Apparent hardware failure on HP s5-1114 desktop

[gregrocker]

Friend is bringing over a PC tomorrow to connect HD alone to rescue data, test for infection, run Hitachi Drive Fitness Test and whatever else will confirm its status.

You think bootable Windows Defender is good enough or should I use another?

 

[TVeblen]

Not sure. Best to ask Jacee or A Guy or one of the other security peeps.

 

[DavidE]

I remember reading some threads here where running Windows Defender offline caused problems.
I agree with TVeblen to check with Security experts as to what might be the best/safest bootable security cleanup tools.

 

[Britton30]

Here's a list too Greg. http://www.sevenforums.com/system-security/211909-best-boot-cd-antivirus.html#post1774764

Defender uses the same definitions, and engine, I think, as MSE, so I'd try something more robust.

 

[gregrocker]

PSU found by PO at 8 am this morning. Installed, same BIOS post then nothing. Ran Win7 Repair disk to get data and it repaired Windows in one go. Started to decent performance but obviously heavily infected with Trojan, spyware including Condit and other browser hijackers. Cleaned up now with fast performance.

Crystal Disk Info says the SMART status is Caution, but it's only the frequently-seen Pending Sector Errors count of 100 each. I see this a lot and it never seems to get worse. Will run Hitachi DFT to be sure though before sending back the reserve HD.

Thanks for your support on this!

 

[TVeblen]

Good to know Greg. I did not think this was an infection case, but you suspected that right from the start. Nice work!

 

[gregrocker]

HDFT CD will not detect drive even if I change SATA controller to IDE as suggested online. Running WD Data Lifeguard from Hiren's Boot CD now. Will run Seatools bootable off Yumi after that.

Question is: I dont' really need repair since I would just replace drive if it finds problems. But will I get just as accurate diagnostics for a Hitachi HD from bootable WD and Seatools? That's all I care about now.

The hairy part on this one was the PSU going out just as I got it home and plugged it in. That is way above my installation/OS repair pay grade so am really thankful I had you guys to steer me.

Today I was so nervous plugging in the new PSU in the cramped Slimline case I had Gary on the phone with me for support after I reached around to power it up with no response. We traced the wire from that switch to the DVD drive so I thought I had it plugged in the wrong place. Then I realized I was reaching for the DVD drive button. What an amateur!

 

[Britton30]

That's great to know Greg! Nice intuition on the infection too, Conduit has caused a lot of grief.

Try this too, download this: CrystalDiskInfo - Software - Crystal Dew World and open the program and follow the steps in this snip.

If you can get the button to change to "Good", this may give you a little bit of time, but the drive should be replaced soon.

Way back when, replacing a PSU was my first experience with any PC hardware work, a few months after that I put all the hardware from that PC into a new case, basically my first build. You are on your way to tinkerer-dom now.

 

[gregrocker]

Will do, thanks Gary.

WD Data Lifeguard just finished, found reparable sectors, wants me to back up disk first.

I'll use Macrium from this same PE disk to back up another image since I wouldn't trust just the Windows one copied out of its partition.

I wonder if WD can truly repair a Hitachi HD. We shall see.

Looking more like I'll use the replacement HD after all. Maybe I'll just apply the image and be done with it?

Isn't it a rule of thumb that even if drive diagnostics claims it repairs sectors that the drive is not to be trusted again?

 

[Britton30]

Yes restoring the image to the new HDD should be all you need to do.

 

[Slartybart]

Mechanical drives and flying heads.... when any diag finds and fixes bad sectors, the drive is failing. The coating on the discs might be scratched and that leads to more head crashes (bad sectors).

The perfomance of the drive degrades as the heads seek a place to read or write the data making multiple attempts to read.

I've had drives in service for a while after moving bad sectors. Did I trust them - nope. I knew it was only a matter of time before the performance or reliability made the drive more trouble than it was worth - chkdsk continually moved the bad sectors. I replaced the drive(s) when I could afford it.

But that was on my machine having a few years of experience with HD.

Since this isn't your machine and you have the replacement HD, I'd leave the original HD out of the equation. I wouldn't think about using the original HD as a secondary, because of possible future problems. You've been though enough stress on this project.

Glad you made it through all of this Greg. The next one will be easier

Isn't it a rule of thumb that even if drive diagnostics claims it repairs sectors that the drive is not to be trusted again?

 

[gregrocker]

Thanks Bill and Bob.

Read the Manual for HDFT and it doesn't even work for Intel controllers, must load a controller for any other. I spoke with Usasma who has it in his HD Diagnostic tutorial we link here and he doesn't use it any longer, uses Seatools or WD Diagnostics including their repair function if offered. But I had to run WD tool from Hirens since it hasn't been available for years now either.

WD Data Lifeguard bootable offered repair here and then was unable to complete, maybe because it isn't their drive.

Seatools doesn't see it. I'll try another bootable HD test from Hirens just to see what the prob is, then swap in the new drive.

This changed the Disk to Good after moving those sliders to the left. Not enough?

Running Disk Check now, trying to find another scan so I can get a definitive diagnosis. Would at least like to know for sure. HD Tune or Spinrite best?

 

[Britton30]

This changed the Disk to Good after moving those sliders to the left. Not enough?

Running Disk Check now, trying to find another scan so I can get a definitive diagnosis. Would at least like to know for sure. HD Tune or Spinrite best?

It shows the HDD is not all garbage yet, but it could run just fine for 2 years or fail in the next two minutes.
I'm not real familiar with Spinrite, but those who have used say it works wonders. IT is time consuming as it has to find bad sectors, see if the data in them is readable, write it to a good sector and mark the bad ones as unusable so no more write attempts are made. It may be interesting to see how the HP Diag tool see the drive since Crystal Disk was run on it.

As I understand it all rotating HDDs have bad sectors, even when new. The controllers on the drives now can bypass them without one having to do it manually. More can become bad with use though, which I assume is beyond the controller's ability.

 

[Slartybart]

Good is good. The thresholds at 0 tell S.M.A.R.T. to ignore the thresholds.

Not much else you can do to change S.M.A.R.T.

WD Lifegaurd - failed not because of the drive mfgr, for some other reason unknown.

It's odd that Seatools doesn't see the drive at all. I've had some better luck with
SeaTools for DOS | Seagate

 

[gregrocker]

That's what I used. Same Link.

HP Diags again, then Spinrite.

 

[Slartybart]

Spinrite video - Gibson explains it himself

https://www.grc.com/sr/whatitdoes.htm

 

[Britton30]

I have tried Seatools and it won't see any drives, and one is a Seagate. I've tried both bootable and Windows version.