Help with error"...controller error on \Device\Harddisk

[bigblockmatt]

So, it starts with BF2. I play, i get on a server for like 10 seconds (after it takes forever to load), then it will freeze on me. The other day it worked. This time i checked out my event log and found several errors. I got 3 errors in a row wiht a description "The driver detected a controller error on \Device\Harddisk1\D." they are about 5 seconds apart from eachother.

At about the same time, i got this error "The PfModNT service failed to start due to the following error:
The system cannot find the file specified. "

Earlier today, i got "An error was detected on device \Device\Harddisk1\D during a paging operation." I got A LOT of these in a row...I made the event viewer full screen and it still didnt list all of them.

During the same time earlier today, i got this error, "The device, \Device\Ide\IdePort3, did not respond within the timeout period." multiple times...

I am lost, and have no idea what these mean and no idea as where to start...Thanks for all the help in advance.

[Razorbacx]

Man, I feel your pain! BF2 killed my computer too...

I wish I could wave my magic wand and fix both our troubles, but I'm stuck in the land of total and utter confusion myself. I hope that your problem is much easier to solve than mine...GOOD LUCK!

Razorbacx

[bigblockmatt]

I was looking online and somewhere i read that i shoudl check out my "Harddisk1"... how do i tell which drive is identified as which. I have 2 Maxtor SATA Harddrives and 2 IDE DVD burners.

[brajko2]

If I were you I would go to http://www.eventid.net and type in specific event id and source of those error/warning messages. They have sometime useful information that could direct to right direction for solving problems. But I remeber whenever I encountered those errors they were caused by a bad hard drive. So I sugget that you go to
http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/downloads/powermax.htm

But now I see in readme file that it won't run on nforce4 controller. That's odd, but I advise you to try anyway.

[KnightRid]

I was looking online and somewhere i read that i shoudl check out my "Harddisk1"... how do i tell which drive is identified as which. I have 2 Maxtor SATA Harddrives and 2 IDE DVD burners.

Normally your boot drive is HardDrive0 - IDE0 and your slave would be the HardDrive1 - IDE1

it goes on from there for your other ide and sata drives, cept sata uses sata0...sata1..

reboot and enter repair console mode in windows - with your cd, then type chkdsk /f{Enter} and then chkdsk {drive}: /f for your slave - I think that the slave command will work in recovery console, if not - then reboot windows after the main drive chkdsk is done, and open a command window go to your slave drive, then type the chkdsk /f and it will scan the slave and fix errors.

Hope that might help some.

Mike

OH and defrag after it is done with chkdsk!!!

[bigblockmatt]

So, now i am a bit confused...I dont have any IDE harddrives. I only have SATA harddrives and IDE DVD drives... Your saying that HardDrive1 would be and IDE Harddrive... I dont have one of those. Could it be my dvd drive?

[brajko2]

Bigblockmatt, sorry I thought that you have nforce based motherboard. So there is no limit for you to try powermax utility by maxtor.
One thing I forgot to mention is that you MUST do a full backup of your data on those disks. After that you can drive powermax utility, or you can try chkdsk procedure as knightrid explained you to do so.

[KnightRid]

So, now i am a bit confused...I dont have any IDE harddrives. I only have SATA harddrives and IDE DVD drives... Your saying that HardDrive1 would be and IDE Harddrive... I dont have one of those. Could it be my dvd drive?

So am I - then i have no clue, dunno if yours starts labels at 0 or 1 - if 0, then harddrive 1 would be slave sata or secondary master sata, if it starts at 1 then it would be primary master.

Mine uses ide0... for the ide drives and sata0... for the sata drives. figured they should all be the same since harddrive1 doesnt tell you much


try the chkdsk /f I said about

I thought you had IDE because of this statement - "During the same time earlier today, i got this error, "The device, \Device\Ide\IdePort3, did not respond within the timeout period." multiple times..."


chkdsk /f should let you know if it has bad sectors or anything on it - best option at this point in time I would think. Next would be to remove all hard drives, put another fresh one in, and reinstall windows/BF2 and see if you get the same errors.

Mike

Diagnostics sux when I dont have it in front of me

[serenade]

How long was your system stable before this happened? Did you change any part of the hardware prior to the incident?

Try disconnecting one of the hard drives, test the remaining one connected (chkdsk and a hard drive diagnostic from your vendor, preferably run an extended test), and then vice versa. If both pass, then try disconnecting one of your DVD drives, test the other and vice versa. If all hardware passes, then you know its your drivers. Does that help?

[bigblockmatt]

I would like to start off and say THANKS!!! if you lived near me, i would buy you a beer...when it is fixed

Anyways. so last night i talked with some buddies in my clan, and he told me to run
SFC /scannow

I did that, restarted, and windows started to "repair some crap on one of the drives" (quotes used because i dont really know what it did). after it did that, i went and said "what the hell, ill give it a shot" and i loaded up BF2 and it worked! i dont think it is totally fixed, but it is a start. I am going to backup my important thing when i get home and then do some disk checking stuff from MAxtor and load ASUS SATA stuff then run the chkdsk /f thing.

Serenade - my comp was fine for a long time. I dont remeber doing anything/changing anything when it started "acting up." I took out a dvd drive and installed a dvd burner around the same time. i dont totally remember the sequence of which one was first. Im pretty sure i was having the problems before the new drive.

[bigblockmatt]

Update -

I ran Maxtors drive utility/checker thing. Powermax 4.23. I did the long system check on both drives and they both came up with no errors... That took pretty much all night ( with backing up my important files, running the utilities, coooking dinner, and watching the giants win, it took all night) I will run chkdsk /f thing tonight when i get home and i will let you all know what happens. Again, thanks for the help!

[brajko2]

Well I'm glad that powermax came out with no errors. So lets hope that the problem isn't in hard discs.
Anyway remember to look at you event log after you finish with chkdsk /f.
There it will print out output from the screen (I just can't remember will it be printed in application or in system log)
There you will have information if there is any problem with filesistem or partitions..

[kenc51]

I've done a quick Goolge on " PfModNT service" errors

Most people say it caused by corrupt .dll files
Everyone seems to thing it's caused by Soundblaster drivers & or software

check this thread
http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=58642

This guy supposedly fixed it on his pc
He removed all creative stuff by following their support link
http://ask.americas.creative.com/SRVS/C ... ,case=1712

& then only reinstalling the soundblaster drivers........no other soundblaster softtware was reinstalled
driver link --> http://us.creative.com/support/downloads/
Hope this helps!

Ken

[bigblockmatt]

well, i got home last night at 7...just to find out that my power is out. some morons in my complex were fixing a transformer of some crap like that. said it would be back by 4 oclock...finally 1030 rolls around and the power turns on. I go and do the chkdsk /f thing (though it only let me do /p). I ran it on both drives from the system console thing. each time it said it found an error, so i ran it twice on each drive. the second time it came up clean. I check my event viewer in windows and there were no disk problems like i was getting before. so i went to bed and let defrag run last night on the main drive and defrag the backup drive today. So far, looking good. THANKS!!! I plan on playing some BF2 tonight, so i will let you all know how it turns out. THANKS AGAIN!!

Also, Kenc, Ive researched the pfmondnt thing before. I have uninstalled everything creative once and installed only the driver. that error still comes up every once in a while. (i have the x-fi). thanks though.

[bigblockmatt]

Well, i havent had any problems!! so, doing those checks/scans/things must have helped fix the problem!!! I am still considering reformatting. we shall see if i get around ot it.

[bigblockmatt]

well, i getting problems again....booting problems like it will just sit there when the its doing the bios post thing... im still trying to figure out what it is doing. sometime it works (like now, im using it). then other times it doesnt.

[bigblockmatt]

I ran power max last night. my main operating system drive came up clean but my secondary drive (which i hold all my music/pictures/other files) so hopefully i can back it all up somehow before it really goes down the pooper. in running powermax, it gave me some error message and to contact maxtor about doing and rma or something. i dont remember what the number is (im at work now.) Ill post it up when i get home sometime tonight.

[bigblockmatt]

they gave me a "Diagnostic Code ca6ca8b0" anyone know what they means?

[DMB2000uk]

I feel for you man, but all this is out of my technical league! IF you can back it up and return the drive, else if not, I don't know what to suggest.

Seems strange that you're getting boot issue's when the stuff is only a secondary drive... Something isn't right somewhere!

Dan

[bigblockmatt]

ya, i was thinking the same thing...