# HD Tune: Ultra DMA CRC Error Count



## sauron (Dec 28, 2011)

hi 
I have same problem like *subhendu*
I bought seagate hdd 3 weeks ago, it's works fine, but after several days, his speed in hd tune benchmark dropped from 118mb/s to 3mb/s!!
I check hdd health status and i saw this

*Ultra DMA CRC Error Count*
*Number of interface communication errors:2*







I changed my hdd, but after several days, new hdd started same problem 
I changed power and sata cables and test in another sata port, but problem did not solved 
can you help me? 

Sorry for my English.


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## sauron (Jan 16, 2012)

Any ideas?


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## theJesus (Jan 16, 2012)

Well, according to this, that value is:
 "The total quantity of CRC errors during UltraDMA mode. The raw value of this attribute indicates the number of errors found during data transfer in UltraDMA mode by ICRC (Interface CRC)."

Fairly self-explanatory, but of course that doesn't point directly to the cause.  Since it's occurring on multiple drives and you've tried different ports/cables, my guess would be the SATA controller on the motherboard.  Do you have a different machine you can try the drives in?

Also, that value is never going to reset, so make a note of what it is on each drive now, then see if it increases.

edit:  Did you use the same SATA cable for both drives before you started trying different cables?  It could be that the cable was faulty and then caused the error on the second drive as well, but since the value doesn't reset you're still seeing it after changing cables.  What matters is whether or not it increases and whether or not you're still getting that horribly slow transfer rate.


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## Widjaja (Jan 16, 2012)

Since you do not use a DVD drive according to your system specs, I would have to say it's down to
SATA controller or the SATA cable to the HDD.

A SATA DVD drive with a bad SATA cable can cause a SATA controller to go crazy which can cause a HDD to have UDMA CRC errors logged into SMART.

Happened to me.


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## sauron (Jan 16, 2012)

*theJesus*


> Do you have a different machine you can try the drives in?


No



> Did you use the same SATA cable for both drives before you started trying different cables?


Yes, I did 



> but since the value doesn't reset you're still seeing it after changing cables. What matters is whether or not it increases and whether or not you're still getting that horribly slow transfer rate.


How can I reset?

*Widjaja*
Damaged PATA cable?
before I bought new hDD, I changed PATA cable for no reason (old HDD had bad sectors, but not CRC erros) and after several days, new hdd started CRC errors


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## theJesus (Jan 16, 2012)

There is no way to reset that value, since it is just a count of how many times it has happened.  Just keep an eye on it and make sure it doesn't increase at all.  If it doesn't increase, then you don't have to worry about it.


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## Widjaja (Jan 16, 2012)

Are you using a PATA or a SATA cable.
Because you start off saying you are using a SATA cable and then you respond with saying you are using a PATA cable.

If you used the same HDD cable as the old drive there is a chance the HDD cable may have caused the same errors as the first drive while using it.

You can not reset the UDMA CRC ERROR count.
It is permanent but this does not mean the HDD is defective.


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## sauron (Jan 16, 2012)

So, there is no way to solve this problem? my PC works very slow 

How can I disable DMA?


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## Widjaja (Jan 16, 2012)

I do recall a couple of situations with systems I was working on, slowing down to a crawl and would show the same thing in HDTune.
Often you would see the HDD light being continuously active.

Only problem is, I never figured out what caused it besides reinstalling windows.
But you could try a windows install/repair.

Since you do not have a DVD drive in your system specs, how do you install windows?
Do you have a DVD drive installed or not and is it PATA or SATA?


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