HD Emerg -- Another GXP Victim?

[Poontos]

Had my computer off all night. Flipped it on this morning to see the following:

-The hard drive LED light solid orange (Antex SX1040 case), during boot up with a LONG delay for "detecting IDE devices" (HD light is still solid).
-Finally it see's the primary master, but does not see my primary slave HD.
-Disk starts to boot, and I get "HD Disk failure..."

So I wait a bit and reboot a couple of times. I come back a few minutes later and Win2K Pro seemed to book OK and my partitions on both drives seem to show up in disk manager OK.

Is this a signature result of one of my IBM 40GB 60GXP hard drives about to fail?

I have had this exact same hardware configuration since last October without ANY problems at all. It has been as reliable as my old Asus P3B-F PIII 550 system. I have never had a single BSOD, etc.

Here is my same hardware config since last fall:

Epox 8KHA+
T-bird 1.4Ghz @ 1539 via multiplier
x2 IBM 40GB 60GXP HD's
etc...

Please help! Thx!

 

[Paulson]

Backup backup backup!

Once you do that, then run the DFT (drive fitness test) from IBM...

It's the only way you can be sure!

 

[Poontos]

1st drive got the following from DFT:

Disposition Code = 0X00

Without and visible notification that there was a problem...


2nd drive, testing right now...

I am off to buy another backup drive. Maxtor, WD, or Seagate 60GB?

 

[Paulson]

Personally I like western digitals... (have 3 of them)

they're very solid drives...

 

[Poontos]

Originally posted by: Paulson
Personally I like western digitals... (have 3 of them)

they're very solid drives...

What's the fastest under $200 CDN?


OH, second drive just came up:

"One or more corrupted sectors found:

1.) Erase disk, entire disk will be re-written.
2.) Sector repair, corrupted sectors are re-written.

I have lots of data on this second drive, so 1.) is not really an option for me right now.

Will option #2) erase data as well as repair corrupted sectors?

Has anyone been successfull at repair sectors and never having a problem again? Or is this just placing a bandage on the problem?

Thx

 

[Poontos]

OK, ran the option #2:


Drive Information
Serial number TX2Q****

Failure code: 0x71 - Defective Device. Device is not ready.

Test date : todays date

Technical Result code (TRC)

710204ED


Now WTF do I do? RMA? :disgust: :frown:

Thank you!

 

[Poontos]

bump

 

[Paulson]

Yep, RMA it to IBM...

another one bites the dust!

 

[Poontos]

Thanks for all the responses Paulson...


Anyone else?

 

[toadstool]

It's a goner. R.....................M......................A................


Sorry. If it makes you feel better, I've gone through this process with IBM once already. (since i got it back..."repaired"...............it died and came back to life again just like yours. Probably just a matter of time before I have to RMA it again.)


Needless to say, i don't buy IBM anymore.

 

[Poontos]

Originally posted by: toadstool
It's a goner. R.....................M......................A................


Sorry. If it makes you feel better, I've gone through this process with IBM once already. (since i got it back..."repaired"...............it died and came back to life again just like yours. Probably just a matter of time before I have to RMA it again.)


Needless to say, i don't buy IBM anymore.

Anyway for me to restore the data on this drive? I put it in another machine and Win2K says:

In addition, could you please provide more details on how the RMA process went... e.g. here is what I have seen this evening so far: "Error performing inpage operation.

1.) Setup an RMA on the IBM site (which I did, and I was still under warranty of course)
2.) Got an e-mail from them with the address to send the HD
3.) Going to send the hard drive in a box (as per their guidelines) probably Monday via XpressPost (Canada Post)...
4.) Do they send me a "replacement" first, or wait until they get the HD back from me? How long does the whole process usually take?

Any other tips/details.


Thx

 

[toadstool]

I couldn't save any data , so unfortunately, can't help you there.

It's been almost a year since I did the RMA. I called, spoke to a tech. He had me download and use the "drive fitness test" ( or was called something like that). I did it, and I got the numbers the program gave, then I went to the web site and filled out their form.

I happened to have a "Maxtor" box lying around , so I used that to send it in. Before I could send it in though, I had to go looking around for one of those "anti-static" bags. I didn't have any, so the next day i went to a computer shop, and the guy just gave me one free.

I printed the label IBM sent me , with the RMA # on it , and taped it to the front of the box.


As far as how long it took, don't go by what I say. Mine took a bit longer (this next part is REAL depressing


I sent it about 2 days before Sept. 11.........so as you can imagine, shipping was slowed down for a while. I got it about 3 weeks later. I doubt under normal circumstances it will take that long.