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Hard Disk Corrupted In 2 Year Old Dell

M

MisterCornell

Banned
Everything was going fine with my PC. When I turned it on yesterday morning, it took forever to start up. It took a long time to load up Windows. When I got to my desktop, my usual settings were gone and everything was reset. My computer was going incredibly slow. So I restarted. Again, it took forever to load up. I tried to run my anti virus for a disk scan, but it just stopped halfway through. So I uninstalled it and installed a different anti virus program. Same problem happened. It just paused about 1/4 through the scan on one file, and would not progress. I set Windows to do a diskcheck on startup and rebooted. Before loading windows, it checked the hard disk thoroughly and gave all kinds of messages like "File log XXXX not found". Then it tried to recover several lost files and put them under new names, but for many it said that there was no hard disk space to store them. This took almost 2 hours, and then Windows loaded. But it is excrutiatingly slow and basically useless now. It takes forever for the PC to access the hard disk.

Also I got a message from the BIOS that said the hard disk is operating outside normal specifications, and that I should backup necessary files and send my hard drive back to Dell. I went into the BIOS and deselected the hard disk, then reselected it (for it to automatically set the parameters in case they were screwed up), but that did not fix things.

What do think is going on? Is there a virus, or physical hard disk corruption? 😕
 
What make of hdd is it?

Could try downloading the SEAGATE tool from the seagate website and do some tests with that.

If it is an hdd failure - also look at the power coming in to the hdd - including checking cables/psu/external plug to psu etc
 
I can almost guarantee it's a hardware failure of the hard drive. All classic symptoms.

The message from BIOS is the SMART monitor, which is an internal diagnostic on the drive. It's reporting imminent failure.

You can download the Dell 32bit Diagnostic utility from their website and run the hard drive diagnostic on it. It should tell you if the drive fails and give you a error code. This will confirm whether the drive has failed or not. Make a note of the error code, you'll need it to get the drive replaced under warranty from Dell.

If the computer is still under warranty, you SHOULD have on-site warranty service available. They will come and replace the hard drive for free.

BE AWARE: They will ONLY do a Windows re-install on the new drive. THEY WILL NOT COPY YOUR DATA! You should backup your data before they service the unit as they will take the old drive with them. If you have another computer available, connect the drive as a spare on that computer and copy your documents, favorites, WAB file, etc.

If they don't offer on site service in your area, or you don't want them to service it then Dell will ship you a replacement drive. Ask for an advanced RMA. They will ship the drive via 2 day air. When you get the new drive, pack the old drive up in the same box and send it back. You eat shipping. I recommend you send it Fedex or UPS so you have tracking information. It costs $7 to ship a drive via UPS (I do it all the time).

If the computer is no longer under warranty then you'll just have to go out and buy a new drive.

 
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