Windows - Delayed Write Failed

[Onkel Neal]

Ok, gurus: advise me.

My PC has been a little slower lately, and just this week, been getting a lot of Windows - Delayed Write Failed messages and blue screen lockups. Does that sound like a failing hard drive? Can I reinstalled Windows on the drive and not lose any files? I'm guessing no, because a new install would wipe out all the program settings at the least. What's the best approach? Should I transfer all the important stuff to an external HD, then replace the ailing HD (if it is indeed ailing...) with a new HD and reinstall Windows, then all my files?

I did this at least once before, where I added a new HD, made it the master, then slaved the old HD--I could still access the files and programs on the old one.

[Feuer Frei!]

Hi Neal
do you have any external hard drives hooked up when you get the messages?
Thing is, external hard drives that use caching will spit out those messages.
Delayed write failed messages are commonly associated with the following:
issues with a device driver (moreso on Win XP SP2), cabling problems(faulty or broken), media errors(drive failures), you might want to look into checking your hdd with this link: http://www.grc.com/intro.htm, some bios settings, usb controller issues, memory issues(ram) and a few other things.

You can see how write-caching is handled for a particular volume by right-clicking on the icon for the drive in the "Disk drives" subtree of the Device Manager and selecting the Policies tabs. The options typically are "Optimize for quick removal" (everything is written to the drive immediately) and "Optimize for performance" (writes are cached).

The first option lets you quickly disconnect drives -- for instance, hot-pluggable USB "pen" drives -- without first disconnecting them via the Safely Remove Hardware icon in the system tray.

Trouble is, with that sort of error message, it could be a number of things, not just 1 or 2. Makes it hard and tedious to locate the trouble-maker.

Have a play-around with that Neal, let us know how you go.

[CaptainHaplo]

Feuer is dead on about the write caching problems with USB. Eject any usb drives, reboot and run a while - see what happens with them out.

Also - if your still having issues after that - the easiest way to do things would be using imaging. Either create - or mirror the existing drive. That way if the one dies, you unplug it, swap it with the mirror and away you go.

[Onkel Neal]

Ok, thanks. Yes, I have 2 USB external drives, I will shut those down and wait to see how it goes.

[GT182]

Neal, what make are your HDDs?

Seagate has a free program that will clone a drive to another Saves doing an OS reinstall and everything is copied over to the new HDD. . You can then just plug it in and continue on from there. That's one reason I only use Seagate, the other is their pretty dependable.

[Onkel Neal]

My HD is SCSI WDC_WD50
Whatever that is

Well, it went fine for a week, but now it's so bad I am running in Safe Mode.

I think it may have something to do with my g cards or connection cables. For about 4 months there has been a horizontal line on the monitor. And now the blue screen of death says nv4_disp is stuck in an infinite loop!

I guess I will have to check the drivers, cables, and clean the innerds, wish me luck.

[Onkel Neal]

Ok, hardware gurus: Let's say I want to replace both of my aging GeForce 9800GT cards to fix this problem. What cards should I get? I want something that will plug right in and work, and I stopped keeping track of video card types with PCI (or SLIMM?). I want something a step above the stock cards, not 5 grades above. Suggestions?

[Onkel Neal]

How do I find the best/latest nvidia drivers for the GeForce 9800GT cards? I found some, not sure if they are what I should be using.

Why the hell can't hardware update themselves?

[Herr-Berbunch]

The lastest driver for your card(s), with Win XP 32-bit is http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp-3...ql-driver.html

[Herr-Berbunch]

As for the replacement cards, I'd have a budget in mind and see what you can get for it - check out hwcompare.com to roughly compare to your 7800GT. Also with a newer card you may need a new PSU. If it's not one thing it's another with PCs

[Onkel Neal]

Originally Posted by Herr-Berbunch

As for the replacement cards, I'd have a budget in mind and see what you can get for it - check out hwcompare.com to roughly compare to your 7800GT. Also with a newer card you may need a new PSU. If it's not one thing it's another with PCs

?? I have GeForce 9800GT cards.

[Herr-Berbunch]

I knew that, I was just seeing if you were paying attention. Same driver though.

[Onkel Neal]

No go. I guess I need to get another 9800GT and swap out until I see which one is bad.

[HunterICX]

Why not use the ones you have now and run the system with just one 9800 and see which one causes the BSOD.

HunterICX

[Onkel Neal]

I can run with just one card? Ok.

HB, you were going to suggest a replacement card? Will this work?

Got a new internal HD, will begin the resurrection this morning.....