderbird, do use FF 3.5

4wd:
Maybe it's an update.-cmpm (December 31, 2009, 06:57 PM)
--- End quote ---

That may explain the Win7HP installation but my XP Pro system receives no hot fixes after an SP update - so it will remain at SP3 until I change OS.

Also, the OS is the only software I run from Microsoft and no other software I have receives automatic updates except Outpost Security Suite for the reason that sometimes updates just don't work.

Also if you have an ip blocker like Malewarebytes has,
enable it, sounds like something following you on the net.

--- End quote ---

I originally thought that after having been infected with Conficker but OutPost kept blocking it everytime it tried to create it's files in System32 and/or removable media.  And MalwareBytes reports nothing over all my HDDs, internal/external, or Flash drives.

I run Outpost Security Suite and also have the SPI firewall in my modem/router enabled, (as well as NAT).  I would have thought you'd need a paid licence for MalwareBytes to enable it's resident features, (I've just used it for on demand scanning) ?

Otherwise, that wouldn't explain how it seemingly only happens when either only Thunderbird or Firefox, (haven't categorically ruled out either yet), is running.

If I run the whole day just using IE8, (blah!), then the problem never occurs - not once, (this was a couple of weeks ago when it was really bad - a run of 30 minutes without it happening was a very good run indeed).

However, this problem seems to be slowly disappearing, this morning was the first time it has happened in about a week - so maybe there is something in what you say and my PC is slowly disappearing below the radar of any possible net tracker/bug.

I'll add that I have been running in Win7HP fully for the last 10 days or so in an effort to see if it made any difference and at the moment the result is pretty positive - I think it's happened only 2 or 3 times, (latest this morning), so I think I'm getting somewhere with it.

I've narrowed it down to either Thunderbird 3 or Firefox 3.5+.
-4wd (December 31, 2009, 06:47 PM)
--- End quote ---
Interesting. FWIW I've recently had some freezes. Don't use Thunderbird, do use FF 3.5-cranioscopical (December 31, 2009, 08:38 PM)
--- End quote ---

One other thing I've noted regarding Firefox, (this I'm also trying to pin down, I think it's add-on related), is sometimes it won't exit cleanly.  ie. Close Firefox, process load in Task Manager immediately jumps to 25% and remains there for a seemingly long time, (minutes+), or until I nuke it.  This has also been going on for about the same amount of time and occurs on Firefox 3.5+.

I'm starting to think the computer is haunted  :(

cranioscopical:
One other thing I've noted regarding Firefox, (this I'm also trying to pin down, I think it's add-on related)
I'm starting to think the computer is haunted  :(
-4wd (December 31, 2009, 08:58 PM)
--- End quote ---
I'm fairly sure mine is haunted. The only times it goes seriously wrong are those when I must have it right now for some project that brings in revenue.
Long ago I realized that the only worthwhile back-up is a redundant machine or three.

And a Happy New Year to all our readers!

 :D

My add-ons FWIWApplication: Firefox 3.5.6 (20091201220228)
Operating System: WINNT (x86-msvc)

- Aardvark 2.97
- Adblock Plus 1.1.2
- AI Roboform Toolbar for Firefox 6.9.98
- AVG Safe Search 9.0.0.716
- BetterPrivacy 1.45
- Cooliris 1.11.6a
- DownloadHelper 4.6.5
- Extension List Dumper 1.14.4
- FEBE 6.3.2
- FlashGot 1.2.1.08
- Forecastfox 0.9.10.1
- Ghostery 2.0.2
- Java Console 6.0.07
- Java Console 6.0.12
- Java Console 6.0.13
- Java Console 6.0.14
- Java Console 6.0.15
- Java Console 6.0.17
- Java Quick Starter 1.0
- Lazarus: Form Recovery 2.0.5
- LinkmanFox 7.81
- Menu Editor 1.2.6
   (Disabled)
- Microsoft .NET Framework Assistant 0.0.0
   (Disabled)
- NoScript 1.9.9.30
- NoSquint 2.0.3
- PDF Download 3.0.0.1
   (Disabled)
- QuickFox Notes 2.1C
- Remove It Permanently 1.0.6.6
- ScrapBook Plus 1.7.16.28
- Snagit Firefox Extension 1.2.0
- Surfulater Integration 3.0.93
- Tab Mix Plus 0.3.8.2
- Update Notifier 0.1.5.5

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