FML. Possible HDD failure.....

[bryan_kilco]

Soooo I had just bought and built a brand new desktop less than 2 months ago. The past week or so has been hell. Thing is bogging down, freezing on me for minutes at a time, then returning back to normal.

Today I installed a Java update. Then shortly after got a message from anti-virus that there was a threat detected. Ok, no biggie, this has happened before....

Then get an error about Hard drive issue and to back up all my files immediately. So I run defrag. Defrag tells me Windows Media Player database was corrupt. Makes sense - that program was giving me shit since the day I started using this comp.

Bam - I come back to check on defrag and DOS screen saying reboot and enter boot media into boot device or whatever.

Now I'm being told this is possible HDD failure. Can't boot in Safe Mode.

Luckily I had just backed up an album worth of drum tracks yesterday (drummer would have KILLED me).

One thing that worries me is my plugin licenses.

I recently bought Waves C4 and I think that would be safe because the license is in the "cloud", except for the fact that the .dll file was never backed up.

Also I bought SSD Essentials and that allowed me 2 licenses. I used them up - one on my laptop, one on my brand new PC that is now (more than likely) toast.

Is there anything I can do about these lost licenses and plugins?!?

Taking the machine to practice tonight where a few of the computer savvy guys will look at it. This is just super frustrating and I literally don't have time for it.

 

[Vicioushead]

Sorry to hear that dude

I feel your pain. Had this mac go down on me several times.

 

[Vicioushead]

Also, is it possible you could call SS and tell them about your woes? A lot of companies are good to help out like that.

 

[blue_fAng]

When you are starting your PC, what are the exact words of the message you're getting? Should say something like BOOT DISK FAILURE INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER or BOOTMGR IS MISSING PRESS CTRL+ALT+DEL TO RESTART or something like that. If so then there might be a solution to that like just insert the windows 7 dvd and click the repair button. I've had this issue recently and this repairing thing fixed it.

 

[LeSedna]

I don't get the waves .dll file backup. Your license is in the cloud, linked to your account, so there should be no problem authorizing it in the future on another computer ?

 

[Notuern]

If you're using windows, insert the installation disc and go to the command promt.
All you have to do next is type in:

bootrec -fixmbr

Some updates and other things may have caused your master boot record to fuck up, which essentially means that your computer sees a blank disc even though everything is still there and intact.. what bootrec -fixmbr does is to rebuild your master boot record, thus making your drive functioning again.
But it might as well be your drive that is fried.

 

[bryan_kilco]

We messed with it last night. It sees the drive is there but can't boot. Not even off Win 7 disc.

We're going to bring in another HD and slap it in tomorrow as well as a different cable and try to troubleshoot. Apparently there are ways to get data off the drive so all hope is not lost.

And as for the Waves dll.....I figured that since the file was on the hard drive and I couldn't get it off, I'd maybe have to buy another plugin since the license is in the cloud but the actual dll file isnt?

I'll see how things pan out. Too much shit going wrong in my life the past few days.

 

[LeSedna]

I don't think the dll has anything to do with your waves license. You have an account in their system, your licenses are linked to it and are registered in their system as wel, so when you install another windows machine by just reinstalling the waves licenser you should just be able to log in and use any plugin you have the license for !

 

[Notuern]

We messed with it last night. It sees the drive is there but can't boot. Not even off Win 7 disc.

We're going to bring in another HD and slap it in tomorrow as well as a different cable and try to troubleshoot. Apparently there are ways to get data off the drive so all hope is not lost.

And as for the Waves dll.....I figured that since the file was on the hard drive and I couldn't get it off, I'd maybe have to buy another plugin since the license is in the cloud but the actual dll file isnt?

I'll see how things pan out. Too much shit going wrong in my life the past few days.

If it sees the drive it probably still works as well(Unless you're hearing weird noises.).
Have you tried recreating the MBR as i said? Because im pretty damn sure it will work in this scenario.

 

[FIXXXER]

Soooo I had just bought and built a brand new desktop less than 2 months ago. The past week or so has been hell. Thing is bogging down, freezing on me for minutes at a time, then returning back to normal.

Today I installed a Java update. Then shortly after got a message from anti-virus that there was a threat detected. Ok, no biggie, this has happened before....

Then get an error about Hard drive issue and to back up all my files immediately. So I run defrag. Defrag tells me Windows Media Player database was corrupt. Makes sense - that program was giving me shit since the day I started using this comp.

Bam - I come back to check on defrag and DOS screen saying reboot and enter boot media into boot device or whatever.

Now I'm being told this is possible HDD failure. Can't boot in Safe Mode.

Luckily I had just backed up an album worth of drum tracks yesterday (drummer would have KILLED me).

One thing that worries me is my plugin licenses.

I recently bought Waves C4 and I think that would be safe because the license is in the "cloud", except for the fact that the .dll file was never backed up.

Also I bought SSD Essentials and that allowed me 2 licenses. I used them up - one on my laptop, one on my brand new PC that is now (more than likely) toast.

Is there anything I can do about these lost licenses and plugins?!?

Taking the machine to practice tonight where a few of the computer savvy guys will look at it. This is just super frustrating and I literally don't have time for it.

it does not necessary have to be a broken HDD!
sometimes the controller on the mainbard gets fucked up, pluging the HDD just to another port could work.

there are also adapters. using them you can plug in the HDD vie USB to another computer and copy all the stuff you need.

licenses should be fine, i mean you do not store the license directly to your PC. most of the time you have to create an account, this account contains license information etc. dll's should be downloadable also, no big deal

DO NOT USE ANY RECOVERY TOOLS! these may fuck up more than they save. if you can grab one try the adapter thing:

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Vantec-CB-ISATAU2-Supports-2-5-Inch-5-25-Inch/dp/B000J01I1G/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1373726336&sr=8-5&keywords=HDD+usb+adapter"]http://www.amazon.com/Vantec-CB-ISATAU2-Supports-2-5-Inch-5-25-Inch/dp/B000J01I1G/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1373726336&sr=8-5&keywords=HDD+usb+adapter[/ame]

 

[Notuern]

And before doing any of this, try to recover the MBR using windows Bootrec.
(I know i'm repeating my self, but it solves these issues in most cases.)

 

[kev]

Set off an image of the drive with some cloning software e.g. acronis, if it doesn't error you're on to good times. This will serve as a potential backup but also a real time drive test rather than an unreliable hard drive health check tool.

If it completes:

1. The drive may not be knackered
2. You will have an image to surf through of all your data to pick from/or can restore it to a new hard drive

If it doesn't complete the drive is highly likely to be knackered and you'll need to boot into a live cd for copying and pray that the sectors that house your most valuable data are not the ones kerfuckled.

 

[Uladyne]

This proably isn't your issue but I figure I'll share anyway. A few weeks ago I had a drive go fucked on me. It would just quit working after a few minutes. Lucky it was a data drive and not my OS drive. After days of trial and error and trying everything I could to pull the data off it, I figured out it was overheating. It was physically fucked.

Long story short, the freezer trick worked. I wrapped it in paper towels, then sealed it in a zip lock bag, put it in the freezer for about 25 minutes, then hooked it up and started grabbing what I needed. I was watching the temp as I transferred data, and almost like clockwork as soon as it hit 21 degrees Celsius it would lock up and my whole system would freeze, so I would shut it down and put the drive back in the freezer. After about 6 sessions of this I had everything I needed.

This may not be useful info in your situation, but it might be worth a quick consideration if you run out of options.

 

[Notuern]

This proably isn't your issue but I figure I'll share anyway. A few weeks ago I had a drive go fucked on me. It would just quit working after a few minutes. Lucky it was a data drive and not my OS drive. After days of trial and error and trying everything I could to pull the data off it, I figured out it was overheating. It was physically fucked.

Long story short, the freezer trick worked. I wrapped it in paper towels, then sealed it in a zip lock bag, put it in the freezer for about 25 minutes, then hooked it up and started grabbing what I needed. I was watching the temp as I transferred data, and almost like clockwork as soon as it hit 21 degrees Celsius it would lock up and my whole system would freeze, so I would shut it down and put the drive back in the freezer. After about 6 sessions of this I had everything I needed.

This may not be useful info in your situation, but it might be worth a quick consideration if you run out of options.

After having had data recovery done before and talking to Swedens leading expert in the subject: Don't ever do the freezer trick if you have something really important on the drive, because IF you fuck up the drive the price of recovering the data will be ten times as high due to physical damages.

I realize i'm nagging the shit out of this thread, but its for a good reason(I've had lots of experience in this subject over the last few years.).

Then get an error about Hard drive issue and to back up all my files immediately. So I run defrag. Defrag tells me Windows Media Player database was corrupt. Makes sense - that program was giving me shit since the day I started using this comp.

I just realized something here.. you got some kind of warning of a hard drive failure before defragging?
If so, that might be the cause of the real meltdown.. you should never defrag or change the partitioning on a failed drive, as it may cause new damages to both the drive and the data on it(Just a heads up for the future.).

 

[Volcane]

Got tbh, I've never seen a message in Windows that warns you to backup files due to impending drive failure. Unless you have a virus or some sort of real time monitoring. I know the licences are your priority, but either remove your drive and connect via USB to a good machine and use HD Tune or Crystaldisk info, or leave the drive in and boot off a disk like Ultimate Boot and run HD Tune to interpret the SMART data from the drive.

Good luck. Drive failures suck :-(

 

[bryan_kilco]

I should have mentioned earlier: When we were messing with it, the temp at IDLE was 60 degrees celsius. The tower has 2 fans in it already.

I have 2 more and a bigger heat sink that I need to install, but haven't yet due to the fact that it won't boot.

Also - I left the machine at the practice space so the geeks could fuck with it while I'm out of state. Dude said he did bootrec and it didn't fix anything.

He says the drive IS seen, as is Windows, but it won't boot.

As far as the defrag causing the damage - that may be very true. I just panicked I guess.

It may be a virus, I guess?

Tomorrow they are going to swap HD's and put a known good one in to see what happens. Just sorta in doubt that they may not figure out the problem and these 2 dudes are both pretty good with computers.

I'll post results. Pray for me. At this point I don't give a shit about anything that was on the drive, I just want my $1k of parts to work again.

 

[LeSedna]

I dont get it, 1K of parts ? If only the HD has failed, it's just a matter of changing HD which is the cheapest part of the computer unless it is an SSD !

 

[Notuern]

I should have mentioned earlier: When we were messing with it, the temp at IDLE was 60 degrees celsius. The tower has 2 fans in it already.

I have 2 more and a bigger heat sink that I need to install, but haven't yet due to the fact that it won't boot.

60 degrees celsius for idle is pretty damn high, it shouldn't be higher then 40 degrees when in idle.
This may also be the reason as to why you cant boot, because even if the drive works when you boot it up it will quickly overheat and shut down to prevent further damage.
Fix some cooling for the drive and you should be able to boot it up.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835119063

You can ignore the rest of my post until you've tried booting it with cooling, since i really think thats the issue.

Also - I left the machine at the practice space so the geeks could fuck with it while I'm out of state. Dude said he did bootrec and it didn't fix anything.

He says the drive IS seen, as is Windows, but it won't boot.

If bios sees the drive and you can read of the disk but still not boot, then i would back it up and just try to install windows flat over the old installation.
Either you have some really odd hardware malfunction since it seems to be able to read from the disc, or its just a matter of a damaged installation.

But first i would do my typical bootrec routine(I dont know if he did them all or just one.):

1. bootrec /fixmbr
2. bootrec /fixboot
3. bootrec /rebuildbcd

Reboot between each step to see if it is successful.

As far as the defrag causing the damage - that may be very true. I just panicked I guess.

It may be a virus, I guess?

Its a pretty normal reaction to it i guess, but defrag should be more of a routine to keep your drive in check.. not to fix errors.
I highly doubt that its a virus, its not impossible, but viruses that actually damages your hardware in this way are very rare and as far as i know its pretty damn difficult to actually get infected with them.

However, i've had windows disk management destroy bootsectors at least 3 times now.

 

[bryan_kilco]

Ok, quick update:

I was away for work for a month. I let the PC in the hands of our other guitarist as he is more computer-savvy than I am.

He said it was one of the worst things he had ever had to troubleshoot. Finally he wiped everything and got Win7 installed and booted.

Finally got a chance to pick up the computer last night, bring it home, set up, start installing drivers and updates.

About 50% through Windows updates, I get the "Hard disc problem. Back up files immediately" error once again.

Of course, Neweggs return policy is 30 days. Contacted them and waiting for an email back to see if there is a work-around.

 

[Notuern]

Well, this sounds like a manufacturing error then.. so you should get a new one on your warranty.
Anyways, hope it works out.