Laptop hard drive takes a dive
Martin_H
Posts: 4,051
Yesterday I completed some hardware improvements to my robot arm and today I was all set to start my next project. I turned on my laptop and partway though boot I got the dreaded non-bootable device error. I booted with the Windows XP CD to run the recovery utility and it could not mount the drive. Fortunately I backed up recently and using the Linux rescue USB stick I was able to pull off the remaining files.
But no repair utility seems willing to touch the drive. I even tried a Windows reinstall and it won't work either. So it looks like I'm in the market for a new laptop as this one is so old replacement of the hard drive doesn't make sense. But this wastes a holiday weekend of robot projects.
Computers, I can't stand them. I wish there was a way to program robots without them.
But no repair utility seems willing to touch the drive. I even tried a Windows reinstall and it won't work either. So it looks like I'm in the market for a new laptop as this one is so old replacement of the hard drive doesn't make sense. But this wastes a holiday weekend of robot projects.
Computers, I can't stand them. I wish there was a way to program robots without them.
Comments
Well, you can just color in the paper disks on this one to program a path...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-OWI-Binary-Player-Robot-OWI-9875-NIB-/390436188945?pt=Educational_Toys_US&hash=item5ae7cf7311
I have spent this entire weekend repairing a server for a big CAD shop (interior design) that hasn't had an IT person in about 7 years. It all started with a popped capacitor on their server. Someone on site rebooted it and it wouldn't turn back on. This is the worst popped cap I have ever seen.
http://imageshack.us/f/94/img1593r.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/f/507/img1594cy.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/f/515/img1592t.jpg/
Let's run down what this "server" has on it.
0. Non-server hardware across the board (P4/478b/1GB RAM/2x250GB SATA) no reporting setup and no BMC or equivalent
1. 12MB free on boot/only partition
2. Dynamic Disks software mirroring (w/ extra barf sauce and stale cheese topping)
3. One of two HDDs failed and clicking loudly
4. SBS w2k3, Active Directory, Exchange, FTP, fileserver, Sharepoint, and VPN with all company files on there
5. No system state or other backup to be found
6. PSU fan seizure
7. A nice green status light on the front
Everything needs to be recovered offline. I did try replacing the cap and still no boot. Luckily there was at least a little magic smoke. Now I'm converting to a hardware RAID 1 on a temp server and re-deploying the entire mess just so they can work on a federal holiday tomorrow.
All this over a $0.25 capacitor, their lack of priorities, or my inability to learn to stop opening cans of worms on Friday?
End of rant.
That's neat, I wonder how IK get colored?
That was an epic popped capacitor. It's worthy of a Mythbusters episode. Sorry to hear you get bogged down in that mess.
Thanks, I feel a lot better having shared it with someone that would understand
If that fails the HDD, then nothing can save it.
If the machine has SATA, replace it with a SSD and enjoy a decent speed upgrade.
If it doesn't have SATA, yeah, then it's probably time to junk it.
Update: it is a Lenovo X60 and here are the specs
http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/detail.page?LegacyDocID=MIGR-67418
It says drive type ATA
You'd want to do a linear verify, If your BIOS has an ATA/ACHI mode put it in ATA mode, then download a diagnostic utility like UBCD. http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/ there's a ton of different free ones. If you don't have another computer to burn the disk you can always use a Windows CD and enter the recovery mode and at command prompt run 'chkdsk c: /r' and wait for the results. If by ANY chance there is even one file on that bad drive you need, do not run chkdsk it will only make things worse. A read only linear verify would be the best bet in that scenario.
You're going to want to test the laptop as much as you can, CPU, RAM, Video, and assuming the battery is in good shape then I'd decide if it were worth fixing. The worst thing would be investing in a nice 2.5" SATA drive then having some other issue with it. Unless of course you can use that new SATA drive elsewhere.
IDE(Also called 'Legacy' on some) is for use with older OSes that doesn't handle SATA drives natively.
AHCI is the native mode for SATA drives, and on 'spinning platter' type drives, sing this setting can give a noticeable speed increase.
(WinXP can use this mode if you install a driver for it)
The reason its so much faster is that it allows for 'out of order' transfers.
(The logic on the HDD decides the order in which it fulfllls read requests)
Vista and Win7 both handles AHCI without additional drivers.
It's NOT a good idea to change this setting on a HDD with data on it as the drive may end up being 'remapped' afterwards.
(When running in IDE mode, it has to obey ancient limitations built into BIOS, and the way to do that is to remap the drive)
NOTHING can go wrong now...
I'll have to consider if I want to fix it. I don't have any other use for a laptop hard drive and if it is still broken afterwards then that would have been a waste. However, I can boot it off USB and run Linux off a pen drive and it seems to work, so it seems to work otherwise.
But considering that the OS now costs $120 (for the upgrade), that's like paying just ~$100 for the laptop hardware.
That's an erco-approved deal. I may have to go back and take a closer look and report back. Today's Walmart shopping trip was singularly focused on Disney princess dresses. The twins are in full "Princess and the Frog" mode.
I wonder if Windows will even let you install a new harddisk without paying another license fee. With MS support is somewhat of a 'gotcha', with Linux it is actually helpful.
In Linux, run S.M.A.R.T to see if the hard disk can be reformated or requires a replacement. On laptops, a good bump often damages sectors of the hard disk. If it is possible to salvage and reformat, then you can use the same Windows to reinstall without getting into a dialogue with MS as to why you have a different hard disk on a registered license.
Also, Seagate and Western Digital provide their own hard disk service and recovery software that is downloadable and generally free. It does an excellent job, but is very, very slow in doing so.
If a HDD starts giving read errors without first having been exposed to 'force', it mens the spare tracks are all used up. That HDD is then at the end of its life.
A HDD reporting errors after a shock, though... May still have unused spare tracks, but has suffered cattrofic damage to some tracks and the data could never be copied off. That sucks, and the HDD still needs replacing. Oh, and it will get worse... Fragments knocked loose when the heads bounced on the platters will contaminate it and make the heads bump again and gain...
About Windows not starting and so on.
It's quite possible that the damaged ares contain one or more files that Windows needs during startup.
'
It all begins with Windows desire to dominate the hard disk and to have complete control over it. The results are that Windows is more finicky about boots. A simple voltage transient might be the source of a complete shut out, or shutting down the computer during one of the rather tedious update runs.
IN other words, MS makes it very easy for the service people to just sell you a new hard disk when you don't need one. Try the actual manufacturer's software before you decide the harddisk is a total loss.
I have a X40 modle Thinkpad, what I did in anticipation of a hardrive problem is after making a backup of the recovery software to disks (using the bundled software) I bought a 2nd hardrive changed out the hardrives and restored the new drive with the recovery disks. I would be cautious getting a SSD because these Thinkpad1.8" hardrives arn't standard and don't work in USB external 1.8" drive kits as far as I know.
They use what's known as 'Micro-SATA' interface. It's the same as a normal SATA interface, but scaled down a bit.
(HP use them in their 12" EliteBook series)
Slow things... REALLY slow things...
Wouldn't be surprised if his USB-enclosure fits one of them:
http://dx.com/p/1-8-sata-usb-2-0-hdd-enclosure-with-leather-case-silver-56272
They also have a load of adapters for conneting up these drives to normal SATA controllers.
That is, unless they managed to get a manufaturer to create a standard just for them, which I really doubt.
http://www.ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ssialias?infotype=AN&subtype=CA&htmlfid=897/ENUS106-010&appname=lenovous&language=en
Hard drives wear out and stop working. That process starts the minute it is first turned on. This one is over 6 years old.
edit:
Officially, any time you reinstall Windows XP it has to be reactivated. If the only thing different is the hard drive then the normal automatic activation is all you should have to do. There is a way you can avoid needing to reactivate after a reinstall, but only if there are no hardware changes. I have done it both ways several times.
Yes and that fails to load as well. I think the recovery partition is damaged as well.
I tried about 20 times to get it to restart but, even though it actually made it to the desktop a few times, it just wouldn't keep running. Since it seemed like probably a power supply issue, and since I had an extra one laying around from the Core2Duo that conked out last October, I took the old power supply out, stuck the other one in and yep, that was all it was. Back in business after 2 hours of aggravation. I really didn't want to waste the morning working on a computer. What a pain.
Tell me about it. I have eight of them, four purchased and four built by me, going all the way back to an IBM PS/1 486DX2-50 from 1993. Three of them are used on a daily basis, a laptop I rarely use, and the rest are fully functional and useable to some degree.
For me it's more of a full time job. I have two kids and a spouse who use various computers and something or other is always going wrong. This is of course on top of my day job where I work with them all day. I'm hoping Chromebooks catch on so I can outsource the system administration tasks.
FF
Yup. With multiple users, who knows what iffy websites were visited, what programs were downloaded, etc.
That's one reason I didn't use the controller included with the Ebay plywood robot arm. I already have at least 6 different chip programmers on my computer and I didn't want to clutter up the system with something I'd only use once. Did you use it, Martin_H?