Windows 7 RC1 x64 crashes during large file operations

Hi all, thanks in advance for reading! I've been experiencing these issues since I began my foray into Windows 7 over a week ago. Before I describe the issues, here's my system's stats:

Asus P5N-D
2x2gb Corsair xms2 DDR2 800 @ stock
C2D E8400 @ stock
nvidia geforce 8800 gts
1 x WD Raptor 37gb sata
1 x WD Caviar 250gb sata
2 x Samsung Spinpoint F1 750gb sata

During large file operations (moving, copying/pasting etc) between HDD's of items (single files or groups of files and folders, and from the Caviar to either Samsung) exceeding several gb's worth, the system would hard lock - no mouse/keyboard, all visual progress halted, no visual HDD activity. If left alone, the system would very intermittently flash a black display and return to the frozen desktop display, eventually winking out to a total lack of display output altogether.

Upon soft reboot, the destination HDD has been dropped from BIOS, boot menu, etc. Boot hangs at midpoint during the splash.

Hard power-cycling yields the HDD reappearing and Windows starts without issues.

What I've done so far:
-Disconnected destination HDD and tried the other spinpoint, same result.
-Diag'd all HDD's with manufacturers' tools, all pass.
-Flashed BIOS to most recent update, no change.
-Swapped out the WD Raptor for a freshly unboxed WD 640gb Caviar Black. Clean installed W7 x64 after format etc and did NOTHING (this means installed no drivers, no programs, nada) but attempt the file operations after first startup post-install. Same issues. (Sidenote - after power-cycling, W7 booted without Aero and threw up 'access denied' sorts of errors when trying to access anything within the start menu, desktop context menus, etc. Will attempt a second fresh install after sleeping a while.)

I should also mention that these crashes do not generate entries in the event viewer system log - only 'unexpected shutdown' entries from me power-cycling the damn thing.

I know other users have had similar issues with HDD drops, and some have had luck bumping BIOS voltages a bit but I see no reason that should be necessary given what I've got under the hood. I also should mention the md5 hash checks out on the iso image from MSDN, I made sure of this after getting a bum image the first time around.

A few final notes: I have considered the possibility of bunk SATA controller drivers, but for one I've read of others having similar issues, and updating said drivers to no avail, and for two I was running winXP x64 (100% updated) perfectly on the very same hardware mere hours prior. As for RAM instability, memtest86 on my xp x64 system ran flawless & system was prime95 stable for hours on end. I haven't attempted stress testing yet as I don't believe this is a hardware issue. Thoughts?

Sorry for the long post, but good explanations of details always help!

Same Thing happens to me. Even with groups of files around 1gig approx. Not really got much information about the problem itself but happens fairly frequently so i've resorted to doing files one by one for now.

I have
Asus p5n-e sli (latest non-beta Bios)
Samsung SCSI HD753LJ HDD (750 GB) (used for files and installs...usually where i am copying TO where problem occurs)
ST332062 (Seagate 7200.10 Sata 300) (where W7 and XP are both installed)
E6600 CPU @ stock settings.
2gb Ram
9600gt (not that that's important surely?)

Windows 7 RC1 x64 version with updates automatically installing.

I'm getting the exact same behaviour. Only way of resuming use after the hard lock is by turning off pc, disconnecting HDD's....booting again....turning off...reconecting HDDs....turning back on, and then re-assigning the boot priorities in Bios. If ijust reboot without doing this rather odd proceduce, the loading splash screen just freezes up and nothing happens. the startup repair (i think thats what it's called?) is another option i get when trying to startup windows again, and that locks up too during.

Can't say i've done all the similar tests that you have mentioned, due to the fact i don't understand what on earth you are referring to with most of them haha, but i'm slightly relieved to see someone else with a similar issue as i know its probably not a hardware issue. It was all running fine and dandy before.

On a sidenote, i do not have problems when handling large files in other circumstances, ie. unrarring large files etc. it seems the problem is only in W7's operations? hmm

Anyone managed to find any solutions ? i foresee this to be a huge ballache.

I can't speak to un-rar'ing large archives, but my guess is that it wouldn't have been an issue (I've since reverted back to XP x64).

If you still have the W7 image file could you run an md5 hash check to make sure your image isn't the problem? This should do it for you - MD5 Hash Checker for Windows

ok thanks ill check it out. so let me clarify. Ill run this check on the .ISO i used to install. if there IS problems that it finds, i should re-downlaod and re-install with a different ISO. (after checking that one aswell obviously).

Yep, the md5 hash should match exactly the one listed here -> Icrontic » Windows 7 RC1 depending on which version you have

Originally Posted by auralanarchy

Hi all, thanks in advance for reading! I've been experiencing these issues since I began my foray into Windows 7 over a week ago. Before I describe the issues, here's my system's stats:

Asus P5N-D
2x2gb Corsair xms2 DDR2 800 @ stock
C2D E8400 @ stock
nvidia geforce 8800 gts
1 x WD Raptor 37gb sata
1 x WD Caviar 250gb sata
2 x Samsung Spinpoint F1 750gb sata

During large file operations (moving, copying/pasting etc) between HDD's of items (single files or groups of files and folders, and from the Caviar to either Samsung) exceeding several gb's worth, the system would hard lock - no mouse/keyboard, all visual progress halted, no visual HDD activity. If left alone, the system would very intermittently flash a black display and return to the frozen desktop display, eventually winking out to a total lack of display output altogether.

Upon soft reboot, the destination HDD has been dropped from BIOS, boot menu, etc. Boot hangs at midpoint during the splash.

Hard power-cycling yields the HDD reappearing and Windows starts without issues.

What I've done so far:
-Disconnected destination HDD and tried the other spinpoint, same result.
-Diag'd all HDD's with manufacturers' tools, all pass.
-Flashed BIOS to most recent update, no change.
-Swapped out the WD Raptor for a freshly unboxed WD 640gb Caviar Black. Clean installed W7 x64 after format etc and did NOTHING (this means installed no drivers, no programs, nada) but attempt the file operations after first startup post-install. Same issues. (Sidenote - after power-cycling, W7 booted without Aero and threw up 'access denied' sorts of errors when trying to access anything within the start menu, desktop context menus, etc. Will attempt a second fresh install after sleeping a while.)

I should also mention that these crashes do not generate entries in the event viewer system log - only 'unexpected shutdown' entries from me power-cycling the damn thing.

I know other users have had similar issues with HDD drops, and some have had luck bumping BIOS voltages a bit but I see no reason that should be necessary given what I've got under the hood. I also should mention the md5 hash checks out on the iso image from MSDN, I made sure of this after getting a bum image the first time around.

A few final notes: I have considered the possibility of bunk SATA controller drivers, but for one I've read of others having similar issues, and updating said drivers to no avail, and for two I was running winXP x64 (100% updated) perfectly on the very same hardware mere hours prior. As for RAM instability, memtest86 on my xp x64 system ran flawless & system was prime95 stable for hours on end. I haven't attempted stress testing yet as I don't believe this is a hardware issue. Thoughts?

Sorry for the long post, but good explanations of details always help!

Im also getting this problem on a i7 system, but all works fine with vista..

Im stunned.. No comments.. That sounds TOTALLY weird... There is no sense in that problem description? Try using Tera Copy (Copy your files faster with TeraCopy) - its free and works with Vista / Win7 (x86 & x64) - i am using it with Win7 x64 myself. It replaces Windows own transferring - and does a MUCH better job. If you register the full version you get more features, but in everyday life, those aren't necessary..

Good luck, damn that problem sux!

Originally Posted by TwinA

Im stunned.. No comments.. That sounds TOTALLY weird... There is no sense in that problem description? Try using Tera Copy (Copy your files faster with TeraCopy) - its free and works with Vista / Win7 (x86 & x64) - i am using it with Win7 x64 myself. It replaces Windows own transferring - and does a MUCH better job. If you register the full version you get more features, but in everyday life, those aren't necessary..

Good luck, damn that problem sux!

Yeh Im with TwinA, try TeraCopy, its a lot better.
Your problem does suck. Cant hurt to bump the SB voltage if others have has success though. See if you can find newer chipset drivers too.

Originally Posted by TwinA

Im stunned.. No comments.. That sounds TOTALLY weird... There is no sense in that problem description? Try using Tera Copy (Copy your files faster with TeraCopy) - its free and works with Vista / Win7 (x86 & x64) - i am using it with Win7 x64 myself. It replaces Windows own transferring - and does a MUCH better job. If you register the full version you get more features, but in everyday life, those aren't necessary..

Good luck, damn that problem sux!

When I get around to trying w7 again (probably around the time of the official release) in a dual-boot, I'll try this as a work-around should the problem still exist. I'll also make quick work of installing this on my XP & vista systems as well, thanks for the tip

Edit: and loathe - I did also try updating all chipset drivers, but to no avail there either. If it comes down to it I'll tinker with the voltages, but those sorts of tweaks shouldn't be necessary with stock-clock hardwares and just a fresh OS.

Ok im also getting random crashes .. i have just put w7 on my media Pc.E8400, RAMPAGE X48 WITH 2 3870X'S AFTER RUNNING FOR 45MIN THE COMPUTER CRASHED LOL.. GOING TO TRY WITHOUT THE W7 UPDATES..