 Editor in Chief Bill   | 17 Dec 2015 11:30 a.m. PST |
The story so far: 1. Laptop is doing a Windows 10 update, says it will need to restart a few times, so I take a stroll. When I get back, I've got a blue screen and "device cannot be accessed" (the hard drive). Tech tells me that my hard drive is fine, but the operating system needs to be reinstalled. Tech calls back, says drive is bad after all. I agree to install new drive. 2. I leave the laptop in sleep mode. When I come back, I have the blue screen with "device cannot be accessed" error again. Tech says both drives are now fine, and the operating system has been reinstalled. 3. While restarting the laptop, I get a message that Windows is "repairing" the old hard drive. When I try to check on the drive, Windows says it cannot be used until it is formatted. Any guesses what is going on? If the hard drive is flaky, what caused the new hard drive's problems when nothing from the old drive was recovered (at the time)? |
| MajorB | 17 Dec 2015 11:42 a.m. PST |
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| Solzhenitsyn | 17 Dec 2015 11:56 a.m. PST |
I'd answer, but somebody might think my words violated thier "safe zone" and I'd get Dawghoused. |
| Mako11 | 17 Dec 2015 12:00 p.m. PST |
Have you tried another operating system other than Windows 10? I'd certainly do that. |
| MajorB | 17 Dec 2015 12:04 p.m. PST |
Have you tried another operating system other than Windows 10? What other operating system do you suggest? Switching to a different operating system won't fix a failing hard drive. |
| abelp01 | 17 Dec 2015 12:23 p.m. PST |
Sounds like it might be the hard disk controller. |
martin goddard  | 17 Dec 2015 12:34 p.m. PST |
You should shout a lot, which may not help but it will clear the air. My suggestion would be to take it to a hardware expert and ask him/her to solve the issue . pay them and sleep better
martin
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| Editor in Chief Bill | 17 Dec 2015 12:50 p.m. PST |
How old is the laptop? 5 years |
| napthyme | 17 Dec 2015 1:07 p.m. PST |
My vote goes to hard drive controller, had one that did a perpetual boot loop and could never find the hard drive. |
| Mako11 | 17 Dec 2015 1:14 p.m. PST |
Anything but Windows 10. If the hard drives are fine, the operating system seems to be the prime suspect. |
 Saber6  | 17 Dec 2015 1:45 p.m. PST |
How old is the laptop?5 years Maybe time for a new laptop |
| Rich Bliss | 17 Dec 2015 2:13 p.m. PST |
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| martin goddard | 17 Dec 2015 2:26 p.m. PST |
Do it as a kickstarter
" if x people subscribe TMP will get anew laptop". I will contribute! A good investment. martin |
| Tony S | 17 Dec 2015 2:55 p.m. PST |
I'd try booting the machine with a live linux distro from a DVD or USB. It runs entirely from RAM and the media, so will entirely bypass the HDD. IF you can access your HDD from the linux OS fine, then I'd suspect the culprit is Windows. If linux has troubles with your hard drive, then it is probably a physical problem. You've got a wide range of choices livecdlist.com but I'd go for lubuntu livecdlist.com/lubuntu or maybe the Fedora XCFE spin link Both are very light weight desktop environments. |
| Rrobbyrobot | 17 Dec 2015 5:14 p.m. PST |
I've got a hammer you can borrow… |
| CeruLucifus | 18 Dec 2015 12:25 p.m. PST |
Check with the manufacturer to confirm the laptop is listed as 100% Windows 10 compatible. Also confirm the new hard drive is 100% compatible with this laptop. If the new hard drive isn't compatible with this laptop (yes that happens, darn manufacturer proprietary hardware) … return it if possible and get one that is compatible. If that fixes the issue then your original hard drive was bad and you are set. If not … If the laptop is not Windows 10 certified, well, now you know what isn't compatible. ;) If it's supposed to be compatible, first confirm you have the newest BIOS from the laptop manufacturer. If not, get that. If so, well, maybe it got corrupt. Either way, flash the BIOS and try again. If you are lucky this solves all your problems. If not, you could run diagnostics on the hard drives but since you have the same problem with both an old and new drive, much more likely it's the motherboard. There may be one other component you can swap out: the drive cable, if this laptop uses a cable to connect the drive. See if a new one fixes the issue. If not … Either #1, you have a bad motherboard. Replace the laptop motherboard, or … you may prefer to junk it and get a whole new laptop. Or #2, Windows 10 won't run on this laptop. Re-install Windows 7 (or 8 or 2000, whatever was on it before). Or alternately a linux distribution. Good luck. P.S. -- Fastest way to test either drive is get a USB to SATA drive connector and attach the drive to another PC's USB port as an external drive. If you don't / can't get one of those, open a desktop PC and attach drive to an available SATA port. You have to connect power and data, and power off before making internal connections. |
| Weasel | 18 Dec 2015 1:01 p.m. PST |
Agree with Tony. Grab a USB stick, put a Linux live distro on it. Run it for a while. this will help identify if you have bad RAM or other hard drive issues that are not hard-drive specific, that could be giving you problems, regardless of hard drive. |
 Legion 4  | 18 Dec 2015 3:17 p.m. PST |
Windows 10 is the first sign of the Apocalypse !!!!!!! |
| Mako11 | 19 Dec 2015 11:41 a.m. PST |
I suspect this is another design "feature" of Windows 10. |
| Legion 4 | 20 Dec 2015 8:38 a.m. PST |
I think it is the app with the Icon of Satan … |
