[SOLVED] What's Wrong with My Puter :(

[Appletax]

I recently reloaded Windows 7 Pro x64 on my 4 year old HP dv6500t laptop.
Yesterday I used Puran Defrag boot time defrag + full disk check (chkdsk) to
give it a tune up and when I got home my monitor showed a BSOD with, I believe,
the error Process something Failed ?

When I restart it takes a long time to get past the loading logo. Then it BSODs and
say unmountable_boot_drive.

I tried booting in Safe Mode and it stops at the file ClassPNP.sys ?

Tried to use recovery option from the Advanced Menu (F8) and recovery option in the install disc, but both
are super slow and don't go to the menu (startup repair, command prompt etc.)

Tried using UBCD4Win, but it just shows a blue screen (won't fully load).

Swapped RAM and didn't help.

I've noticed that with everything I've done the hard drive indicator light is on a lot, which
is odd to see when booting from a Live CD.

The hard drive is a almost new Western Digital 500 GB HDD.

I can't even reload Windows because I get a constant loading cursor when I boot from the install disc.

Is the processer bad? motherboard? :'(

 

[iisjman07]

Have you run any hard drive diagnostics? Just because a drive is new doesn't mean it can't fail quickly

 

[Kitten Kong]

Have you tested the hard drive, I know its almost new, but sounds to me as if it could be going.

Run Seatools on it, with a long scan, see what if anything that brings up.

 

[livpie]

+1 on the hard drive diagnostics. The symptoms you listed point in the direction of hard drive issues to me.

 

[Appletax]

Have you run any hard drive diagnostics? Just because a drive is new doesn't mean it can't fail quickly

I use Crystal Disk Info and last time I saw the condition of my drive everything
was fine, but the hard drive was maybe just a few degrees above what it
considers to be too warm. It was like 51 C. Will check it later with my usb to
sata adapter. Will try Crystal Disk and HD Tune and WD Diagnostics.

Why would a bad hard drive be the problem? Wouldn't a live CD load even
without a hard drive because it loads itself into RAM?

Why would the installer disc not fully load?

 

[FoolishTech]

I use Crystal Disk Info and last time I saw the condition of my drive everything
was fine, but the hard drive was maybe just a few degrees above what it
considers to be too warm. It was like 51 C. Will check it later with my usb to
sata adapter. Will try Crystal Disk and HD Tune and WD Diagnostics.

Crystal Disk / HD Tune are no substitute for a proper dos based HDD diagnostic provided by the manufacturer. Be sure and run that WD Diag! (Not the windows version!)

Your HDD is probably bad because you're getting "unmountable boot volume" which is the first sign.

The second indication is the problem occurred after running disk checking / defrag / disk tools. These probably exacerbated a pre-existing condition with your HDD, forcing the thing to fail earlier than it would have otherwise.

Third indication: because the drive is new, and is a WD. I see more DOA, REF, or Bad Sector ridden WD drives (OEM) than I care to count. I recently had to RMA a stack of new WD 500GBs... ok maybe it was like 5, half of what we had ordered. A few of those we sent back weren't even recognized properly by the BIOS, the rest were BS or REFs. I'm fed up with them, honestly. But it seems every manufacturer has these issues, so I guess I can quit blaming WD.

I'm sure some of those I sent back, without the diag/stress, would live quite some time before problems occur. Still I'm to the point that I diag new drives before selling, time permitting, because I don't want to deal with the hassle of a related issue or return within my warranty period!

Why would a bad hard drive be the problem? Wouldn't a live CD load even
without a hard drive because it loads itself into RAM?

Why would the installer disc not fully load?

Your boot CDs probably won't load because they are trying to load a driver or otherwise access the file system on your HDD as part of the startup process - and likely they are tripping up in that process DUE to your bad HDD.

Another hint here is how you've explained seeing your HDD light on while your boot CDs were stalling....

But this is all just my best guess given the info you've provided...

 

[numnutz]

Ive seen this many times, with your extensive list of Symptoms I would have to say HD, similair Symptoms I would say swap memory and test

 

[phaZed]

I'll play devils advocate and say.. if the hard drive checks out than it is the dreaded dv series NVIDIA chip. Have seen live cds fail with the hard drive installed because the SATA controller is trying to communicate and hangs the subsystem.

 

[iladelf]

+1 on Phazed's comment...potential mobo replacement/reflow/reball?

I also read somewhere that the number one thing to do IF you have a laptop of this vintage (and I guess you could say this about any laptop), is keep it cool by using a fan-based cooler on the bottom of the laptop. While no, it may not cool the insides any better, it likely gives enough cooling to prevent the mobo from melting solder points, and then needing a mobo swap or reflow/reball.

Here's info about the NVIDIA chipset recall...too late now to file a claim, if I read everything correctly. If you dig deeper on that website, you'll likely find a list of laptops that were affected.

http://www.nvidiasettlement.com/index.html

 

[maclaptech]

Looks like a bad hard drive to me...

 

[NETWizz]

It is most likely a bad hard drive. I have seen UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME only one time that it wasn't a bad hard drive.

That was when I ran Windows XP on a WDS (Windows Deployment Services) and the sysprep.ini file had ExtendOemPartition = 1 in it.


Basically, it worked, went through MiniSetup then on its first boot would say UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME.

At first, I thought it was a bad hard drive and replaced it (since I have like 20 spare ones) only to get the same thing. Then I ran Windows PE and discovered the FileSystem was RAW. That's right. Somehow ImageX, WDS, and SysPrep managed to lay down an unformatted partition. Well it wasn't unformatted until ExtendOemPartition =1 ran in Sysprep.


In 10+ years of Windows XP I have only had UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME NOT be a bad drive one time. My vote is that the drive is bad.




Go here and download the proper diagnostics for your Western Digital Drive to verify:

http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?lang=en


Once verified it is a bad drive, you can RMA it (write down the error code); since, you said it was a new drive... if the vendor won't take it back (probably not after 30 days).

 

[marianoemilio]

Probably a Defective Hard drive or RAM.

 

[FoolishTech]

I tried using WD Lifeguard, but it won't respond so I have to kill it. I can't use
the program when my hard drive is connected.

yet another sign!

BTW, never use the Windows version of WD diagnostics. Use the DOS version if you want accurate results. ... and in your case you'll have to anyway just to get a diagnostic code for the RMA process...

 

[Appletax]

I tried using WD Lifeguard, but it won't respond so I have to kill it. I can't use
the program when my hard drive is connected.








- Tried using the DOS ISO on another computer, but it doesn't list the drive as an option when
the drive is connected with a usb to sata adapter.

- Tried doing it on my laptop itself, but the disc takes a long time to load and eventually says it cannot find the license agreement !

- For whatever reason I can't get discs to load from an external drive
(thought the disc might not be loading properly because I know the internal optical drive doesn't work like it used to -
some discs I burn with it don't work)


Other problems I've had:

- No matter which GPU driver I use, the driver crashes when playing multiple
videos (never had this problem with any other computer)

- HDMI doesn't work. When it did work the audio didn't work.

 

[Appletax]

- Loaded the Disk Management Console in Win 7 and it showed that almost all
the partitions have the RAW filesystem. Tried using Test Disk to fix it, but no luck.





- Tried performing check disk, no luck




- Loaded Gparted Live from SARDU. Showed all the partitions and most had yellow flags indicating that there's a problem.
Deleted all partitions (gave me an error), formatted with NTFS (gave me an error) - says something about
need to create partition table, which doesn't work.
I gave up and rebooted with all partitions deleted and the program showing the whole disk as having unallocated space.

- Booted up Win 7 and Disk Management Console. Shows unallocated space for the whole drive. Tried formatting
and get error message: Windows was unable to complete the format.

The HDD is now listed as 465.76 GB RAW Healthy (Primary Partition).

If I try to access the drive from Windows Explorer it tells me I need to format.



NEXT STEP: Swap hard drives with a desktop I have that has SATA ports and run WD Lifeguard DOS ISO again.

Update: Doesn't work :C

 

[Appletax]

Yea, it's the hard drive

because I'm thrilled that my computer isn't cooked and the hard drive
is under warranty til August 2013 =D


I put a different hard drive in the laptop and was able to load WD Lifeguard
and UBCD4Win (neither worked properly with the bad drive).

I wonder what happened to my hard drive


I'm RMA'ing the drive right now. Getting it in advance and shipping out the old one
when the new one arrives.


Thank gosh I backup my stuff on my external drive very frequently. I only lost 2 files that I had
on my desktop that I'd like to have, but don't need.

I hope nothing happens to my external hard drive in the meantime cause it's the only backup
I've got - I plan on getting a 3 TB external in the future, which I'll use for storing movies and for a 3rd backup.



- I am surprised that this computer has lasted so long! I got it in October 2007 so it's 4 years old this month.
So many other one's like mine have suffered from the bad
Nvidia chips, but mine's still chuggin' along - must be partly because I take good care of my stuff

 

[Shark]

If in the POST messages it says "No TPM or TPM Has Problem"

Then you can put the drive in another computer and run the Win7 startup repair
and that will fix the disk. But it still won't run in the HP Laptop.

When you said "4 year old HP dv6500t laptop" I knew that was your problem.

Haven't you ever seen the videos where engineer whistle blowers were coming forward
saying they were tasked with the job of figuring out a way that the laptops could be
designed in a way that they will break shortly after warranty?

 

[Elemdee]

When you said "4 year old HP dv6500t laptop" I knew that was your problem.

Wasn't the issue in his case...it was the HD, which has the ability to fail in all makes and models...

Haven't you ever seen the videos where engineer whistle blowers were coming forward
saying they were tasked with the job of figuring out a way that the laptops could be
designed in a way that they will break shortly after warranty?

Got links for us? Would love to watch them.

 

[Shark]

Not any specifically pertaining to what I'm talking about. But because I can't find
the info right away doesn't mean I'm lying. But I know I have an obligation to
prove what I say. Just to show that I shouldn't be totally discredited here is news
article pertaining to a law suit where they were purposely selling faulty parts.

http://www.industryweek.com/articles/whistleblower_lawsuit_against_hewlett-packard_is_revived_14624.aspx

In the mean time, I'll try to find what I've seen before.