Windows doesn't boot up (I suspect it's the HDD)

Hello,

I have a following problem with my ASUS N61VN laptop. Lately, it would just decide to shut down without any warning - mostly when running a 3D application (more specifically a game - World of Warcraft, known as WoW) and rarely while doing anything else. To repeat again, this started to occur since two-three months back. A few days ago, it decided to shut down again, and I was a bit surprised when I saw it didn't want to boot up. The ASUS logo would appear, and after that, there was nothing but a black screen.

At first, I thought it could be the OS failure, but I quickly dismissed that possibility. I can access BIOS, however, I cannot access Safe Mode. I tried various tricks, but none appeared to work. I tried inserting the OS disc and then somehow got it to "Starting Windows" part. It took a few minutes to actually boot up, and then there was nothing but a standard blue-ish, empty background and the mouse arrow. I couldn't start Task Manager or do anything, so I proceeded to try other methods. I downloaded a portable version of Ubuntu (using my desktop computer, of course) and burned it on a disc. I put the disc in laptop and started Ubuntu. It did boot up, everything was normal (except that it took a few minutes to boot up, just like Win7), but I noticed that the laptop was "stuttering". Now I'm going to elaborate (I wanted to do so at the beginning, but I felt it'd fit here better).

A few months ago, around the same time my laptop started shutting down, I noticed that it also started to stutter, and during that stuttering, beeping noises were coming from within. The moment the beeping stopped, laptop would "unfreeze/stop stuttering" and perform normally. My first thought: hard-disk. I was really annoyed by it, but after some time, it actually stopped by itself, so I thought it got fixed. Obviously, I was wrong.
Now, when I turn on the laptop, I notice there's no little screamy/beepy sound (like there used to be while the laptop was still working) and that it sounds a bit more quiet than it used to be. I thought it could be HDD, and I think I'm on the right track. :confused

So, back to the original story. I turned on the laptop and started it using Ubuntu, and tried to back up some important data from the C: partition. I copied the data to an USB flash drive, and it said that the data was successfully copied over, but there was actually nothing on it. I believe this is due to the fact that I only ran the portable version of Ubuntu and therefore couldn't fully access files (I'm not sure, but that could be one of the possibilities). Failed that, I just copied those important documents to D: partition. During the time laptop was turned on and working, it continuously stuttered accompanied with the beeping noise from inside. I noticed Ubuntu had a hard-drive icon in the top right corner of the screen, and it had an error mark on it. It said "One or more hard-disks are failing" on mouseover, and if you clicked it, it said "HDD FAILURE IS IMMINENT". Bingo. Just as I thought. I opened those HDD options and noticed that there are were two errors related to "sectors" or "clusters", or something, I can't say with 100% certainity as I can't remember what it was. I called my computer technician friend to take a look at it tomorrow (as my 12-month warranty expired a month and a half ago) and see if there's any salvation for it. :confused

So my question is, is it possible for the HDD to get fixed, or should I just get a new one? Or is there something else? (Of course, assuming that HDD is the problem, which is not yet "officially" confirmed, but yeah) :confused


PS. I'm sorry for writing a long post, but I just felt it would be better if I explained everything down to the finest details. I apologize in advance for any spelling/grammar errors I might've made while writing this post, but I'm really tired since I spent the entire day finishing university presentations and trying to fix the laptop :cry

Some additional info about the laptop config, though it might not be needed:

ASUS N61VN
- Quad Q9000
- nVidia GeForce GT 240M
- 4GB RAM
- 500GB HDD
- Win7 x64 bit version



Best regards,
Marco :wave

 

Greetings, TheRiderOfRohan.

Looks as if you've performed good troubleshooting steps - kudos also for an excellent post.

As far as "fixing" the drive, the only thing I can suggest is possibly downloading and running the drive's diagnostic tools - sometimes those tools contain apps which can rectify simple drive-related problems. Check your Device Manager or physically pull the drive, try to ascertain the manufacturer. Good links to the various manufacturer's sites can be found here.

I wouldn't hold much hope for the utilities, however - the fact that Ubuntu is not able to transfer data does not bode well. Still, it's worth a shot.

 

Maybe I missed something, but you copied the files, but nothing really got copied right?

I would hook that drive up to a drive adapter and copy your stuff to a removable HDD. Then, go get yourself a new HD.

 

Thanks for tips guys, I'm going to try those. In the meantime, here's the update, I just turned on the laptop and this came up on the screen:

<Update>
______________________________________
Current Speed: 2.00 GHz

Press F2 to run Setup
Press F12 if you want to boot from the network
Press ESC for BBS POPUP
The MCH is operating with DDR3-1067/CL7 in Dual-Channel Mode
Initializing USB Controllers . . Done.
4096MB OK

Auto-Detecting ACHI PORT 0 . . SATA Hard Disk
Auto-Detecting ACHI PORT 1 . . ATAPI CDROM
SATA Port0 ST9500325AS 0002SDM1
S.M.A.R.T. Capable and Status BAD
SATA Port1 Slimtype BD E DS4E1S EA27
Auto-detecting USB Mass Storage Devices . .
00 USB mass storage devices found and configured.

AHCI Port0 Device Error
Press F2 to Resume
_______________________________________


So yeah, it reports the error related to hard-disk. Apparently, as said above, it is "capable" but "bad"? Does that mean it's going to die soon? I'm going to download "Active SMART 2.9" now and put it on my USB for using it on a laptop in order to trace the root of the problem.

Any additional suggestions? (though I might not ask that before I've checked the HDD with this program)

Best regards,
Marco

 

Right. I did copy some of the files to a USB stick, but apparently there was nothing on it - probably due to the fact that I did so while running the portable version of Ubuntu that (probably?) cannot fully access any files (That's just my guess, and I could of course be wrong).

[PS] Check <update> in the post below

Best regards,
Marco

 

<Newest Update>

Looks like it finally died. It doesn't want to start, whether I set CD/DVD as a boot priority (in order to launch Ubuntu) or Removable Drive. Can't get past the screen described in a post below (except BIOS, of course).

Best regards,
Marco

 

Hi,

It looks like you have a Seagate HD in there, so you could download the CD DOS version of SeaTools and run the long test to see if it can fix any errors. http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/seatools

Now, you were able to boot from Ubuntu before so I assume you know how to burn an ISO as an image file. The Seagate CD tool will be an ISO that you have to burn to CD as an image to make it bootable.

***
The laptop should boot to a CD regardless of a problem with the HD. I'm not sure why you can no longer boot to Ubuntu. Does your laptop give you a boot selection screen if you hit F12 during the manufacturer's splash screen (sometimes this works better to force booting to CD rather than the actual boot order in BIOS)?

 

Downloaded, burned, and inserted it in laptop. I tried to run the "Long test" under the "Basic Tests" drop-down menu, and this is what I got:

NOTE: Before I started the test, it warned me about a "SMART error prediction of possible drive failure" or something like that. Anyway, here are the results:

_________________
Sector Repair Failure
_________________

Your SeaTools Test Code: 6CD89944

Please save this code if you are planning a warranty exchange. Seagate product warranty status depends on how the product is sold. If your hard drive is a component in an OEM system, then the OEM covers the drive warranty.

Unfortunately, your Seagate hard drive has failed an important diagnostic test, possibly caused by problem sectors which are difficult to read. Now is a good time to make sure you have a current backup of your important data.

Repair was unsuccessful on the hard drive. For more information on this subject see our help topic "Bad Sector Found".
_________________________________________________________________

Weirdly, it still didn't want to boot up. I had to change the hard drive options in IDE section (from "Auto" to "Not Installed") in order to be able to actually boot from the CD/DVD.

Best regards,
Marco

 

Have you tried to boot to the Ubuntu disk after making the BIOS changes? Not trying to be facetious - just trying to get a grasp on what's going on.

Earlier, when you used Ubuntu, did the OS run ok?

 

Yes, and it ran just fine (no stuttering as it ran directly from a disc) and since I switched hard-disk option in IDE from "Auto" to "Not Installed", it didn't recognize it (I previously managed to somehow run Ubuntu without changing IDE options, but it still didn't recognize HDD).

Also, here's the update after I attempted to run SeaTool tests:


Selected Drive Information:

Device is 48 Bit Addressed - Number of LBAs 976773167 (500.108 GB)
This device supports Security Features
SMART is supported And ENABLED
SMART TRIPPED Warranty Validation Code: 6CD89964
SMART Has Been Tripped ! ! !
DST Is Supported
Logging Feature Set Is Supported
POH 3198 Current Temp 33

(and upon trying to run both "short" and "long" tests, I get this line under the text provided above:
NOT ABLE TO GET SMART DATA

 

Yeah, I thought that replacing it would be the only solution - but I gave my laptop to a technician who works marvels with anything, no matter how damaged/unusable it is (not because I don't want to replace it, I probably will anyway, but I just want to make sure it's only HDD that causes problems, and nothing else). He'll call me tomorrow to tell me what's wrong.

Best regards,
Marco

 

The HD is definitely a goner. I hope that is the only issue most likely it is.

I'm not really sure if Warranty replacement is worth it for HD. Adding that Seagate's warranty rules seem to indicate that Asus as the actual bulk buyer of the HD is the one you should contact for replacement. (Some on the web say that Seagate will deal with individuals despite that policy.)

A couple of websites I came across that might give you information using that Warranty Validation Code: 6CD89964

http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.j...toid=0df7edc52f0fc010VgnVCM100000dd04090aRCRD
http://support.seagate.com/customer/en-us/warranty_validation.jsp

 

Thanks for the help, but it doesn't really matter anymore because I'm already two months out of the warranty period. In addition, my computer tech called me a few hours ago and said the HDD is definitely dead and that there's no thing on Earth that would make it work. So, I've already ordered a new HDD with the same specifications. Fortunately, it was only HDD that caused problems, everything else is in excellent condition.

Special thanks to all of you guys who assisted me in this matter.

Best regards,
Marco

 

Hope you get things sorted, Marco - thanks for the feedback, and good luck! :major