Pionara
Hey DJ's...hope you're all well in VDJ land.
Ok, so i'm spinning away last night at a 21st and about half an hour before i'm due to finish, i drag a song from my wait list (default skin right hand side - using version 4.1 i think) and all of a sudden my system takes a bit of time to load it. Then, without loading, the screen freezes and the word 'error' comes up on the deck.
So, i think to myself 'that's strange' and try and load the song straight from the file instead of the sidelist. Same thing. I tried with another song from the sidelist and the same thing happened. 'Weird', says I. So, just to be sure, i closed VDJ and reopened it. Same thing. Very strange considering these are two songs i use regularly. And now, to top it all off, even when i drag these two songs from the file itself, they both say error and no load after the screen freezes for 20 seconds or so....but the music still plays on the other side.
Anyway, after trying this a few times, and getting the same results, i decide to reboot my machine altogether just to refresh everything.
I reboot and get to post screen...nothing. The system stalls altogether. I eventually get past the post screen and get back into VDJ. My drive with all my music, karaoke and videos isn't even there. I go into my computer, and the whole drive isn't there either. So, i take the machine apart and all the connections look fine. Reboot and still nothing. Starting to get a little panicky to say the least.
Anyway, managed to struggle through...just. Haven't had a chance to look at it yet, but was just wondering if anyone had any ideas as to what might have happened? I've got a couple of theories...
1/ Hard drive is fried. Don't know how. There wasn't any surges or anything and the main drive with the program files and what have you on it is fine as well. VDJ is still there, windows boots fine, Media Player opened (which i had to use in conjunction with my cd machine) and played cd's fine too. With no surges and the main drive being ok, how could the drive have got fried?
2/ Dodgy connections. I have 3 sata drives in my machine. Like i said, main one is ok, the music one is gone and the spare (unused as yet) isn't even on my machine as a recognised drive yet. Need to check that obviously, but i'm sure that'll be fine.
3/ Can hard drives overheat? My machine is cooled with four case fans, two at the front pulling in and two at the back pushing out. Air goes right across the drives and has kept it cool until now.
4/ Hard drive age? I built the machine from scratch about a year ago and it's been fine up till now. I didn't think anything would knock out a hard drive except the usual..surges, excessive force from a good beating and stuff. Don't reckon it's age.
Note: This is a clean dj'ing machine with nothing on it except Windows, Nero, VDJ and music/vids and karaoke. It's never connected to the net and so no upgrades have touch the machine, so it's not as if i've upgraded something and not upgraded something else relative. The machine is a year or so old and has not been upgraded at all.
Does anyone have any ideas as to what might have happened??? What about fixes? I know about the usual stuff...check the connections and all that, power lines etc. Obviously the most horrible thing that could have happened is that the drive is fried and i've lost the lot, but fingers crossed that's not the case. Ideas and suggestions would be more than welcome along with some advice from those in the know.
I know a bit about computers (this is my second home built machine) so try me on any ideas you might have.
Cheers...and keep spinnin'...(",)
P
Ok, so i'm spinning away last night at a 21st and about half an hour before i'm due to finish, i drag a song from my wait list (default skin right hand side - using version 4.1 i think) and all of a sudden my system takes a bit of time to load it. Then, without loading, the screen freezes and the word 'error' comes up on the deck.
So, i think to myself 'that's strange' and try and load the song straight from the file instead of the sidelist. Same thing. I tried with another song from the sidelist and the same thing happened. 'Weird', says I. So, just to be sure, i closed VDJ and reopened it. Same thing. Very strange considering these are two songs i use regularly. And now, to top it all off, even when i drag these two songs from the file itself, they both say error and no load after the screen freezes for 20 seconds or so....but the music still plays on the other side.
Anyway, after trying this a few times, and getting the same results, i decide to reboot my machine altogether just to refresh everything.
I reboot and get to post screen...nothing. The system stalls altogether. I eventually get past the post screen and get back into VDJ. My drive with all my music, karaoke and videos isn't even there. I go into my computer, and the whole drive isn't there either. So, i take the machine apart and all the connections look fine. Reboot and still nothing. Starting to get a little panicky to say the least.
Anyway, managed to struggle through...just. Haven't had a chance to look at it yet, but was just wondering if anyone had any ideas as to what might have happened? I've got a couple of theories...
1/ Hard drive is fried. Don't know how. There wasn't any surges or anything and the main drive with the program files and what have you on it is fine as well. VDJ is still there, windows boots fine, Media Player opened (which i had to use in conjunction with my cd machine) and played cd's fine too. With no surges and the main drive being ok, how could the drive have got fried?
2/ Dodgy connections. I have 3 sata drives in my machine. Like i said, main one is ok, the music one is gone and the spare (unused as yet) isn't even on my machine as a recognised drive yet. Need to check that obviously, but i'm sure that'll be fine.
3/ Can hard drives overheat? My machine is cooled with four case fans, two at the front pulling in and two at the back pushing out. Air goes right across the drives and has kept it cool until now.
4/ Hard drive age? I built the machine from scratch about a year ago and it's been fine up till now. I didn't think anything would knock out a hard drive except the usual..surges, excessive force from a good beating and stuff. Don't reckon it's age.
Note: This is a clean dj'ing machine with nothing on it except Windows, Nero, VDJ and music/vids and karaoke. It's never connected to the net and so no upgrades have touch the machine, so it's not as if i've upgraded something and not upgraded something else relative. The machine is a year or so old and has not been upgraded at all.
Does anyone have any ideas as to what might have happened??? What about fixes? I know about the usual stuff...check the connections and all that, power lines etc. Obviously the most horrible thing that could have happened is that the drive is fried and i've lost the lot, but fingers crossed that's not the case. Ideas and suggestions would be more than welcome along with some advice from those in the know.
I know a bit about computers (this is my second home built machine) so try me on any ideas you might have.
Cheers...and keep spinnin'...(",)
P
Posté Sun 03 Aug 08 @ 1:26 pm
discjockeydoc
When you mentioned having trouble at the POST routine, it made me think that your host controller itself might be the culprit. Do you have another computer to try the drive in? If you were checking with power on, did it appear that the platter in that drive was spinning (sound / feel)?
Posté Mon 04 Aug 08 @ 9:36 pm
SSD-RaveDave
What did the drive management screen in Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Computer Management have to show?
Posté Tue 05 Aug 08 @ 1:03 am
clintd
That sounds notoriously like a hard drive going bad. Depending on how valuable the data on the drive is depends on what you should do. If you do not have any back ups of the data on the drive then I suggest you start calling some data recovery places and DO NOT try and power the hard drive back up. You will increase your odds of data being recovered successfully by not trying to power it up anymore. That being said be ready to fork out anywhere from $250 up to $1000 for professional data recovery. Most places will analyze your drive for free or for a small fee that can be counted toward recovery if deemed possible.
If you have back ups or do not think the data is worth forking out that much money then maybe go ahead and try to get it to boot in another machine and see if you can pull data off of it. If you can get windows to see the drive but can't see any data you could try some sort of recovery software and you might have some luck with that. But, FYI, I've only been so lucky a couple of times in my 10+ years in IT. I think one of the times I was that lucky I was using some recovery software named Easy Recovery Professional.
The number one killer of hard drives is heat. Did you verify that all your fans are working properly? What brand/model hard drive is it? Just b/c the hard drive is under a year old doesn't mean it can't go out. I've seen hard drives go bad within days up to a couple of months of purchase and it was simply due to a faulty hard drive. If it is only a year old then it should still be under warranty.
If you have back ups or do not think the data is worth forking out that much money then maybe go ahead and try to get it to boot in another machine and see if you can pull data off of it. If you can get windows to see the drive but can't see any data you could try some sort of recovery software and you might have some luck with that. But, FYI, I've only been so lucky a couple of times in my 10+ years in IT. I think one of the times I was that lucky I was using some recovery software named Easy Recovery Professional.
The number one killer of hard drives is heat. Did you verify that all your fans are working properly? What brand/model hard drive is it? Just b/c the hard drive is under a year old doesn't mean it can't go out. I've seen hard drives go bad within days up to a couple of months of purchase and it was simply due to a faulty hard drive. If it is only a year old then it should still be under warranty.
Posté Tue 05 Aug 08 @ 1:47 am
Pionara
Hmmm. Having checked the system again after a couple of days, it seems fine. I've just defragged my video drive for good measure...music and karaoke drives didn't need done.
It seems fine for now. I think i'll leave it powered on for a day or two and see if anything happens to it. This weekend i'll certainly be taking two computers to my gigs with me!!!
Disk management and all that was fine. All the drives are quite peacefully spinning away and the fans are all good as well. I guess (and hope - fingers crossed an all that) that it was just a loose connection. Time will tell!!!
Thanks guys for your help.
Keep spinnin'...(",)
P
It seems fine for now. I think i'll leave it powered on for a day or two and see if anything happens to it. This weekend i'll certainly be taking two computers to my gigs with me!!!
Disk management and all that was fine. All the drives are quite peacefully spinning away and the fans are all good as well. I guess (and hope - fingers crossed an all that) that it was just a loose connection. Time will tell!!!
Thanks guys for your help.
Keep spinnin'...(",)
P
Posté Tue 05 Aug 08 @ 12:26 pm
mindtwister3d
my suggestion is to do a check disk on the those drives.
c:\chkdsk "drive letter" /f /r
and i would also check your hard drive controller, in this case, your SATA controller. download the latest drivers as well as firmware of your bios.
hope everything is sorted out.
Mindtwister3d.
c:\chkdsk "drive letter" /f /r
and i would also check your hard drive controller, in this case, your SATA controller. download the latest drivers as well as firmware of your bios.
hope everything is sorted out.
Mindtwister3d.
Posté Tue 05 Aug 08 @ 12:53 pm
discjockeydoc
With strange, unexpected problems that aren't there the next time you startup, I suspect a heat problem. Things go screwy when a PC overheats...After it cools, the troubles are gone until it overheats again, but the problems could be totally different when it does.
Certainly, you should check your drives, though, as mindtwister3d suggests.
Certainly, you should check your drives, though, as mindtwister3d suggests.
Posté Wed 06 Aug 08 @ 7:26 pm
Pat_DJ
Hi,
Just a little quote.. make sure the Power(electricity) is stable.. or not too high.. that might cause like a sort of surge..
Just a little quote.. make sure the Power(electricity) is stable.. or not too high.. that might cause like a sort of surge..
Posté Mon 11 Aug 08 @ 2:22 pm