Brand New Computer Has Reallocated Sectors

[Gerowen]

So I bought myself a new laptop the other day for the first time in probably 10 years.  I just got the best one Wal-Mart had on the shelf to do some last gen and light current gen gaming on a mobile PC so I could pack it around with me.  Everything has been going wonderful up until today.  The last week I've played CoD 4, Dragon Age: Origins, Bioshock, Left 4 Dead 2, and even some Mass Effect.  All of them were running great; most of them were holding 40-60 fps (Oblivion and Bioshock are hanging out between 50 and 100 fps depending on the surroundings) with settings on ultra running at 900p (screen's native resolution), which is a big step up from my old dual core that couldn't even run Minecraft at 20 fps and you could barely navigate the menu on Left 4 Dead 2 let alone play it.

 

Today however when I tried to play some games, I'm getting some noticeable stuttering that seems to coincide with the hard drive light blinking.  In Mass Effect, Oblivion and a few other games, any time the hard drive is accessed, say when I move a little and it loads textures in a new area, there's a stutter.  In Oblivion almost every time I swing my sword and contact an enemy, the framerate drops and the whole thing hangs for a second.  I don't know for a fact that it is hard drive related, but it seems to coincide with accessing the hard drive.  Anyway, I opened up Speccy and lo and behold, this brand new computer already has some reallocated sectors on the hard drive and the S.M.A.R.T status is set to "Warning".  I'm not an expert at reading the S.M.A.R.T info, but logic would dictate that a brand new hard drive should not have any reallocated sectors.

 

When I open HP's "Support Assistant" it says the SMART status is "Good", and all of the sub-headings in Speccy, including the reallocated sector count, all read good, which makes me wonder why Speccy says the status is "Warning".  Is it normal for new hard drives to have reallocated sectors?  I've done some Googling and apparently a lot of these older games have issues with stuttering on certain types of newer hardware.  I read on a forum where somebody modified the config file for Mass Effect on PC and somehow spoofed an older Realtek sound card so the game still produced audio, but it got rid of the voice cut-off and stuttering in that game.  (Mass Effect 2 runs great btw)  I've found another topic where somebody playing Oblivion is having the exact same problem as I am.

 

Windows disk defragger says my hard drive is 15% fragmented, so I'm going to leave a defrag running when I go to bed.  Could 15% fragmentation slow down access times and cause the stuttering?  I have filled the hard drive pretty fast downloading a lot of my games; I'm down to only about 250 GB free out of the 1 TB of total storage space.

 

Attached is a screenshot of the SMART data from Speccy.

 

The laptop in question is an HP Pavilion 17-g121wm with the following specs.

1 TB Toshiba 5400RPM SATA3 hard drive

8 GB DDR3 RAM

AMD A10 8700P APU (Quad Core processor with 6 core Radeon R6 graphics on the same chip)

OS: Windows 10 Home

[ThisSiteHasLostItsCharm]

yep, fragmented hdd can cause stuttering, but if a new hdd shows reallocated sectors, that's also a red flag, maybe test it with a few other bits of software? 

 

[The Evil Overlord]

if it's new, take it back bud, demand a replacement or a refund

[Gerowen]

I got in touch with HP support and since the number of reallocated sectors isn't increasing and hasn't broken the threshold, they probably existed the day Toshiba built the drive.  I defragmented it and things seem to be working a little better.  I've got a 1 year warranty on it and the support guy told me that if I noticed the number increasing or other signs of physical failure to give them a call back and they'd send me a replacement.  I had a suspicion that's what would happen, especially after doing some reading about other people having similar issues with the games I'm having them with.  I even tried setting Oblivion to 640x480 and all effects turned off or set to "Very Low" (Even though I'm getting 60+fps with everything set to Ultra), and the stuttering when I attack something for the first time is still there.  Now that I think back, I seem to remember the PS3 version had stuttering as well, so perhaps it's just an issue with those particular games.  Once I've swung the sword once or twice though the stuttering goes away (I guess the animation and other info gets moved into RAM).

[spaceelf]

Just checking if you got the latest BIOS and video drivers for it.  The 16.7.3 drivers just released should support it.

 

(Don't stick with HPs graphics drivers on an AMD laptop, all that will accomplish is a crap experience.)

 

As to SMART data, from what I've read it's never been very reliable.  There is no standard reporting measures so every drive can tell you the same thing completely differently.

 

Also, Win10s anniversary update probably just happened on it and replaced the graphics drivers already, so possibly not even as good as the HP ones.

[adrynalyne]

12 minutes ago, Gerowen said:

I got in touch with HP support and since the number of reallocated sectors isn't increasing and hasn't broken the threshold, they probably existed the day Toshiba built the drive.  I defragmented it and things seem to be working a little better.  I've got a 1 year warranty on it and the support guy told me that if I noticed the number increasing or other signs of physical failure to give them a call back and they'd send me a replacement.  I had a suspicion that's what would happen, especially after doing some reading about other people having similar issues with the games I'm having them with.  I even tried setting Oblivion to 640x480 and all effects turned off or set to "Very Low" (Even though I'm getting 60+fps with everything set to Ultra), and the stuttering when I attack something for the first time is still there.  Now that I think back, I seem to remember the PS3 version had stuttering as well, so perhaps it's just an issue with those particular games.  Once I've swung the sword once or twice though the stuttering goes away (I guess the animation and other info gets moved into RAM).

HP has lied to you. No new machine should ever have a SMART warning. 

[+Warwagon MVC]

Yes, if it already has sector relocation warnings take it back, get a different one then immediately swap out the drive with an ssd  

[Gerowen]

Headed back to the store this evening.  I probably won't get there in time to return it, but I can at least get a new one and move all my stuff over.  I may go with an Acer if they've got one with a 17 inch display, non-touch, and at least as powerful as this one.  I tried Oblivion and it would run great for a minute or two at 60-80 fps with everything on Ulta and then I tried talking to somebody and there was no audio for the first 4 or 5 words, and when I got attacked, the whole game jittered until the relevant sound files and such finally got moved over into the RAM.  I think it's probably getting worse too because when I first brought it home, Fallout 3 ran great, but now even it is stuttering.  I saw the mouse lag and hang for a minute or so when I was just using Windows Explorer, and when I tried restarting it, it took 15-20 minutes for everything to start up once it got to the desktop.

 

I don't know whether to blame Toshiba for producing a faulty drive, or HP for not checking it before it went out the door in one of their computers.

[trag3dy]

Replace the hd with a ssd.

[The Evil Overlord]

Seriously dude, get aggressive, your country's sale of goods act will back you up, if you play soft, they'll just keep messing you around,

You paid hard earned money, you expect a consumer product with no faults at the very least

[Gerowen]

Is this one worth the price tag?  I haven't built or bought a PC in ages except for this HP.

 

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Asus-GL752VW-DH71-17.3-i7-6700HQ-16GB-RAM-1TB-HDD-Windows-10-Laptop/47368269

 

It sounds like it should be able to match the performance, on the same games, as my Playstation 4 and let me play some current gen games as well as my last gen ones.  It's in stock so I could have it in my hands in about an hour cause the store is open 24 hours.

[+Warwagon MVC]

10 minutes ago, Gerowen said:

Is this one worth the price tag?  I haven't built or bought a PC in ages except for this HP.

 

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Asus-GL752VW-DH71-17.3-i7-6700HQ-16GB-RAM-1TB-HDD-Windows-10-Laptop/47368269

 

It sounds like it should be able to match the performance, on the same games, as my Playstation 4 and let me play some current gen games as well as my last gen ones.  It's in stock so I could have it in my hands in about an hour cause the store is open 24 hours.

problem with laptops is no upgrading the video card down the road.

 

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Nvidia-GeForce-GTX-960M-Review.137893.0.html

[Gerowen]

11 minutes ago, warwagon said:

problem with laptops is no upgrading the video card down the road.

I had considered frankensteining my old tower.  It's just a micro-ATX case, so I figured I could just swap in a new motherboard and everything.  However, I like having a laptop that I can carry around with me.  I can take it with me when I take kids on a field trip, I can carry it into the living room and play in the same room with my wife, I can take it to a buddy's house, etc..  The guy at the store told me that even if it's not in stock he can have it in hand by tomorrow at 9 AM.

[Shiranui]

I'm still recovering from the shock of hearing that you would buy a new computer in 2016 without an SSD in it.

[adrynalyne]

37 minutes ago, Shiranui said:

I'm still recovering from the shock of hearing that you would buy a new computer in 2016 without an SSD in it.

Many laptops don't and when they do, they are often anemic in size. 

[Gerowen]

3 hours ago, Shiranui said:

I'm still recovering from the shock of hearing that you would buy a new computer in 2016 without an SSD in it.

The price per MB of SSDs is still pretty high.  I've only ever had two hard drives of my own die in my life; this one, and one that I left under the seat of our car for several days (drove to Kentucky from Washington) laying next to two large magnetic CB radio antenna bases that had magnets about the size of a small saucer in the bottom of each of them.  A 1 TB SSD is anywhere from $200-$300 just for the hard drive alone.  1 TB mechanical drives are anywhere from $30-$60.  I've got a 2 TB external connected to our server as a backup drive that has been running pretty well 24/7 for 4 or 5 years now with no issues.

 

The end result is I just went to Wal-Mart and picked up the same machine.  I had also noticed the first one had a bright spot in the top of the screen about the size of a pencil eraser where the backlight appeared brighter.  I'm starting to think that it was mishandled in shipping somewhere; dropped or something.  We've owned several HP computers over the past 10+ years and never had a problem out of any of them, especially when new, until this one.  That's not to say they're perfect, but they do have some type of QA department and I would hope that whoever put the thing together would do things like run memtest and check the SMART data of the drive before shipping it out the door.

 

The new one has no reallocated sectors and the backlight as no bright spots, so I'll be returning the other one in the morning when the customer service desk is back open.  That'll give me a chance to get all my stuff moved over.  I was really thinking about getting one of those higher end "gaming" laptops, but I've got a bunch of house repairs I need to focus on and a room to build, and couldn't justify spending a grand on a gaming computer when I've got a PS4, a Wii U, PS3, and now this computer that runs all my PS3 generation games at several times the framerate of the PS3 with much higher resolution textures and effects.

[Gerowen]

It was definitely the hard drive.  I picked up an identical machine, installed Speccy and Crystal Disk and this hard drive shows no reallocated sectors and all the games that were giving me stuttering run butter smooth now.  I've tested it with most of the ones I had problems with.

 

Got the other one doing a factory reset and data wipe before I haul it to have it returned.  I opted for the "data wipe" option instead of just doing a reformat, and it seems to be taking ages.  The original Mass Effect had stuttering so bad that whenever I would initiate conversation a lot of times half of their first sentence would be blank, or they'd get cut off before they finished; I guess having an issue retrieving the audio file.

 

Been playing about a half an hour now with no problems, :-)  I guess the issue has been resolved.  Maybe now I can finally finish this and all these other games I've never actually been able to play,

 

[Draconian Guppy]

3 hours ago, Gerowen said:

The price per MB of SSDs is still pretty high.  I've only ever had two hard drives of my own die in my life; this one, and one that I left under the seat of our car for several days (drove to Kentucky from Washington) laying next to two large magnetic CB radio antenna bases that had magnets about the size of a small saucer in the bottom of each of them.  A 1 TB SSD is anywhere from $200-$300 just for the hard drive alone.  1 TB mechanical drives are anywhere from $30-$60.  I've got a 2 TB external connected to our server as a backup drive that has been running pretty well 24/7 for 4 or 5 years now with no issues.

 

The end result is I just went to Wal-Mart and picked up the same machine.  I had also noticed the first one had a bright spot in the top of the screen about the size of a pencil eraser where the backlight appeared brighter.  I'm starting to think that it was mishandled in shipping somewhere; dropped or something.  We've owned several HP computers over the past 10+ years and never had a problem out of any of them, especially when new, until this one.  That's not to say they're perfect, but they do have some type of QA department and I would hope that whoever put the thing together would do things like run memtest and check the SMART data of the drive before shipping it out the door.

 

The new one has no reallocated sectors and the backlight as no bright spots, so I'll be returning the other one in the morning when the customer service desk is back open.  That'll give me a chance to get all my stuff moved over.  I was really thinking about getting one of those higher end "gaming" laptops, but I've got a bunch of house repairs I need to focus on and a room to build, and couldn't justify spending a grand on a gaming computer when I've got a PS4, a Wii U, PS3, and now this computer that runs all my PS3 generation games at several times the framerate of the PS3 with much higher resolution textures and effects.

No need to get a 1tb SSD,  just get a 128gb, heck  even 64, it will be the single most performance leap

[Danielx64]

6 minutes ago, Draconian Guppy said:

No need to get a 1tb SSD,  just get a 128gb, heck  even 64, it will be the single most performance leap

I would go with a 128gb one at the very lease, enough room for windows and all your software

[Draconian Guppy]

@Gerowen IF you dont mind me asking, how much did the laptop cost you ? There were probably better specd for the same price on amazon.com newegg

[Brandon H Supervisor]

10 hours ago, Gerowen said:

I had considered frankensteining my old tower.  It's just a micro-ATX case, so I figured I could just swap in a new motherboard and everything.  However, I like having a laptop that I can carry around with me.  I can take it with me when I take kids on a field trip, I can carry it into the living room and play in the same room with my wife, I can take it to a buddy's house, etc..  

slightly off topic but for similar reasons to yours my next setup will be a laptop with thunderbolt port so I can connect an external graphics card when at home

[Gerowen]

3 hours ago, Danielx64 said:

I would go with a 128gb one at the very lease, enough room for windows and all your software

I've got more than that in games alone, and the performance boost would be most needed in playing games.  A half a second difference in loading up Google Chrome doesn't really matter to me.

1 hour ago, Draconian Guppy said:

@Gerowen IF you dont mind me asking, how much did the laptop cost you ? There were probably better specd for the same price on amazon.com newegg

A little over $400, something like $450 after taxes.

[Draconian Guppy]

2 minutes ago, Gerowen said:

I've got more than that in games alone, and the performance boost would be most needed in playing games.  A half a second difference in loading up Google Chrome doesn't really matter to me.

A little over $400, something like $450 after taxes.

ah then nevermind, sweet deal, cheapest asus similar specd is $700ish on amazon

[adrynalyne]

48 minutes ago, Brandon H said:

slightly off topic but for similar reasons to yours my next setup will be a laptop with thunderbolt port so I can connect an external graphics card when at home

https://www.asus.com/us/Notebooks/ASUS-ZenBook-Pro-UX501VW/