HDD Failure!? I need help fast!

[Shao Feng-Li]

I have a Dell Insprion E|1705 with Windows XP 2005 Media Center Edition and Dell Media Direct on its own partition. The HDD has an 80 GB capacity.

Last night , I put a DVD (WALL-E <3) in the drive. WMP won't play it at all because I'm missing a decoder. I tried to play the DVD in JetAudio and got a washed out picture and full sound. I tried again and got a white picture and still had full sound.

Then, leaving the DVD in the drive, I did a shut down and then booted into Dell Media Direct (DMD). DMD spent a few moments loading and promptly gave me a BSOD- something about Plug and Play and faulty drivers. This has happened before.

Then I had to do a hard shut down, pressed the normal power button to get into Windows XP, but the computer tried booting into DMD instead and gave me another BSOD. (So now I'm having an heart attack.) After 7 tires, it will not even try to boot into XP.

I tried a few more times and tried Safe Mode. After the string of white text on black, I got another BSOD. I tried booting from my OS disk and after the initial loading, I got a BSOD.

I booted from the DMD disc and was given options, one of them letting me create a partition for DMD and that I have an empty HDD. If I have Windows XP and all of my applications, games and files, I wouldn't have an empty HDD.

Also, the HDD itself rattles when I took it out and shook it lightly. Also, everything passed in the diagnostics.

My best guess is that I need a new HDD (I've been wanting a larger one anyway...)

Also, I've reinstalled Windows XP lots of times from that same disk and I've never had a problem.

[Whitefang]

Hi Shao,

First of all, I assume 0 level of expertise on your part, so forgive me if it sounds like I'm talking down or explaining something you already know. That said...

Sounds like you have quite the problem there. Hard drives do tend to wear out over time, and in fact it is one of the main reasons to keep your data backed up. Hopefully you had a backup, otherwise I hope the hard drive is recoverable. It sounds to me like what you need to do is try to run the recovery console from the XP disk that you used to install it. Once it runs through the initial set up it should give you an option to push 'r' to run the recover console. Here is a very informative link on what you need to do. Basically, choose the option to load the console from the CD and then chkdsk command.

The reason that I am confident your hard drive is still ok is because if it was completely hosed, then the motherboard would not even be able to recognize it and you would be unable to choose which operating system to boot. Before you do the above steps, however, you might want to insert the hard drive into another computer (maybe a friend or old computer). If you do not have a USB adapter, you must power down the machine before connecting it to the motherboard. Then just boot it up and backup any important data you have on some other media (CD, memory stick, etc.)

If it turns out the hard drive is dead, go to support.dell.com and type in your service tag. With any luck your computer is still under warranty and you can get a free replacement.

Finally, I recommend *never* shaking your hard drive, even lightly. Even a spec of dust can completely ruin the drive, and although the needle is docked when turned off, it can still be dangerous. As for playing DVDs, I highly recommend VLC player which is free to download.

Good luck with this! It can be a very frustrating process as at this point you pretty much have no control over whether it will work or not, just look at the bright side of getting a new, bigger drive!

[Mithrandir]

Probably the best way to recover from something like this is spinrite.

http://www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm

Get it and run it. It should tell you a little bit more about what's likely to be wrong. If you can't boot after that, you're likely going to need a new drive.

[Shao Feng-Li]

I went ahead and got a new drive- I needed a larger one anyway, but I'll gave that a try*. Of course, the dumb drive is gonna be delivered in a week, even though I ordered it Friday night with 3 day shipping...

EDIT: *Gah... I'd have to buy it...

[Mithrandir]

Yeah... I should have pointed out that was not a free link. Sorry! I always forget no everyone has a copy of that in their computer repair toolkit.

[Shao Feng-Li]

Sorry Whitefang, I didn't see ya up there. I did try the XP disc. Right after it loaded from it, it simply crashed, so I got nowhere with that. I was hoping to maybe repair Windows, but got the BSOD long before that.

Also, I don't have a way of connecting it to another computer, being a laptop drive and all and I think the HDDs in the desktop computer are different. I'm not gonna trash the disc, but I ordered a new one.

I do think it has worn out. I've even dropped my laptop once and that was scary. Also, I don't have any warranty papers or anything. My dad got me the laptop and he doesn't have any documents. I'm not even certain of who's name it's under, lol

At any rate, I'm NOT bothering with Dell Media Direct...