Hey all,

For the last couple of days my OS is generating the following messages:

http://imageshack.com/a/img593/2050/q7k7.png
http://imageshack.com/a/img835/6506/p6ir.png

The things I did until now - I changed the SATA cable, I changed the SATA port, ran HDAT2 test for bad sectors (24 were found and repaired). Nothing changed.
The disk is new (at about 3 months old), the old one also started making these problems, so that's why I replaced it. The disk itself (the old one) has no issues after testing.
After these errors OS is unresponsive, commands take a decade to execute and is mounted as read-only.
Anyone had similar issues?

I don't recall exactly those erors but for any similar errors, after doing what you have already done, I would put the HDDs into a known stable system and see if the errors stop happening. If they do, you can suspect memory, motherboard, PSU ...

Memtest will be easy. Any idea how to check MB,PSU?

Ok, so I finally got the chance to test the machine more. I moved the HDD to another machine and it works perfectly. Until now I was visiting the site and chaning the cable/port.However, now that the machine's next to me, it's working fine. Only thing that I did is the remove the ram, and seat it back in... also blew the ramslots for dust..
Currently only one error appears, without an obvious reason:

No USB devices are connected (no mouse/keyboard also for the test) and the error is still generated.

No idea why the problem doesn't occur while the machine is offsite.

The best way to test the MB and PSU is by substituting known good ones.

Rarely that technique does not identify the faulty component because none are bad; it is a combination of components that does not work together. Even then, starting from a known good combination of components and progressively swapping in the original components can identify the ones that do not work together.

I had something similar, but it seems it was somehow related to the crappy nvidia chipset drivers i had because after i switched mobos for one with a new AMD chipset i had no issues.
I had issues every 1-2 months with my main HDD (Western Digital Green). After overwriting the affected sectors a few times with 0s (not recommended, it can lead to data loss) i got rid of them (including the pending sector count from the SMART report). But it all started again after a month or 2. Come to think of it, i got this disk exactly because the previous HDD developed bad sectors.
The issue solved itself after i changed mobos (from the nvidia 8200 chipset to AMD A85 and a year later A88). The old HDD is a secondary HDD, but it still has plenty of activity as i run my VM's from it and there i have all my compile folders, games, movies etc.
Both HDDs that had bad sectors were "cured" after i overwritten them with 0s.
You should check the SMART info of your hdd. gsmartcontrol is a great tool that can do that.

Hi ps1x0

I've encountered a similar problem in the past.
The outcome was that the HDD was the culprit.
Sadly some drives do fail prematurely regardless of their age, and the pattern of their usage. In some cases the drives have a well known fault history.
You may wish to consider searching the www for reports of widespread failures of this drive model and manufacture date (you may possibly be eligible for a replacement drive if the manufacture has offered one).

I recommend caution about using the drive for anything critical.

On the other hand, given that you are experiencing an unrelated USB problem, it may be that either the motherboard, or indeed the power supply is at fault.
If the power supply is not producing properly regulated voltages under load, you can see odd effects such as those you are reporting.

Regards

C.