I am not alone!

After worrying for the last month that I had just done something utterly retarded with my computer hardware, learning more about the problem has shown me that actually, variations on this are widespread.

Beware NForce and NCQ!
Seagate, Maxtor, and NForce4
NForce4 data corruption
Event ID - 51 - An error was detected on device \Device\Harddisk0\D during a paging operation

Perhaps most amusing is the finger-pointing:

NVidia says: Several issues have been reported with hard drives supporting NCQ, possibly including long boot times.  These issues are typically resolved with a hard drive firmware upgrade.

Maxtor, maker of my old hard drive, say: If you are experiencing data corruption issues, the problem is not with the hard drive firmware. Please visit nVidia's website to update to the latest nVidia chipset drivers to resolve this issue.

That's mildly satisfying, at least. Shame my graphics are now playing up - Oblivion is currently unplayable :(  Probably time I got a new graphics card anyway...

PS. This new LJ update form is a bit crap, or at least the rich text version is.

(no subject)

I know how enthralled you all are at my computer woes, so I thought I'd share the current problem with you, namely the graphics card which I now believe to have broken. :(

Behold! The brokenness which I see in both Oblivion and Thief: Deadly Shadows.

[Error: unknown template 'video']
That'll be about another £60 I have to spend, then.