Dead hard drive?

  • Thread starter Thread starter jflash
  • Start date Start date
J

jflash

A few weeks ago my computer started acting up - running slowly,
frequently crashing, etc. I figured that the best solution was to
reinstall XP (Home edition at this point). I had an XP Pro disc
available, and so I tried reinstalling from that. The installer kept
having various problems (usually giving me a BSOD with error code
0x7), although after trying a different disc I did manage to get it to
install. However, after getting it to install, upon rebooting the
computer it gave me an error "DISK BOOT FAILURE. INSERT SYSTEM DISK
AND PRESS ENTER". Because my laptop does what I need for the most
part, I gave up until I got through exams at school.

Before I go any farther, my computer is a homebuilt machine with an
Asus M2N-SLI deluxe motherboard, an AMD Athlon 64x2 3800+ processor, 1
GB of pqi RAM, and a Maxtor SATA 3.0 Gb/s hard drive (I'll check the
exact model if needed).

Now I'm back to working on the computer. I have checked everything I
can think of (the motherboard seems to check out on all other
components, I've run memtest86 to check my RAM with no problems, and
it does everything it needs to on a barebones boot). I am thinking at
this point that the problem is my hard drive, but I wanted to double
check that before I go and spend the money on a new one. If any
additional test are needed, I'll be happy to do whatever is necessary.
Thanks!
 
jflash said:
A few weeks ago my computer started acting up - running slowly,
frequently crashing, etc. I figured that the best solution was to
reinstall XP (Home edition at this point). I had an XP Pro disc
available, and so I tried reinstalling from that. The installer kept
having various problems (usually giving me a BSOD with error code
0x7), although after trying a different disc I did manage to get it to
install. However, after getting it to install, upon rebooting the
computer it gave me an error "DISK BOOT FAILURE. INSERT SYSTEM DISK
AND PRESS ENTER". Because my laptop does what I need for the most
part, I gave up until I got through exams at school.

Before I go any farther, my computer is a homebuilt machine with an
Asus M2N-SLI deluxe motherboard, an AMD Athlon 64x2 3800+ processor, 1
GB of pqi RAM, and a Maxtor SATA 3.0 Gb/s hard drive (I'll check the
exact model if needed).

Now I'm back to working on the computer. I have checked everything I
can think of (the motherboard seems to check out on all other
components, I've run memtest86 to check my RAM with no problems, and
it does everything it needs to on a barebones boot). I am thinking at
this point that the problem is my hard drive, but I wanted to double
check that before I go and spend the money on a new one. If any
additional test are needed, I'll be happy to do whatever is necessary.
Thanks!
Click to expand...

You can go to the seagate.com site and look for a download of a
diagnostic program for the disk. (Maxtor is now owned by Seagate.)

http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/seatools/

Manufacturer diagnostics are not too verbose. So don't expect
an English answer, like "your actuator is broken". Some of
these programs, will either indicate everything is fine,
or they'll give a failure code, and not offer an explanation.
The purpose of the code, is evidence that a warranty claim
can be made. If a drive won't throw a code, then the manufacturer
may tell you that nothing is wrong with their product. So consider
this as a go/no-go kind of test, because if something is
wrong, the program won't offer details about how bad it is.

Paul
 
You can go to the seagate.com site and look for a download of a
diagnostic program for the disk. (Maxtor is now owned by Seagate.)

http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/seatools/

Manufacturer diagnostics are not too verbose. So don't expect
an English answer, like "your actuator is broken". Some of
these programs, will either indicate everything is fine,
or they'll give a failure code, and not offer an explanation.
The purpose of the code, is evidence that a warranty claim
can be made. If a drive won't throw a code, then the manufacturer
may tell you that nothing is wrong with their product. So consider
this as a go/no-go kind of test, because if something is
wrong, the program won't offer details about how bad it is.

    Paul- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -
Click to expand...

I'll check that out. And really, all I'm looking for is confirmation
that it is my hard drive and not some other component - no sense
spending the money on a new hard drive when it can and should go
towards something else.
 
You can go to the seagate.com site and look for a download of a
diagnostic program for the disk. (Maxtor is now owned by Seagate.)

http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/seatools/

Manufacturer diagnostics are not too verbose. So don't expect
an English answer, like "your actuator is broken". Some of
these programs, will either indicate everything is fine,
or they'll give a failure code, and not offer an explanation.
The purpose of the code, is evidence that a warranty claim
can be made. If a drive won't throw a code, then the manufacturer
may tell you that nothing is wrong with their product. So consider
this as a go/no-go kind of test, because if something is
wrong, the program won't offer details about how bad it is.

    Paul- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -
Click to expand...

Short test failed... long test failed... considering it's detecting
the drive (ruling out the controller in my mind), that seems to
confirm that it's the drive. So, unless anyone can suggest something
else to check, I think I need to go visit Newegg.
 
Short test failed... long test failed... considering it's detecting
the drive (ruling out the controller in my mind), that seems to
confirm that it's the drive. So, unless anyone can suggest something
else to check, I think I need to go visit Newegg.

The drive is definitely bad ...
time for a new one.
Check first to see it may be under warranty.
If so you can get an RMA from the mfg- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -
Click to expand...

I'll check, but I doubt it. The drive is more than 2 years old at this
point. Makes me glad I've got my external, though... backed everything
up right before I tried to install XP Pro
 
jflash said:
I'll check, but I doubt it. The drive is more than 2 years old at this
point. Makes me glad I've got my external, though... backed everything
up right before I tried to install XP Pro
Click to expand...

The longest hard drive warranties are five years. So it pays to check.
And some brands, there is a web page, where you can look up whether the
warranty is still in effect or not.

https://store.seagate.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/SgCheckWarrantyView

Paul
 
The longest hard drive warranties are five years. So it pays to check.
And some brands, there is a web page, where you can look up whether the
warranty is still in effect or not.

https://store.seagate.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/SgCheckWarrantyView

Paul
Click to expand...

Thank you for encouraging me to check on warranty. It is still under
warranty, so if I can work out how to pack the thing (Seagate's
instructions are decidedly cryptic), then I'll only be out $20 (or
however much shipping costs) instead of the $60 for a new drive.
 
Do you have a spare HDD box w/packing around? I pretty much
ignore packing instructions and just put the drive in an
antistatic bag, in the clamshell plastic that fits w/o
movement in an outer cardboard box a drive shipped in, then
toss that into a larger box with peanuts all around the
inner box, and put the RMA # on the outer shipping label or
write it on a separate label, or both. In other words it's
returned how it arrived, plus the typical shipper
stipulation of space between inner box and outer box.
Click to expand...

Can't say that I do have a spare box lying around. Actually, this is
the only drive I've ever bought by itself, and even it didn't come in
a box. I bought it at the local computer shop who had it just in the
antistatic bag and not in a box.
 
Ask the shop for a box w/ original packing, they're probably
throwing away several a week.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -
Click to expand...

I may try that. Problem is that the shop is half an hour away, but I'd
imagine some place closer may have some as well.
 
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