Disk read error

[Parapunter]

I've been asked to fix a Sony Vaio lappy. Turns out it wouldn't do something or other & the guy thumped it! actually thumped his however many hundreds of quid pc:eek:

Anyway, comes up with disk read error, can access BIOS, which detects the drive & the other peripherals such as cd drive etc, but not safe mode, or normal boot sequence - essentially nothing on hdd can be got at. I've had the case open & the HDD ticks as if sticking. These are all things I've seen before, so I'm thinking dead HDD. I don't have a spare hdd to insert as a test unfortunately.

Would the brains trust go along with that? Anything I could have missed, dodgy memory etc.? Should add that I'm waiting for the xp disk to attempt a recovery as well, although my suspicions mean I'm not holding out much hope for that course.

[Saab Dastard]

Sony Vaios must be very flimsy - I too hit one some years ago and its hard disk stopped working too! :O

Have you got a USB caddy that you could put the bu99ered disk into, to confirm its demise?

SD

[Parapunter]

No, unfortunately not, which is why I want to cjeck in with the boffs before running off to ebuyer...

I should be able to lay hands on a working lappy to try the disk out on, but that would be about it. A new hdd is about fifty quid but obviously I don't want to waste the guy's money if it's not that.

[Saab Dastard]

obviously I don't want to waste the guy's money if it's not that.

Your scruples do you credit! My approach would be to say that the most likely problem is the HDD, so we should replace it as the first step. If it still doesn't work, then further investigation will be required. It's not as if YOU thumped it!

Another thought - does this laptop have a floppy drive, or is it bootable off CD or USB device? Could you get a linux distro to boot off the CD drive, or even a DOS floppy to see if there's anyone home - disable the HDD in the bios, or just remove it to test.

If everything works on a CD-boot, then it probably is the HDD that's the problem.

SD

[Parapunter]

Yeah it's good thinking - I'm about to drop in an xp cd to see if there's any recovery available or even if it will read the drive for a rebuild - I can always pull the plug before it comes to it. Watch this space.

99% sure it's the hdd that's dead, it looks, smells & tastes like a dead drive, but just wanted to make sure I hadn't overlooked the obvious. As soon as that's done, I'm off to build a meda center extender. Happy days!

[NutLoose]

First off unplug and reseat the Hard Drive, then try it.

[stickyb]

Not tried it myself, but have seen recommdations to remove the drive, wrap carefully in sealed plastic bag that is watertight, then keep overnight in freezer, then try again.

Has anyone else done this?

[kenhughes]

Yep, but b*ggered it up defrosting it in the microwave. :}

[Shunter]

The freezing trick is only really applicable if you've got something like seized bearings. The cold can make them contract and allow the platter to spin again. One would generally stick it in a ziplock back and freeze it for no more than about 30 minutes. Then pull it out and quickly attach it to a waiting PC (via a USB caddy) and get off it what you can. I personally have seen this trick work, but not often.

The freezing technique is however probably not much use if the drive has been damaged mechanically by someone punching it.

[frostbite]

Make sure he understands the correct use of 'Booting Up' before you hand it back!

[Parapunter]

All done. New HDD, quick rebuild, update session, shiny new laptop albeit with a footprint on it.

[Saab Dastard]

shiny new laptop albeit with a footprint on it.

From now on, whenever I see "footprint" meaning space taken up on the desk, I will think of a Vaio with a size 9 print embedded on the lid! :}

(Small footprint = size 5, possibly stilleto, and / or high heel).

SD

ps - I just remembered, it was a thinkpad I hit (on the keyboard, with my fist) in mega-frustration, not a Vaio.

It seems that most laptop hard disks are susceptible to damage when thumped, by almost any part of the human anatomy. Although I accept that this is a statistically meaningless sample.

[Parapunter]

I have to say, that now it's all ticking along nicely, it's a very nice laptop, as they go. I'm not keen on them in general, they strike me as mini me pc's almost but not really as good as a thundering big old chunky tower:p

But this one, well, it's really quite pleasant. Nice keyboard, it chugs along quickly (well it blimmin well should, since it's all freshly unwrapped, updated & defragged) but the killer is the screen - has a glassy effect & it's quite sexy as they go.

I admit, I'm not on the ball with these things - for all I know they've been this way for years, but this one, I like.

[tony draper]

Once took the lid off a hard disk and poked the read arm thingy,twere buggad anyway with the ticky stuck disease,put the lid back on stuck it in as a slave just out of interest and it worked.!!! only for about ten minutes though, but long enough for me to grab the folder off it I wanted.
:)
Tried it a couple of times since with different hard disks, no joy though, first time lucky perchance.
Hardly worth messing with hard disks now,they are so cheap,unless of course you have something precious on it.

[Airborne Aircrew]

Hardly worth messing with hard disks now,they are so cheap,unless of course you have something precious on it.

Hence there is no reason to lose anything precious...

Which reminds me... Time to do a backup... :)