M1530 - Hard drive not detected

I've noticed this problem has been more and more apparent on my M1530. It has a Samsung 250 GB 5400 RPM (model HM251JI) hard drive. Basically, everytime I try to run any program that thoroughly scans the hard drive (ie disk defragmenter, virus scanners, spyware scanners), it would reboot a ways into the scan with the screen telling me that no hard drive is detected. It would give me the option to run Dell diagnostics (I think the error code is 0141? Not quite sure), to which it would confirm that indeed no hard drive is being detected, telling me to check cables etc. It would also provide the option to reboot, and when selected, the system would boot just fine and apart from the "Windows has shutdown improperly" error, it's as if nothing has happened.

In addition to this, there's a very noticeable clicking-noise that emits every once in a while from the lower left palmrest (which is where the hard drive is located). It's not extremely frequent, but it's quite audible. Now when you put two and two together, I would have to assume it's a hardware failure, be it hard drive or mobo.

I've contacted an online tech, who told me to check the hard drive and make sure all the cables are properly connected, nothing is loose, hard drive mounted, etc etc, which I have done. Recently, the whole "no hard drive is detected" thing is gone, perhaps because I haven't done any scans recent, but the clicking is still there. It's become more frequent; I'd say double-digit quantities per day's use.

Having just run a virus scan and it restarting about a quarter way in, I've contacted an XPS tech. After running two hours of pointless diagnostics finding no errors, he told me to change the hard drive performance setting to "Quiet". I mean, I guess I just keep it in "Performance" mode and forgo ever checking my hard drive for viruses, or defragmenting it, but then it'd kind of defeat the whole purpose of "performance".

I'm currently running a virus scan (it's at 8% as of writing) to see if this has solved the problem. Should I call Dell back and demand a new hard drive, regardless of whether or not "bottlenecking" has worked? If it works in "Quiet" mode, so what? It's still defective. It's like saying: "Oh, the 7th gear in your car stalls? Just drive using the first 6 and see if that works." If I pay for 7 gears, I want to enjoy the full 7 gears.

/endrant (12%)

EDIT: Never mind, I've been able to reproduce the BSOD/"HDD not detected".

EDIT2: Seems this rep is a lot more straightforward. Gave him the error code and he placed an order for a new hard drive instantly. None of that diagnostics sh!t.

 

I had a somewhat similar problem upon delivery of an M1530. The hard drive seemed to disappear at random. e.g. in Windows Explorer, you would see no C: or D: drive.

The tech didn't know if it was a hard drive problem or a motherboard problem. They replaced the whole machine.