Troubleshoot Laptop HDD Replacement Info/Help

[Deleted member 2913]

List of current issues

NA

Steps taken, but have been unsuccessful?

NA

I have 2 laptops-

Lenovo V570
HP Pavilion DV4T-1400

Lenovo V570 - Its not booting up. I tried Lenovo Bootable Diagnostic USB Tool. And ran all the scans. It showed FAN not available (it seems FAN is working fine as I can feel the air from the side & the laptop is not heating too) & bad sectors in HDD.
I am thinking of replacing the HDD with HP laptop HDD to see if Lenovo boots fine. Can I do this & any harm to HP HDD or the data on HDD doing this?
I dont know much about hardware. Can anyone tell me if both the laptop has same type HDD & the replacement can be tried?

 

[Deleted member 2913]

@Vasudev: Well another way around step, since it needs to determine if the HDD fails. My enthusiast friend conduct that and identified immediately which why replace a new HDD instead.

However based on the result the HDD errors are consistent to be culprit.

@yesnoo: http://www.ubcd4win.com/

Your link for me first took me to facebook page, another try took me to some other site & another try took me to correct site but was blocked by Avast WebShield as JS:ScriptIP-inf[Trj]

Do you mean UBCD for Windows

 

[Purshu_Pro]

Only HDD as we know now bad sectors & FAN not available (FAN test is greyed out). I will perform custom scan too as it seems extended scan.
I dont know how to check if FAN is there & working fine. Removing the back cover FAN is not there. I guess to check FAN I will have to open the laptop fully & thats not easy for me.
Any bootable tool you know that will check all the hardware like Lenovo tool?

1. I guess for this you must check whether the fan is enabled in the bios or not.
2. Further if its enabled try to off and restart and re enable and restart, if that fixes it, then you are done.
3. If that doesn't help you, it could be a probability that your laptop must undergo some cleaning process, which is bothering your fan,
4. later if even this doesn't work for you check your bios version and upgrade it if any update is available for your machine.
5. Further if this still doesn't help you, you must replace the fan and check.
6. And finally if this doesn't even help you, it indicates that it is the Mother Board Issue. You have to get it serviced with an expert.

According to me you must be able to handle the first 4 steps, and there are maximum chances that it could be fixed in that, if not I have mentioned what you must do.

 

[jamescv7]

@yesnoo: Well yes to be exact, its a typo error just check what's the result shown.

 

[Vasudev]

Well another way around step, since it needs to determine if the HDD fails. My enthusiast friend conduct that and identified immediately which why replace a new HDD instead.

I already knew HDD was failing, but we must try all possible routes to determine if HDD is indeed failing or if its some corruptions caused due to hard resetting PC or other reasons.
@yesnoo: Its better you tell your friend to buy new laptop instead of replacing failed components over & over again and you'd end up spending more money on old laptop than buying than new lappie. It need not be latest & greatest cutting edge CPU & high end configs, since skylake is out, you'd get better deals on haswell or broadwell CPU.

 

[Deleted member 2913]

1. I guess for this you must check whether the fan is enabled in the bios or not.
2. Further if its enabled try to off and restart and re enable and restart, if that fixes it, then you are done.
3. If that doesn't help you, it could be a probability that your laptop must undergo some cleaning process, which is bothering your fan,
4. later if even this doesn't work for you check your bios version and upgrade it if any update is available for your machine.
5. Further if this still doesn't help you, you must replace the fan and check.
6. And finally if this doesn't even help you, it indicates that it is the Mother Board Issue. You have to get it serviced with an expert.

According to me you must be able to handle the first 4 steps, and there are maximum chances that it could be fixed in that, if not I have mentioned what you must do.

The BIOS I flashed was from 2011. Thats the latest for my model on Lenovo support. And BIOS is not detailed...very few stuffs. Like If I check my HP BIOS it has many stuffs including FAN - always enabled option. Lenovo BIOS only shows HDD, RAM, BIOS version, BIOS number, CD/DVD, HDD password, date/time, boot order, etc... no option for FAN. And Lenovo BIOS does seems basic compared to HP BIOS.

Lenovo BIOS is Phoenix BIOS. Is there Phoenix BIOS official site that provide latest Phoenix BIOS? Would it be good to update if BIOS is available from official Phoenix site?
But I would need bootable BIOS flash. Previously too I flashed with bootable USB. Flasing within Windows i.e Hirens bootable - MiniXP - mention battery not available (battery is finished & laptop is used with power cord).

About FAN - I dont see any heating prob, etc... I only got concerned about FAN when Lenovo diag showed FAN not available. So could be FAN prob or Lenovo diag not reporting correctly.
Can I try this Lenovo FAN test within Windows i.e Hirens boot - MiniXP? Is it for Windows system?
Individual Diagnostic Tools - Lenovo Support (US)
I think will try to run & see.

 

[Deleted member 2913]

I already knew HDD was failing, but we must try all possible routes to determine if HDD is indeed failing or if its some corruptions caused due to hard resetting PC or other reasons.
@yesnoo: Its better you tell your friend to buy new laptop instead of replacing failed components over & over again and you'd end up spending more money on old laptop than buying than new lappie. It need not be latest & greatest cutting edge CPU & high end configs, since skylake is out, you'd get better deals on haswell or broadwell CPU.

Thats not a prob as they already have a Windows & MAC laptop.

Its good trying before throwing away the laptop, right? Plus laptop is in good condition with good specs like Inteli5, 6GBRAM, etc... & I get to learn stuffs from you experts.

 

[Vasudev]

Thats not a prob as they already have a Windows & MAC laptop.

Its good trying before throwing away the laptop, right? Plus laptop is in good condition with good specs like Inteli5, 6GBRAM, etc... & I get to learn stuffs from you experts.

Some parts are salvageable like RAM & ODD.

 

[Purshu_Pro]

About FAN - I dont see any heating prob, etc... I only got concerned about FAN when Lenovo diag showed FAN not available. So could be FAN prob or Lenovo diag not reporting correctly.
Can I try this Lenovo FAN test within Windows i.e Hirens boot - MiniXP? Is it for Windows system?
I think will try to run & see.

I'm not sure we can authenticate this Lenovo FAN test by HBCD.
Is your fan running? Can you hear the spinning sound and feel the breeze when you keep your hand beside the vents? If yes then this further tests are unnecessary. Try to reassemble the fan and reset the BIOS to defaults/Just remove and replug the CMOS battery and check whether this have changed. If not reinstall the BIOS software and try. If it still doesn't solve the error then its sure of MOBO problem.

There is no point in wasting too much time in diagnosing the devices. Faulty devices always prompt their errors and operation state when they dont work properly as how they have occurred in your case.

 

[Deleted member 2913]

I'm not sure we can authenticate this Lenovo FAN test by HBCD.
Is your fan running? Can you hear the spinning sound and feel the breeze when you keep your hand beside the vents? If yes then this further tests are unnecessary. Try to reassemble the fan and reset the BIOS to defaults/Just remove and replug the CMOS battery and check whether this have changed. If not reinstall the BIOS software and try. If it still doesn't solve the error then its sure of MOBO problem.

There is no point in wasting too much time in diagnosing the devices. Faulty devices always prompt their errors and operation state when they dont work properly as how they have occurred in your case.

Lenovo FAN test didn't run & gave some dll error.

I can hear the spinning sound (I thought that was bad hdd making noise) & feel kind of air flow beside the vents.

I haven't tried my HP HDD on Lenovo. I will try my HP HDD or my cousins laptop HDD that has Win 7 & peform Lenovo tests within OS & see & post here.

 

[Vasudev]

I haven't tried my HP HDD on Lenovo. I will try my HP HDD or my cousins laptop HDD that has Win 7 & peform Lenovo tests within OS & see & post here.

Probably it won't work since HP makes these diagnostic tools exclusive to themselves. One way to check if fans are working, remove back cover & only detach HDD and flip the lappie and hit power button, if fans spin then its working.

 

[Deleted member 2913]

HDD was damaged. Replaced with HDD from HP laptop. Clean installed Win 10. Everything fine now.

Now I have to get a HDD for HP laptop.
Any recommendation brand, etc...?

 

[Exterminator]

HDD was damaged. Replaced with HDD from HP laptop. Clean installed Win 10. Everything fine now.

Now I have to get a HDD for HP laptop.
Any recommendation brand, etc...?

Anything cheap since you have not resolved your display problem in the HP. Or is this another HP besides the HP with the display problem that you were trying to fix because the Lenovo had a bad HDD

 

[Deleted member 2913]

Anything cheap since you have not resolved your display problem in the HP. Or is this another HP besides the HP with the display problem that you were trying to fix because the Lenovo had a bad HDD

Its the same HP.

Yes anything cheap or first will solve display prob then get HDD.

 

[Exterminator]

Its the same HP.

Yes anything cheap or first will solve display prob then get HDD.

IMO I would just pitch the HP since you have a working one now.

 

[Deleted member 2913]

IMO I would just pitch the HP since you have a working one now.

I will try to check the inverter connection. If its not a prob then atleast by trying will get to learn to check the inverter.

If I couldn't check the inverter then will take it to tech & see what he says & repair cost. If the repair cost is cheap then will repair it.
It would be useful. I will use it or my 4 year old niece will play some game or educational stuff, etc...

 

[Vasudev]

I will try to check the inverter connection. If its not a prob then atleast by trying will get to learn to check the inverter.

If I couldn't check the inverter then will take it to tech & see what he says & repair cost. If the repair cost is cheap then will repair it.
It would be useful. I will use it or my 4 year old niece will play some game or educational stuff, etc...

Go for new one and trust me, you don't want to get it repaired every time 'cause its cheaper.

 

[DracusNarcrym]

Great to see you've got the greatest part of the HDD issue sorted out.
If you can figure out the screen issue on the HP laptop, then you're good to go.

In the long run, however, I would recommend you purchase an entirely new laptop to replace the HP one. The trouble and the cost for the repairs of any future issue that might arise is not going to be worth it.

 

[Deleted member 2913]

Great to see you've got the greatest part of the HDD issue sorted out.
If you can figure out the screen issue on the HP laptop, then you're good to go.

In the long run, however, I would recommend you purchase an entirely new laptop to replace the HP one. The trouble and the cost for the repairs of any future issue that might arise is not going to be worth it.

We are planning to get a desktop.
When I will select one will post the specs here for suggestion.

 

[Sana]

@Purshu_Pro , that's an interesting thing about HDDs. I was always relying on Seagate Tools to tell me if my HDD is healthy (it had passed all the tests); only to find out later by Acronis Drive Monitor (free), that my HDD health is only 60%. Sad part is manufacturers' warranty only covers total failure!

Edit: Hmmm HD Sentinel on the other hand is returning 94% health.

 

[DracusNarcrym]

@Purshu_Pro , that's an interesting thing about HDDs. I was always relying on Seagate Tools to tell me if my HDD is healthy (it had passed all the tests); only to find out later by Acronis Drive Monitor (free), that my HDD health is only 60%. Sad part is manufacturers' warranty only covers total failure!

Edit: Hmmm HD Sentinel on the other hand is returning 94% health.

Could you try with Auslogics Disk Defrag Portable as well? Its readings are pretty accurate.

Every HDD diagnostics application that generates a verdict on an HDD's "health", relies on multiple statistical measurements, relative to certain "thresholds" (minimum/maximum allowed values, etc) which are set, of course, by the developers.
While it can be assumed that there are generally acceptable thresholds for every kind of reading, those thresholds may vary from application to application due to the way it was designed or internally configured by its developers.
As a result, while an application may report your disk as "being at full health", an other might suggest otherwise.
Not to mention a reasonable margin of error to which such applications are subject, which may or may not affect the end result of the applications' verdict.

The most reasonable way to determine a storage drive's health is to analyse it with as many reputable HDD/SSD diagnostics applications, and use use an average score, derived by considering every application's score.