Laptop won't boot - Hardware or software problem?

[SnailUK]

I have an MSI wind laptop running Win XP.
It recently started running chkdsk every time I turned it, kept repeating it so I had to hit enter to get it to boot.(which it did).
Now it goes straight to the "Windows didn't start properly" screes and whether I select "start in safe mode" or "start normally" it begins to start, then flashes a blue screen so fast I can't read it and returns to the "Windows didn't start..." menu.....
I can access a utility on the drive to re-install windows, however would like to download data from the disk first, as it will be lost. I therefore removed HD and placed in an external drive caddy, connected to my PC via USB.
The PC sees the drive, but say the "File or directory is corrupt & unreadable"
Can anybody suggest how to either (a) recover the data onto the pc, or (b) fix the problem with it in the laptop so it will start?

Thanks!

 

[goombawaho]

Bad juju. Your drive is probably toast from those symptoms - especially when you can't see it in ANOTHER PC.

If you can't read the data when connected to another computer, there's not much chance of getting that data without a data recovery service. If you leave the hard drive in there and running and it's doing any kind of clicking/grinding, it may be doing damage to your data.

You could get the ultimate boot CD and boot up using it and run the manufacturer's hard drive test. That would prove that it's bad, but likely won't "fix" it.

Halfway down the page - NOT the yellow box. That's an AD.

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/download.html

http://www.gillware.com

$500 - $700 range for recovery approx.

 

[rclarke250]

If it tests bad, you can try and use hdd regenerator. I've some luck getting drives that are messed up, and fail the manufacturers diags, up and going again.

A warning, it is very slow. I have had it "save" 4 drives out of 7 I have run it on. Of the 4 that it worked with, they passed the manufacturers diagnostics after completing the repairs. The trial version will only fix a number of errors, but you can at least get an idea if it will help. It's cheap and I've found it can save you, at least to the point of getting some of your data off the drive.

 

[vacunita]

If you need your data, try GetDataBack from Runtime.org.

You can use the trial version to see if it can recover the files, if it can you can then buy the full version to recover them.

The first warning flag should have been the incessant chkdsk , when that happens it usually means the drives has issues. I single chkdsk once and nothing more for a while is o.k.
Chkdsks every time you turn on the Pc is a dead give way of some type of imminent HD failure.

Once done, I suggest you start looking for a replacement drive, as that one seems to be on the way out. Running the manufacturers diagnostic tool should confirm that.



----------------------------------
Phil AKA Vacunita
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[wolluf]

would agree with vacunita's advice.

it is possible the drive is ok - just the filestore is mangled - the diagnostic should tell you that. If the drive is a Toshiba, there is no diagnostic available from them, but if you have it connected to another machine, Seatools for windows will generally work on non seagate/maxtor drives.

 

[goombawaho]

I wouldn't be very optimistic though.

But the trial version of GetDataBack IS free and you can see what you can see.

 

[SnailUK]

Thank you all for your help and suggestions.

As I am right in the middle of a big project I haven't had time to try anything yet, but I will work through everything above and post the result.

Luckily for me the data on the disc is mostly a mirror of my main desktop system, so recovery is not crucial, but I will try out of interest - just in case I ever really do need that skill!!

Interestingly the drive has made no suspicious noises and still runs as quietly and sweetly as ever.

For your information, it is a Western Digital WD800BEVS 80 GB SATA Drive.I like it because it is extremely quiet! I did replace it once with a bigger Seagate drive but it was so noisy I went back to the WD one!! If I do have to replace it now what would you guys recommend as a good quiet one with about 160 GB?.

Thanks again!

 

[goombawaho]

You know (and this is off topic), I don't understand how people are hearing their hard drives over the fan noise - power supply fan, cpu fan, case fans. They must be either VERY noisy hard drives or you have exceptionally quiet computers fan-wise.

I've seen this question posted elsewhere and just wondered how people are hearing those drives.

 

[kjv1611]

goombawaho,

(continuing on the same off-topic)....

What sort of computers are you working on... Not all computers, but in MANY that I've worked on, built, generally used, etc, the hard drive is AT TIMES louder than any fans in the system. Fans these days are getting quieter all the time. If you've got a desktop with jet-engine sounding fans, and you want to quieten them down, then there are plenty of quiet fans out there, which in my opinion are worth it.

Panaflo makes some really quiet ones. Vantec makes some nice one as well... and many others...

I think it depends upon many factors, though, especially with OEM machines. If the fans are varaible-speed-fans, then at times, they will be louder than the hard drive(s), and at times quieter. Of course, modern hard drives are a lot quieter as well, so you won't really hear a whole lot out of most of them... especially not the beloved Samsung F3 drives - I LOVE those things. Only drawback there (that I've found so far) is that they are not hot-pluggable... if you connect one to a system via an eSata adapter, you have to reboot the machine for it to be recognized. Of course, over USB, it works fine, but I'd rather see 80MB/sec speeds over 30MB/sec speeds any day!

Okay, I'm done off-topicing here... off-topicking? off-toepicking? I dunno.... ... well, I suppose it's not a "real" word any way you look at it - what I typed... ;p

 

[rclarke250]

I can hear my hard drive on my tower, it sits on a stand behind my monitor. I can hear the fans also, and they aren't that load, I have an Antec 900 case with the fans on low, and the cpu fan on about 2600 rpm, it is pretty quiet. When my Norton kicks on to do a scan, or windows 7 decides it wants to index my drive...You can definitely hear my seagate 750 running, maybe because it's the enterprise version of the 750 gb sata, who knows, but I do know that my hard drive and my wife's hard drive,whose computer is about 4 feet from my right ear, can easily be heard, even over the tv in our computer room. I can even hear the 2 1TB wd drives I have as network storage in another room once they spin up to speed.

 

[cdogg]

A lot of it has to do with wear and tear as well. Newer drives are obviously much quieter as opposed to older ones. As the lubricants wear down over time, the noise it makes gets louder. If you can't hear any noise, it's probably because you have really loud fans and/or your drive is still in good shape.


~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Einstein
[tab][navy]For posting policies, click [/navy]here.

 

[goombawaho]

newer drives are obviously much quieter as opposed to older ones"

That doesn't make sense to me. My main work PC (not my fun PC) has 2 80mm case fans, 1 80mm hard drive cooler fan, 2 40GB WD drives in RAID and an Athlon XP 2400+ and an Antec power supply in an Antec case.

I just hear a gentle whooshing, but no hard drive noise at all. It's not a jet-engine sound. It's on the floor about 3 feet from my right ear.

It's not any louder than when the home air conditioner/heater comes on and you hear that general whooshing from the vents.

 

[cdogg]

The typical hard disk drive consists of a spindle motor, voice coil motor, bearings, and other moving parts. As with any mechanical device these parts will eventually wear down over time. As that occurs, friction and heat could increase causing louder-than-normal operation. High temperatures can also lead to other types of failures as well (not just physical failures).

An older drive will not "always" be louder than a newer one. That wasn't really my point. Drives in general vary quite a bit from manufacturer to manufacturer, model to model. It's just a typical observation than when you replace an older drive (say 4-5 years old) with a brand new one, you are going to notice a difference in the amount of noise it produces. Such has been the case in my experience, as I've been working in a 5000+ PC environment for over 10 years.

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Einstein
[tab][navy]For posting policies, click [/navy]here.

 

[goombawaho]

Well - regardless, I'm happy to hear that soothing white fan noise rather than a rattling/crackling hard drive.

 

[wolluf]

well I'm obviously as bored as the rest of you - actually reading all the fan/hard drive noise posts! I feel some sort of definitive study should be undertaken.... any volunteers?

Tables of relative noise by fan type & manufacturer & ditto hard drives. Needs to be done before solid state spoils the game!

PS. What about optical drive noise?

 

[goombawaho]

I'm not THAT bored, but I do have a decibel meter.

 

[cdogg]

wolluf,
If you were wiser than me, you would have given up sooner!

 

[firewolfrl]

I have used Getdata back and other programs...lol... I prefer EASEUS Data Recovery Wizard Professional now

it seems to work the best out of all of the recovery software I have used

http://www.easeus.com/datarecoverywizardpro/

 

[kjv1611]

wolluf,

On Optical Drives, not to get to where I actually build a table or anything, but I have had some serious reasons for wanting them as quiet as possible. Based on what I've actually had my hands on and used, in various computers, here's my thoughts, in order from best to worst:
[ol][li]LG - assuming no adware/spyware firmware, which I read some accounts of about a year ago.[/li]
[li]Sony[/li]
[li]Lite-On - but they're way too loud[/li]
[li]Everything else - I've used Plextor, Pioneer, Samsung, and maybe an NEC I think it was.. never used an Asus that I can remember..[/li][/ol]

So, all that said, I burn a lot of DVDs and especially CDs at times, for church. We do audio and video recording, but haven't had much time for the video editing to MAKE the DVDs to begin with...

All told, our duplicator (Sony drives) has put out at least 6000+ CDs since Feb or March of 2005. Never changed the drives (well, I did try swapping them around once, when the original controller board was going bad, and I thought that perhaps it was a cable or a burner).

With the LGs, at home, I've probably made at least a couple thousand CDs by now as well, the bulk of which has been the church stuff.

I've got 4 burners in my "main" desktop. I originally tried 4 Lite-On drives when I built the desktop, but they sounded like I had 4 jet engines in my computer when burning a set of disks. I swapped for 4 LGs, and I LITERALLY didn't think they were working when I first tried them. They were by far the quietest I had ever used - only others that came close were the Sonys.

Well, I'll not say more - it's already a long post, for something as cheap as optical drives.