2 years ago
Partition Corruption 3rd time? What to do?
(Need this Answer FAST!!!)
I'm working on a clients laptop a Toshiba Satellite L350-ST2121. I've had the OEM drive fail twice. A corrupt partition which Windows Vista Recovery disk couldn't fix. The second time though I could access it with a Command Prompt and pull data. (Uncorrupted data although the partition still wouldn't boot) I hence chalked it up to a HDD failure despite that SpinRite said during the first fail that nothing was wrong with the drive. Each failure happen within TWo weeks of the reinstall. I'm thinking I have a BIOS level problem otherwise he's managed to get a virus three times in a row that did the same thing. Can't find a BIOS repair / re-flash under downloads? Any thoughts? If I can't figure out a viable solution I'm going to recommend chucking the unit and never buying Toshiba again... As my best alternative right now. I've invested at least 40 hours in this stupid error.
Ideas? I need a concrete reason for what caused this. I'm not investing another 5 hours reinstalling this to have it die in two weeks again.
(My ideas)
-Overheating
-Virus (Highly unlikely; I nuked the drive from space this last time; installed MSE right off)
-BIOS
-Weird Hardware specific Error
{The drive loses warranty in the next week or so)
I'm working on a clients laptop a Toshiba Satellite L350-ST2121. I've had the OEM drive fail twice. A corrupt partition which Windows Vista Recovery disk couldn't fix. The second time though I could access it with a Command Prompt and pull data. (Uncorrupted data although the partition still wouldn't boot) I hence chalked it up to a HDD failure despite that SpinRite said during the first fail that nothing was wrong with the drive. Each failure happen within TWo weeks of the reinstall. I'm thinking I have a BIOS level problem otherwise he's managed to get a virus three times in a row that did the same thing. Can't find a BIOS repair / re-flash under downloads? Any thoughts? If I can't figure out a viable solution I'm going to recommend chucking the unit and never buying Toshiba again... As my best alternative right now. I've invested at least 40 hours in this stupid error.
Ideas? I need a concrete reason for what caused this. I'm not investing another 5 hours reinstalling this to have it die in two weeks again.
(My ideas)
-Overheating
-Virus (Highly unlikely; I nuked the drive from space this last time; installed MSE right off)
-BIOS
-Weird Hardware specific Error
{The drive loses warranty in the next week or so)
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M$2 Answers
It is most likely a bad hard disk drive. Its too bad the warranty is going to expire soon, otherwise it could be monitored more before a conclusion is made.
It could be overheating. Use a program like Disk Checkup http://download.cnet.com/DiskCheckup/3000-2248_4-127159.html?tag=mncol to monitor the temperature. If the hard drive has a temperature sensor, then Disk Checkup will display the temperature and warn you if it thinks its running warm.
You may also consider a bad battery. Sometimes when batteries near the end of their lifespan, they fail to provide adequate power to the hard drive. If the battery is not performing well, then try removing the battery and running the computer on only AC power. If the hard drive works without the battery, then a new battery is needed.
If none of those solve your problem, then it is most likely a bad hard drive.
It sounds like you have pretty much eliminated the possibility of a virus.
If the BIOS was bad, I think corrupt partitions would be the least of your worries.
Otherwise, telling the customer to never buy Toshiba again probably is not a bad idea. I myself have never had good luck with Toshiba, all of my Toshiba's have had strange, unexplainable problems as well.
It could be overheating. Use a program like Disk Checkup http://download.cnet.com/DiskCheckup/3000-2248_4-127159.html?tag=mncol to monitor the temperature. If the hard drive has a temperature sensor, then Disk Checkup will display the temperature and warn you if it thinks its running warm.
You may also consider a bad battery. Sometimes when batteries near the end of their lifespan, they fail to provide adequate power to the hard drive. If the battery is not performing well, then try removing the battery and running the computer on only AC power. If the hard drive works without the battery, then a new battery is needed.
If none of those solve your problem, then it is most likely a bad hard drive.
It sounds like you have pretty much eliminated the possibility of a virus.
If the BIOS was bad, I think corrupt partitions would be the least of your worries.
Otherwise, telling the customer to never buy Toshiba again probably is not a bad idea. I myself have never had good luck with Toshiba, all of my Toshiba's have had strange, unexplainable problems as well.
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M$
If client is running on battery power and the battery is bad, this can corupt the HDD. However, hooking the power supply up with the battery removed can also pose a problem. I worked on a Laptop that the battery was bad. The partitions were corupt and I put many hours in trying to figure this out. Ran many programs but still could not resolve the problem. Amazingly enough, I checked the power cord and it was severed in two spots. My conslusion was, the hard drive was not recieving enough power and corrupted the hard drive. I removed the hard drive and installed in anoter laptop to do diagnotics and was able to get so far but I came to conclusion that is was too far gone to repair. I bought a hardrive and a new power cord on Ebay and fixed the laptop and told the customer to purchase a new battery, or I could do it for them. Laptop has ran well since. Point being, don't rule out hardware that can pose significant damage.
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M$
I'd also wonder what disks you were putting in. Certain makes tend to have more failures. I've had bad luck with Toshiba and Seagate and good results with Hitachi and Western Digital.
My only question is: what level were you running SpinRite at? If you didn't run it at level 5 for the deepest, crunchiest bits, you may want to.
by the way @romcurator I ran it at all levels on Spinrite. I got back zero physical sector errors.
INtersting points. Keep in mind I said this was the second drive though. I'm pretty certain what I thought was wrong was a mis-speak by the costumer though.
I don't believe the second drive is corrupt or even on its way to corruption. After personal examination.