How do you know when your hard drive is crapping the bed? I just wiped and rebooted my laptop with the system recovery disk, uninstalled all the stuff I didnt want, got halfway through installing the stuff I wanted, and it died on me. And this was the second time I went throught the process. I keep getting BIOS errors, and bad clusters when I do the check disk function.
I have wiped this laptop twice in 4 days. It's a Toshiba Satellite A75-S226, and its only a year and 1/2 old. I have a friggen sony thats 4 years old and has never crashed. This one has crashed at least once a day in the last two weeks, including after rebooting the image.
ok, the clicking noises started about 4 months ago. Just here and there. Then came the inability to boot back up from hybernation, then the crashes (blue screen saying computer has had a catastrophic failure in the BIOS and is now dumping memory) then the check disk results saying I had 40 orphaned files and 10 bad clusters, that would come up the same no matter how many times windows said that it fixed them.
I just want to make sure I'm not going to spend $130 for a new hard drive for no reason, and then who knows how much for an install, when it could be fixable.
Is my hard drive dying, or does this laptop just blow?
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It is better to remain silent and have people wonder if you are an idiot, rather than to open your mouth and prove to everyone you are an idiot beyond all doubt. ~ Jim Rogers
How do you know when your hard drive is crapping the bed? I just wiped and rebooted my laptop with the system recovery disk, uninstalled all the stuff I didnt want, got halfway through installing the stuff I wanted, and it died on me. And this was the second time I went throught the process. I keep getting BIOS errors, and bad clusters when I do the check disk function.
I have wiped this laptop twice in 4 days. It's a Toshiba Satellite A75-S226, and its only a year and 1/2 old. I have a friggen sony thats 4 years old and has never crashed. This one has crashed at least once a day in the last two weeks, including after rebooting the image.
ok, the clicking noises started about 4 months ago. Just here and there. Then came the inability to boot back up from hybernation, then the crashes (blue screen saying computer has had a catastrophic failure in the BIOS and is now dumping memory) then the check disk results saying I had 40 orphaned files and 10 bad clusters, that would come up the same no matter how many times windows said that it fixed them.
I just want to make sure I'm not going to spend $130 for a new hard drive for no reason, and then who knows how much for an install, when it could be fixable.
Is my hard drive dying, or does this laptop just blow?
If it is making clicking noises, then that is an indication of impending hardware failure. The clicking noise indicates a mechanical problem with the drive, and no amount of wiping/formatting/reinstalling is going to fix it.
If it were me, I'd bite the bullet and get a new drive.
If you know how to operate a screwdriver, you can install a hard drive in a laptop yourself. Remove the screw that holds it in, and pull out the drive cradle assembly. Usually four screws hold the drive itself into the cradle. Remove the old drive and install the new drive. Put it back in, reinsert the screw that hold the cradle in place and you are ready to rock.
Since you are microsoft certified, are these errors bad too?
found bad cluster File 28354\hiberfil.sys
found bad cluster file 22322\$n36E4~1\cryptui.dll
found bad cluster file 2051\windows\$NZZCO~1\ntoskrnl.exe
found bad cluster file 2834\hiberfil.sys
found bad cluster file 28499\system~1\_resto~\snapshot\_r62e7n1
these are usually the consitant ones on the check disk.
yesterday after rebooting off the system restore (wipe and reload) after downloading all the MS updates/service packs, and uninstalling things I do not use, I got the blue screen saying I had a catastrophic error in the BIOS, and that the computer was now dumping memory. I restarted, and the computer said I had recovered from it. But running the check disk, I got all the same errors again.
I'm going to have to assume that consistantly getting errors means it's on its way out. I just want to be completely sure before I drop the coin.
__________________
Quote:
It is better to remain silent and have people wonder if you are an idiot, rather than to open your mouth and prove to everyone you are an idiot beyond all doubt. ~ Jim Rogers
ok, the clicking noises started about 4 months ago.
I concur w/ CyberBilly - never a good sign. HW failure is likely BUT . . . do you have an internal floppy drive? - is something trying to access this (if installed)? - look for the activity light. That often makes an annoying clicking sound along with a delay in system activity.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Toasted Coastie
Then came the inability to boot back up from hybernation
What Operating system? Turn off hibernation in the short term to eliminate this as an issue. O/S version does impact the viability of the hibernation function. Never been a fan of it myself.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Toasted Coastie
then the crashes (blue screen saying computer has had a catastrophic failure in the BIOS and is now dumping memory)
This blue screen (BSOD) should have very specific text about the cause of the crash - hard to read, but often very useful. BIOS issues MAY indicate an underlying problem masked as a hard drive failure.
1 Does the BSOD happen on a restart or boot-up, or just when the system is on and idle, or only when accessing the hard drive (HD activity light will be on)? Only after recovery from hibernation?
2 Any virus issues? (Anti-virus installed and virus defenitions up to date?)
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If NOT a drive failure I would look at BIOS compatibility issues w/ the hibernation function. Check the manufacturer's updates page for any BIOS upgrades available for your laptop - may be as simple as a BIOS upgrade.
good luck,
Paul
Oh - 15 years as a Systems Integration Specialist, Microsoft Platforms, I've spent a bit of time in the trenches as well . . .
the only thing more important than the data on your computer is your time. $130 is a small price to pay vice spending hours upon hours trying to fix your hd. funky sounds comming from your hd is a good indicator its going to lunch if it hasnt already.
flip for the new hd and install it yourself. if you still get bsod errs, reset your bios. if you still have probs, get the latest flash bios update and check the cmos battery if it has one. if you have bios probs still you may have a bad floppy drive, cd drive , or other hardware device. last but not least, you might have a device conflict.
most hds have errs on it, even from the factory. with so many clusters on it its nearly imposible not to have any errs. kinda like an acceptable number of burnt pixels on a lcd flatscreen monitor. the o/s just marks tham as bad/unusable and skips it. kinda like putting a red cone next to a pothole so you dont drive over it.
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I bought a new one. It's being installed right now. I pick it up in an hour. Total cost, a little over 100. 30 to install, 80 (after rebate) for hard drive. Thats acceptable.
The BIOS blue screen would come on while accessing info on hard drive.
As soon as I get the computer back, I will install the image and go from there. We'll see what happens. Thanks everyone.
Oh yeah, I liked the beat my weenie sig. Some people are just too touchy feely these days.
__________________
Quote:
It is better to remain silent and have people wonder if you are an idiot, rather than to open your mouth and prove to everyone you are an idiot beyond all doubt. ~ Jim Rogers
Since you are microsoft certified, are these errors bad too?
found bad cluster File 28354\hiberfil.sys
found bad cluster file 22322\$n36E4~1\cryptui.dll
found bad cluster file 2051\windows\$NZZCO~1\ntoskrnl.exe
found bad cluster file 2834\hiberfil.sys
found bad cluster file 28499\system~1\_resto~\snapshot\_r62e7n1
these are usually the consitant ones on the check disk.
Any error is bad to some degree. Bad cluster errors are typical of a failing hard drive; it means that the OS is having trouble reading individual spots on the disk.
All better now, just getting it back to where I like it. Thanks everyone!
__________________
Quote:
It is better to remain silent and have people wonder if you are an idiot, rather than to open your mouth and prove to everyone you are an idiot beyond all doubt. ~ Jim Rogers
after you get your system solid and just the way you want it. i reccomend you create a restore point (windows xp) and then make an image file with ghost or acronis, you can use it to recover later.
i always create 2 recovery disks, just in case the integrity of the media is lousy on either.
i usually partition and format my hard drive into 3 sections
c: primary o/s and apps
d: for data
e: for ghost image. less than 5gb.
my hp8000 laptop is done that way. sure if the hd goes south i loose everything, but if just the c: drive gets corrupted, i can ghost the e: image to the c: in a few keystrokes.
__________________
MODS: (TRD Urban package) - tint, stereo, jack-in-the box antennae ball, and my middle finger.
... Find any spelling errors? Take it up with admin.
...... btw If I offend anyone, get over it. I know I will.
......... Panties are optional.
~ been there, done that, got the panties ~
Help, hard drive problems?
Re: Help, hard drive problems?
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