[Sandwich]

Short version:

I have an SATA HDD that suddenly started giving me "Delayed Write Failed" errors. I can't write large chunks of data to it, regardless of what OS I'm in (2k or XP), but I can read data no problem. Win2k is installed to that drive, while WinXP is installed to a sister drive. It seems some people have had this problem due to ATI driver conflicts. I had installed Omega drivers into Win2k, and soon after started getting the error. Uninstalling those drivers doesn't help. In WinXP, I have Catalyst drivers that never gave me a problem, and I still get the error when writing to the Win2k drive. Any ideas, before I take it in to get professionally repaired?


Long version:

Up until a week ago or so, I was running Windows 2k on one of my 160Gb SATA HDDs. One day, I started getting a "Delayed Write Error" alert box, telling me that the system had failed to complete writing something or another to disk.

So I researched it a bit, found most references to the cause of the problem being (believe it or not) a conflict with an ATI gfx card driver. Which sorts made sense - in a twisted way - since I'd recently tried out the Omega drivers.

So I uninstall the Omega drivers, reinstall the Catalyst... no difference. The eystem is still failing to write large amounts of data to my Win2k disk. However, I notice that writing to any other HDD works fine.

Now, on my other 160Gb SATA HDD, I have Windows XP running. So I boot into XP, and immediately get a lot less errors (since it's booting off the other disk, not the one with the problems). However, when I try to write a largeish chunk of data to my Win2k disk, I get the same "Delayed Write Failed" error (except it's a notification balloon in XP, not an alert box).

This indicates to me that this problem is something beyond an OS getting messed up. I can still read any and all data from the problematic drive, no problem at all. I just can't write too much to it.

Obviously, the best thing is to go get it exchanged, but I wanted to tap you guy's knowledge of things and see if anyone has a better, easier, and cheaper solution. Thanks.

[Fury]

1. Update motherboard BIOS.
2. Reset BIOS defaults.
3. Run full chkdsk to all hard drives.
4. Back up all important files from the hard drive that's acting up.
5. Reinstall operating system that's in the hard drive.

Problem might be solved by BIOS and SATA controller update. Problem might be caused by faulty drivers or driver incompatibility issue. In this case, backing up important files and formatting the hard drive along with the operating system is the best choice. You cannot be 100% sure the issue will be resolved simply by uninstalling the suspected drivers, especially when this driver issue can cause hard drive read/write errors.

[Scuddie]

I know this may sound odd, but have you tried stress testing your memory?  Usually, the problem with write desync is from buffer problems.  Drives have miniscule read/write buffers of 2, 8, or 16MB.  However, the OS dedicates another very large chunk of system memory for write cacheing (Linux uses 128MB on my machine) so the disk isn't as fragmented.  If the buffer expires, however, it would cause the I/O operation to fail.  

One of two things are most likely to cause a common write desync.  Bad system memory, or bad HDD memory.  For system memory, you probably already know what to do (memtest86+).  For HDD memory, it is a bit more difficult.  First, you would need a program like Active SMART (or a free equivalent), and try to recreate the error.  Keep doing it for a few days, some of normal circumstances, some of heavy.  Keep track of what the program tells you about the disk.  If there are write problems, then you found your answer.

Anyway, it could be a number of things, but I'd start there.

[Sandwich]

Let me point out once again that I have two 160Gb SATA drives. One works perfectly. One doesn't. In my understanding, that eliminates the possibility of the BIOS or system memory being the problem.

I'll try the other suggestions when I get home.

[Fury]

Originally posted by Sandwich
In my understanding, that eliminates the possibility of the BIOS or system memory being the problem

Not necessarily, a bug in SATA controller BIOS might cause mishaps in just one of the SATA interfaces.

[Kazan]

it could also be the fact that he used the omega drivers and that made something wonky

[Kamikaze]

To verify if it's an OS problem or hardware problem (XP and 2k have a lot in common after all) it might be worth trying to boot your computer off of a Knoppix live cd/dvd and seeing if it fairs any better.

[Nuke]

dont wave the hardware bug flag yet, its more likely its a software thing caused by the new drivers. the uninstaller probibly didnt remove everything it put in. id go with a format and an os re-install. then install drivers that you know work. if that fails then start tweaking hardware.

[StratComm]

The only way it could be a driver conflict issue at this point is if one of two things happened: either whatever driver update that may have caused this actually modified the SATA controller setup in some weird way in firmware, or was installed on both operating systems.  There's no way whatsoever it's a strictly software problem if it is affecting both operating systems but was only installed on one.

As for not being able to write but being able to read as a hardware issue, that's actually not unreasonable.  A lot of HDDs these days are write-buffered; the read-write heads may be fine but the write buffer damaged or corrupted.  I wouldn't be suprised at all if that were the case.

[Nix]

Start with your basics.  Check your physical connections.  Make sure your connectors are firmly attached.  I hate SATA's cheap little connector, half the time when my BIOS doesnt detect the drive, it's because the cable came loose just enough to lose connection on the motherboard.  Try a new SATA cable, even if you dont think that might be the problem.  If you have in this case, which you probably already have, make sure your controller drivers are up-to-date.  I had a Silicon image IDE controller that gave me this message in WinXP all the time.  If your Omega drivers somehow messed up your chipset/controller drivers, that might be the best fix.  Another option, is to clear the NVRAM data in the BIOS.  If you dont have an option to clear NVRAM, try disabling the SATA controller and re-enabling it in the bios.  If all that fails, reset the BIOS to defaults, recording your current settings somehow so you can put it back the way you want it.  If it's still bugged, then an OS reinstall is looking more and more likely...
just my two cents..

[Grey Wolf]

I had this problem when using a really large FAT32 drive. You're using NTFS, right?

[Sandwich]

Ok, a few general and specific replies here... an OS reinstall is not a possibility... I want to retrieve the state of my Win2k setup, not start afresh. Besides, I lost my Win2k disc.

Yes, running NTFS. It's a 160Gb drive, after all.

Additionally, since it is a 160Gb drive, a format is out of the question. I've so much data on there it's not funny.

I guess I was hoping to hear a "oh, I had that problem with this-and-that drivers, install these instead" type solution. Unfortunately, I don't have the time nor resources to go troubleshooting this much beyond the OS level. I refuse to believe it's a BIOS setting, since I haven't even gone into the BIOS in quite a number of months.

[Martinus]

Originally posted by Kazan
it could also be the fact that he used the omega drivers and that made something wonky

[color=66ff00]Wonky...
I forgot how great a word that is.
[/color]

[Grey Wolf]

I've never had a problem with the Omega drivers.
In fact, I'm running using the latest Omega nVidia drivers as we speak. Better than the nVidia drivers about 10 revisions newer.