More harddrive problems

[Elzeus]

When I start up my Laptop I get an error message saying
"A disk error has occurred. Press Ctrl+Alt+delete to restart"

Hp Pavilion ze4600
Amd Athlon processor
WinXp Home
256MB memory

I have tried reformating the hard drive but sometimes i get an error saying that the drive cannot be reformatted and other times I get an error saying that the harddrive cannot be found.

Actually come to think of it I have two machines like that. not sure what happened.

Do you guys have any suggestions. I was thinking of freezing it for a while. but its only an idea :icon_lol:

[digitalchef]

i worked on a hp laptop the other day, go into the bios and you'll see a disk checking tool. run it and see what it says.

[Elzeus]

I tried that yesterday. The hard drive self test.
Got some message about the results cannot be displayed.
I am running it again so I can get the exact message.

[digitalchef]

so did the test complete successfully??
how old is the laptop??

[Elzeus]

the laptop is not that old. maybe a little over a year.
I just did the test and it is complete.
the status is 00 PASS

[digitalchef]

did the laptop drop from you recently or received shock?? are you sure that the hard drive is in place properly??

[Elzeus]

Well not sure about the shock and dropping but yes it is in place properly.

What does all this mean??

[digitalchef]

you have 2 laptops with the same problem, thats interesting. are they the same model??

[Elzeus]

No. One is a Toshiba and the other is HP. the only common things is NTFS format and windows XP no service packs

[digitalchef]

did u use the same cd for both laptops??

[Elzeus]

same cd? for the original install?
nope. I tried to repair using two different cds also

[digitalchef]

i'm getting baffled here honestly. the coincidence is rather puzzling. did the 2 laptops start giving the same problem at around the same time??
had any powercuts or surges when the laptops were plugged in recently??

[icuucme]

Both the drives could be failing

[Elzeus]

No they were not being used at the same time. They were even the same location. No powercuts recently and they were both plugged into surge protectors.

I am so lost here.

Oh, i just run the test a third time and got a message diagnostics not supported

[digitalchef]

did you run a hard drive test on them toshiba??

[Elzeus]

no I didnt. let me try that now.
Also, on the hp, i just tried installing Windows and I get" setup did not find any hard drives installed in your computer. Make sure........"

[Elzeus]

Both the drives could be failing

Sorry to double post but
What would cause them to fail?

[digitalchef]

sounds like that hard drive might be dead. try a different laptop hard drive in it.

[digitalchef]

What would cause them to fail?age, misuse, shock, powersurges, thats why i was asking some of those questions earlier.

[icuucme]

Do you guys have any suggestions. I was thinking of freezing it for a while. but its only an idea :icon_lol:You mite have to go to this option :D

[digitalchef]

does that freezing thing actually work??

[icuucme]

Well thas what i heard
Read this thread http://www.techjamaica.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10014

[digitalchef]

oh man. where was that thread when i got a dead 200gig sata drive.

[Elzeus]

Faced with another problem. Tried going in to test the hdd on the toshiba and its asking for the password. :eusa_wall

Everything is going wrong

[icuucme]

Try 1234, i think thas the default

[keroed1]

yeah thats suppose to be the default

[deakie]

have you used the OS to check the disk for errors? or wont it boot at all?

[Elzeus]

It wont boot at all!

[deakie]

ok, so maybe the mbr is corrupted then.....or the drive has failed....
can you hear any clicking noises when the computr is booting?

[deakie]

apologises elz....bit tired and hadnt read your entire problem to begin with....from the sounds of things, the disk controller is going.......this is just a sign of imminent death of the disk at some point.....i wouldnt spend too much effort here as it will only give you grief later on again.....
buy a new disk and be done iah!

[Elzeus]

Well yesterday I was hearing all kind of noises. When I tried booting from cd, the drive was so loud that i thought it would have come off. There is some sort of clicking sound but i think that it trying to read the harddrive

[digitalchef]

i agree, replace the hard dirve.

[Elzeus]

I didnt have to get a replacement harddrive after all. I got it to work. The only problem I have with it now is SMART telling me the drive is failing and press F1 to continue.
I downloaded a harddrive inspection utility and the report saying that the harddrive is failing and I should backup my data. The problem is that the harddrive is serioulsy overheating. It went up to about 75 degrees before I turned it off.
Imagining i was in AC and I had a fan directly on it.

[icuucme]

I downloaded a harddrive inspection utility and the report saying that the harddrive is failing and I should backup my data.What utility did you use?

[Elzeus]

I used hard drive inspector standard edition version1.3

[**ScarFace**]

I didnt have to get a replacement harddrive after all. I got it to work. The only problem I have with it now is SMART telling me the drive is failing and press F1 to continue.
I downloaded a harddrive inspection utility and the report saying that the harddrive is failing and I should backup my data. The problem is that the harddrive is serioulsy overheating. It went up to about 75 degrees before I turned it off.
Imagining i was in AC and I had a fan directly on it.

Yo backup your stuff and repace the harddrive the HD will fail in a week or more because i run the same problem, it will work and then start giving boot problems and when it just stop and its was a 4 gig hd first hd i lost :( :icon_cry:

[BlaqMale]

75 degrees, wtf dump your data somewhere and dump that drive

[Elzeus]

Yeah, I have already backup all the important stuff. But then, what would cause the harddrive to overheat. If that one over heated, what would happen if I stick another on in there. I doubt its only the harddrive the has issues

[**ScarFace**]

Yeah, I have already backup all the important stuff. But then, what would cause the harddrive to overheat. If that one over heated, what would happen if I stick another on in there. I doubt its only the harddrive the has issues

try a different one and see what :eusa_thin thats only way

[FE4R]

I suggest you just RMA it. If you cant jus get a new one and get that out of ur system. Get a samsung drive or a segate or supn like that or even Hitachi (the IBM drives -not sure)