Severe problems on loading Windows user account.

Ostriig on 8/9/2011 at 13:21

Second time I've had this sort of crap so I'm getting worried. A couple of days ago, out of the blue, I got a BSOD reporting a problem with ATAPORT.SYS. System crashed and on restart it seemed that it wouldn't complete Windows load anymore. After a couple of restarts I let it stew on the Please Wait screen for a long time, literally minutes, and eventually it did present me with my single user account and logged onto it. Subsequent reboots I did for testing worked perfectly. So I looked around the net and I found two suggestions, both relating to the MBR, one that I might have a rootkit that dug itself in there, another that an auto-defrag process might've botched something with it. Either way, I did a sweep with AVG then downloaded and ran Malwarebytes and didn't find anything. For good measure I used my install disc to rewrite the MBR to play it safe.

Today, just now, problems came back but even worse. I got to the Please Wait screen on loading Windows, then it briefly flashed to black and displayed the logon screen. When I attempted to enter my password, however, it said "Can't connect to RPC server." I rebooted, and then I got the same as days before, spent ages on the Please Wait screen. But this time, once it did finally allow me to log into my user account, the Aero interface was disabled (though it came on by itself after a little while) and I got an error message saying something to the effect of "Windows failed to connect to service System Event Notification Service" and all my user account info wasn't there. Firefox would load with stock settings, my desktop calendar was empty, and the Libraries category in Explorer redirected to nothing. I went into the Users folder on C:\ and my user account data was there, but just not loaded into the running account.

Windows 7 Professional 64bit, installed on an OCZ Vertex II SSD. Disk Self Test in progress as I type, though previous tests where all OK, SMART info reported no errors. My motherboard is an Asus P8Z68-V with a known fault of causing multiple boots when certain overclocking features are enabled, but I'm running all stock settings and the system's been rock-solid so far. Doesn't sound like a mainboard problem anyway, does it? Or is it all the result of services not loading in time which could be traced to a motherboard malfunction? 8GB RAM, and an i7-2600K. Will amend details if PassMark's DiskCheckup finds anything wrong with my SSD once the test completes.

Any advice, guys?

Edit: Keeps happening. It's like playing roulette, sometimes boots fine but apparently more often than not it's an utter fuckup. Sometimes it takes forever only to eventually log into an empty account. Most recently it actually didn't even load the Please Wait message, I was left staring at the background screen. The last time it loaded properly it threw me a wobbly about a runtime error with an nVidia service.

And just now on restart, at POST, it gave me a No Keyboard Found beep. What the fuck. This is starting to stink of motherboard failure.

It's loaded now, got into my account proper, and I noticed a delay in prepping the audio device too. And any sort of testing on the SSD with DiskCheckup just hangs, by the way, seems to go on forever. Works on the HDDs, but might just be an incompatibility of the program.

Nathan on 9/9/2011 at 09:56

It does sound like a hardware problem however a rootkit or other malware could be causing it also.
Here are some things to try:
1. Try running the tool TDSSKiller from Kaspersky Labs to search for rootkits.
2. Also try the program (http://hcidesign.com/memtest/) memtest to see if your RAM is functioning properly.
3. Download the program called autoruns and/or hijackthis and look for suspicious entries. (both programs can save logs of their scans if you don't know what to look for)

Ostriig on 9/9/2011 at 16:54

See, I'm starting to wonder again about whether it could be a hardware problem after all, at least at the barebones level. Because none of these issues appear when the computer resumes from Hibernation. And once it's running, it's at 100%. I set it to Hibernate last night, resumed today without a hitch. Then a little later I did four consecutive starts from Hibernation and they also worked perfectly fine. It seems that whatever's going screwy is during fresh Windows boots, when the OS is trying to read the user accounts.

I did what you suggested and here's what it got me:

1. TDSSKiller returns one suspicious file, sptd.sys, full details below. Now, as I recall, this is a driver installed by Daemon Tools that handles the virtual drives and a quick snoop around the net turned up some Avast forums where it was suggested identifying sptdas a rootkit is a false positive. I hadn't screwed around with the Daemon installation since I first put it on this machine, a couple of months ago. I've uninstalled Daemon for now, and the driver file seems to have stayed behind, though likely unused as the virtual drives no longer appear in either Explorer or Device Manager. Think I should just let TDSSKiller go ahead and delete it, is it possible that it was infected recently?

Here's the report, by the way:
(http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb67/Ostriig/rootkit.jpg)

Inline Image:

http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb67/Ostriig/th_rootkit.jpg

2. MemTest - did the basic check and no errors were returned. I also ran Memory Diagnostic from the Windows install disc yesterday and that was all in order too.

3. Ran HiJackThis, but you're right in that I have no idea what I'm looking for. Could you narrow it down, is there a particular sort of entry I'm after.

Code:

Logfile of Trend Micro HijackThis v2.0.4
Scan saved at 17:25:36, on 09/09/2011
Platform: Windows 7 SP1 (WinNT 6.00.3505)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v8.00 (8.00.7601.17514)
Boot mode: Normal

Running processes:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Ink\TabTip32.exe
C:\Windows\system\CMGxMon.exe
C:\Program Files\ASUS Xonar DX Audio\Customapp\ASUSAUDIOCENTER.EXE
D:\Program Files (x86)\Rainlendar2\Rainlendar2.exe
C:\Program Files\ASUS Xonar DX Audio\Customapp\MXMon.exe
D:\Program Files (x86)\DAEMON Tools Lite\DTLite.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Java\Java Update\jusched.exe
D:\Program Files (x86)\AVG\AVG10\avgtray.exe
D:\Program Files (x86)\ScanSoft\OmniPageSE4.0\OpWareSE4.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe
D:\Program Files (x86)\Trend Micro\HiJackThis\HiJackThis.exe

R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Page_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Search_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,SearchAssistant =
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,CustomizeSearch =
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Local Page = C:\Windows\SysWOW64\blank.htm
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar,LinksFolderName =
F2 - REG:system.ini: UserInit=userinit.exe,
O2 - BHO: AcroIEHelperStub - {18DF081C-E8AD-4283-A596-FA578C2EBDC3} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\Acrobat\ActiveX\AcroIEHelperShim.dll
O2 - BHO: IESpeakDoc - {8D10F6C4-0E01-4BD4-8601-11AC1FDF8126} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Bluetooth Suite\IEPlugIn.dll
O2 - BHO: SkypeIEPluginBHO - {AE805869-2E5C-4ED4-8F7B-F1F7851A4497} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Skype\Toolbars\Internet Explorer\skypeieplugin.dll
O2 - BHO: Java(tm) Plug-In 2 SSV Helper - {DBC80044-A445-435b-BC74-9C25C1C588A9} - D:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre6\bin\jp2ssv.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [JMB36X IDE Setup] C:\Windows\RaidTool\xInsIDE.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SunJavaUpdateSched] "C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Java\Java Update\jusched.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [AVG_TRAY] D:\Program Files (x86)\AVG\AVG10\avgtray.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SSBkgdUpdate] "C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Scansoft Shared\SSBkgdUpdate\SSBkgdupdate.exe" -Embedding -boot
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [OpwareSE4] "D:\Program Files (x86)\ScanSoft\OmniPageSE4.0\OpwareSE4.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Adobe ARM] "C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\ARM\1.0\AdobeARM.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SwitchBoard] C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\SwitchBoard\SwitchBoard.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [AdobeCS5ServiceManager] "C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\CS5ServiceManager\CS5ServiceManager.exe" -launchedbylogin
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [Rainlendar2] d:\Program Files (x86)\Rainlendar2\Rainlendar2.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [DAEMON Tools Lite] "D:\Program Files (x86)\DAEMON Tools Lite\DTLite.exe" -autorun
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [Sidebar] C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\sidebar.exe /autoRun
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-19\..\Run: [Sidebar] %ProgramFiles%\Windows Sidebar\Sidebar.exe /autoRun (User 'LOCAL SERVICE')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-19\..\RunOnce: [mctadmin] C:\Windows\System32\mctadmin.exe (User 'LOCAL SERVICE')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-20\..\Run: [Sidebar] %ProgramFiles%\Windows Sidebar\Sidebar.exe /autoRun (User 'NETWORK SERVICE')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-20\..\RunOnce: [mctadmin] C:\Windows\System32\mctadmin.exe (User 'NETWORK SERVICE')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-21-1952687303-768817493-451635336-1003\..\Run: [Sidebar] %ProgramFiles%\Windows Sidebar\Sidebar.exe /autoRun (User 'UpdatusUser')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-21-1952687303-768817493-451635336-1003\..\RunOnce: [mctadmin] C:\Windows\System32\mctadmin.exe (User 'UpdatusUser')
O8 - Extra context menu item: E&xport to Microsoft Excel - res://D:\PROGRA~2\MICROS~1\OFFICE11\EXCEL.EXE/3000
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {7815BE26-237D-41A8-A98F-F7BD75F71086} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Bluetooth Suite\IEPlugIn.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Send by Bluetooth to - {7815BE26-237D-41A8-A98F-F7BD75F71086} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Bluetooth Suite\IEPlugIn.dll
O9 - Extra button: Skype Plug-In - {898EA8C8-E7FF-479B-8935-AEC46303B9E5} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Skype\Toolbars\Internet Explorer\skypeieplugin.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Skype Plug-In - {898EA8C8-E7FF-479B-8935-AEC46303B9E5} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Skype\Toolbars\Internet Explorer\skypeieplugin.dll
O9 - Extra button: Research - {92780B25-18CC-41C8-B9BE-3C9C571A8263} - D:\PROGRA~2\MICROS~1\OFFICE11\REFIEBAR.DLL
O18 - Protocol: skype-ie-addon-data - {91774881-D725-4E58-B298-07617B9B86A8} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Skype\Toolbars\Internet Explorer\skypeieplugin.dll
O23 - Service: Adobe Acrobat Update Service (AdobeARMservice) - Adobe Systems Incorporated - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\ARM\1.0\armsvc.exe
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\Alg.exe,-112 (ALG) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\alg.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: AtherosSvc - Atheros Commnucations - C:\Program Files (x86)\Bluetooth Suite\adminservice.exe
O23 - Service: Autodesk Licensing Service - Autodesk - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Autodesk Shared\Service\AdskScSrv.exe
O23 - Service: AVG WatchDog (avgwd) - AVG Technologies CZ, s.r.o. - D:\Program Files (x86)\AVG\AVG10\avgwdsvc.exe
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\efssvc.dll,-100 (EFS) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\fxsresm.dll,-118 (Fax) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\fxssvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: Intel® PROSet Monitoring Service - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\IProsetMonitor.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @keyiso.dll,-100 (KeyIso) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: mental ray 3.6 Satellite for Autodesk 3ds Max 2009 32-bit 32-bit (mi-raysat_3dsMax2009_32) - Unknown owner - D:\Program Files (x86)\Autodesk\3ds Max 2009\mentalray\satellite\raysat_3dsMax2009_32server.exe
O23 - Service: mental ray 3.6 Satellite for Autodesk 3ds Max 2009 64-bit 64-bit (mi-raysat_3dsMax2009_64) - Unknown owner - D:\Program Files\Autodesk\3ds Max 2009\mentalray\satellite\raysat_3dsMax2009_64server.exe
O23 - Service: @comres.dll,-2797 (MSDTC) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\msdtc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\System32\netlogon.dll,-102 (Netlogon) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: NVIDIA Display Driver Service (NVSvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\nvvsvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: NVIDIA Update Service Daemon (nvUpdatusService) - NVIDIA Corporation - C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\NVIDIA Updatus\daemonu.exe
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\psbase.dll,-300 (ProtectedStorage) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\Locator.exe,-2 (RpcLocator) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\locator.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\samsrv.dll,-1 (SamSs) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: SiSoftware Deployment Agent Service (SandraAgentSrv) - SiSoftware - D:\Program Files\SiSoftware\SiSoftware Sandra Lite 2011.SP3\RpcAgentSrv.exe
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\snmptrap.exe,-3 (SNMPTRAP) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\snmptrap.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\spoolsv.exe,-1 (Spooler) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\spoolsv.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\sppsvc.exe,-101 (sppsvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\sppsvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: Steam Client Service - Valve Corporation - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Steam\SteamService.exe
O23 - Service: NVIDIA Stereoscopic 3D Driver Service (Stereo Service) - NVIDIA Corporation - C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\3D Vision\nvSCPAPISvr.exe
O23 - Service: SwitchBoard - Adobe Systems Incorporated - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\SwitchBoard\SwitchBoard.exe
O23 - Service: TabletServicePen - Wacom Technology, Corp. - C:\Program Files\Tablet\Pen\Pen_Tablet.exe
O23 - Service: Wacom Consumer Touch Service (TouchServicePen) - Wacom Technology, Corp. - C:\Program Files\Tablet\Pen\Pen_TouchService.exe
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\ui0detect.exe,-101 (UI0Detect) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\UI0Detect.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\vaultsvc.dll,-1003 (VaultSvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\vds.exe,-100 (vds) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\vds.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\vssvc.exe,-102 (VSS) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\vssvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\Wat\WatUX.exe,-601 (WatAdminSvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\Wat\WatAdminSvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\wbengine.exe,-104 (wbengine) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\wbengine.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%Systemroot%\system32\wbem\wmiapsrv.exe,-110 (wmiApSrv) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\wbem\WmiApSrv.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%PROGRAMFILES%\Windows Media Player\wmpnetwk.exe,-101 (WMPNetworkSvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Media Player\wmpnetwk.exe (file missing)

--
End of file - 9977 bytes

Another piece info, don't know if it's of use, is that someone suggested I have a look over the Event Viewer on Boot and Boot Degradation. Yesterday the system only logged four boots, even though I must've restarted the machine a dozen times. No boot degradation items for that date, either.

Ostriig on 9/9/2011 at 19:44

Ok, nevermind the above - fresh info, more accurate. Looks like what's getting reported is a problem with the IDE controller, here's the info (I'm cheating on TTLG with another forum, really under the gun to find a solution here):

~

Okay, here's what I got so far. Long story short, did a bunch of test, over twenty reboots, with both the original SATA port I had it it in, SATA III IDE Port 0, and one of the other ports, SATA II Port 2. I ended up going back to the Even Log and this time I looked in the right place, the System log.

Basically, what I described as the larger failures, "user data not showing up" appears to be the result of massive failures for various services on starting up. What I didn't realise is that even when the computer seemed to be booting up fine, in fact it wasn't. Those little flashes or pauses on the logon screen were also indicative of a problem, which appears to identify the main two failures. These two errors happen every time the PC boots into Windows from scratch:

- one, generated by MS Windows Eventlog: "The event logging service encountered an error (res=1117) while initializing logging resources for channel Microsoft-Windows-GroupPolicy/Operational."

- the second, and likely the root of all this mess, generated by atapi: "The driver detected a controller error on \Device\Ide\IdePortX." - where X is either 0 or 2, depending on which port I have the OS SSD plugged into.

The full details if of any interest:
(http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb67/Ostriig/errors.jpg)

Inline Image:

http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb67/Ostriig/th_errors.jpg

Now, like I said, these two errors happen every time I boot into Windows. And every now and then, more rarely, they're accompanied by that other cascade of errors which make it look as if the OS hasn't read all the user info. Or once it actually caused a full PC reset at the login screen. But these errors don't occur when I put the PC in and out of Hibernation. That works with a hitch, no problems visible nor logged in the Event viewer.

This all puts me in a bit of a bind, because I'm in a situation where I really need my PC for the next two weeks. Can't RMA for now, nor can I spend a lot of time on reinstalls, I've got some work that needs to get crunched out. So I'd like to boil this down to three questions for the time being:

1. Is it at all possible that it's the SSD that's causing the problems, not the motherboard SATA controller? The error in the System log would make me think that the fault lies with the mainboard, would it be possible for this not to be the case? I know, one way to check would be to take a clean HDD and make a new install on that and see, but like I said, I'm scarce on time and if anyone knows for sure one way or the other I wouldn't have to go through with it if there's no point.

2. Any reasonable esitmates, given these circumstances is it likely that the system will completely crap out on me within the next two weeks? I scrounged through the System log, and the first incidence of a fault with the IDE controller dates back to just September 1st, and it's gotten this bad just this last week. For reference, I've had this PC since the end of June.

3. Why would Windows have said "Can't connect to RPC server?" I'm really kinda worried about this, is there any reasonably likely scenario where these failures with the controller and services startups could cause that? I've looked for rootkits with Kaspersky's TDSSKiller and SanityCheck (RootHookAnalyser), and they didn't turn up anything except Daemon Tools' SPTD service (false positive).

So, yeah, that's where I'm at. If anyone's in the know, I'm all ears, and by the way thanks for the input guys, it's much appreciated.

Nathan on 10/9/2011 at 00:43

Your hijackthis log reports many files and services missing. I would run sfc /scannow from a command prompt to try and repair any system files. It seems that something is disabling/corrupting your essential Windows services.

1. If SMART monitoring on the SSD reports no errors I think it's safe to say that the SSD is physically fine. You could see if you can reinstall the drivers for the SATA and IDE controllers

2. The system seems in bad shape. It's not good when important Windows services fail to load. Without knowing the cause of the problem it's anyones guess as to whether it will completely fail.

3. System files may have gotten corrupted or disabled somehow. Run system file checker (sfc) to see if you can fix it.

Ostriig on 16/9/2011 at 17:20

Okay, right, sorry for ducking my head in the sand, just been tied up with loads of crap. So, I went ahead and ran the system file checker, and it found nothing. I tried a different SATA cable as was suggested to me at [H]F, and still nothing. And then I did a chkdsk, also as suggested, looking for bad sectors as well. It found one bad cluster, relevant bit of info as follows:

Code:

CHKDSK is verifying file data (stage 4 of 5)...
Read failure with status 0xc0000185 at offset 0x58421a000 for 0x10000 bytes.
Read failure with status 0xc0000185 at offset 0x58421a000 for 0x1000 bytes.
Windows replaced bad clusters in file 57562
of name \Windows\System32\winevt\Logs\MIE38D~1.EVT.
168176 files processed. File data verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying free space (stage 5 of 5)...
15710992 free clusters processed. Free space verification is complete.
Adding 1 bad clusters to the Bad Clusters File.
CHKDSK discovered free space marked as allocated in the
master file table (MFT) bitmap.
Correcting errors in the Volume Bitmap.
Windows has made corrections to the file system.

124930047 KB total disk space.
61728636 KB in 137457 files.
84420 KB in 28634 indexes.
4 KB in bad sectors.
273019 KB in use by the system.
65536 KB occupied by the log file.
62843968 KB available on disk.

4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
31232511 total allocation units on disk.
15710992 allocation units available on disk.

Right, so one bad cluster. To be honest, I'm even a little perplexed as to the file. Wouldn't that be part of the logs generated? But, anyway, it did that and a dozen reboots down the line, on both IDE ports, my Event Viewer no longer stars the hit rock band Atapi Error and Friends. No services failing or anything, boot and login times have returned to normal.

I know what you're thinking, why didn't I check the disk for errors in the first place. It's because I did. Kinda. When I plugged the OS hard drive into IDE Port 2 the first time the system decided it wanted to a chkdsk, and I was "go for it, honey". And it didn't find anything wrong, though I guess it might not have been looking for bad sectors.

Don't know what to say, should I be worried that a three months' old hard drive has sprung a bad cluster? Or maybe I should just chalk it up to shit happens. At any rate, system seems to be back to normal so I'm happy for the time being.

Anyway, to cut my ramblings short, thanks Nathan! All the help is much appreciated! And being paranoid enough, I'll probably go digging for rootkits again later, when I have the time, just to feel safe. =)

Nathan on 17/9/2011 at 11:25

Glad you got it fixed. I wouldn't worry too much about 1 bad cluster. Run checkdisk periodically to see if there are any more bad clusters and see if SMART monitoring reports anything. Also, if you are not already doing it I would recommend you backup your important user data periodically.

Ostriig on 17/9/2011 at 17:35

I'll do that. It's actually not the SSD that's the scariest bit, it only holds the OS and a couple of applications, the major pain would be to RMA it if it goes batshit. But the other two HDDs have a couple of years on them, and I haven't backed stuff up in, like, half a year or so.