dell studio hdd giving s.m.a.r.t warning msg

hi friends, this is my first post on NBR. i really like the way NBR team reviews verious things and users post their thoughts and experiencs.

my issue is with my dell studio 1535 which has 4gb ram, 8100 intel c2duo and 250 gb hdd (wd). i bought it on august last year. so there is only 3 months left on warranty.

the hdd recently giving problem. in win vista a yellow icon blinking in the system tray showing a msg "a hard drive in the system showing that it may fail". i chk in linux if the msg is really need to be resolved, i get this ....

tux:~ # smartctl -H /dev/sda
smartctl 5.39 2008-10-24 22:33 [i686-suse-linux-gnu] (openSUSE RPM)
Copyright (C) 2002-8 by Bruce Allen, http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: FAILED!
Drive failure expected in less than 24 hours. SAVE ALL DATA.
Failed Attributes:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME-FLAG-VALUE-WORST-THRESH-TYPE-UPDATED-WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 117 117 140 Pre-fail Always FAILING_NOW 661


can u guys plz tell me what to do? and if i contact dell (which i have done already through email) will they gonna send me a new hdd or a repaired hdd? plz suggest.

after buying and using for 2-3 months the num light stop working? i emailed them about it and they say thats its useless to change the whole motherboard for a numlock light. so i stop worring about it . but if guys know how to resolve it plz suggest too.

i need a quick responce.

 

Why don't you contact Dell on the phone? Then you will get an instant and definite response instead of doing email. If your hard drive is going bad, then just send it in to Dell (if you paid for the basic warranty + mail-in service) or have a tech come to your house (if you paid extra for the basic warranty + NBD On-Site service). Just tell Dell, send it in, and they will fix it all.

 

I have to agree with Dell on this one. It is useless just to replace the motherboard for just a num lock light, but if you send it in, they will probably fix the light.

 

is that mean they gonna fix the hdd and send the repaired hdd back to me which can talk 1-2 months. i thought they will send a new hdd instead of fixing my hdd.

 

No, I am guessing that they want you to send the computer back to Dell repair facilities. Here, it takes about 5-8 days until you get the computer back, so unless you absolutely need the computer for the 5-8 days, you should send it in and let them do it. BUT, you should still call Dell and discuss what your situation is. I guess you could try to insist on doing a parts exchange on the hard drive, in which they first send you a new hard drive, but if you don't give them the defective hard drive back, they will charge you for the part.

PS: Hard drives can't be fixed easily, per se. The easiest way for Dell to do this is to simply replace the failing hard drive.

 

do you have repair on place in your options

 

Something's not right here. Dell should send a technician to your place to replace the hard drive in front of you, within a few business days. And the Num Lock LED is part of the keyboard, not the motherboard.

 

1. NBD (Next Business Day on-site)
2. LIMITED TELEPHONE TECHNICAL PHONE SUPPORT
3. DELL POW (Parts only Warranty)

this are the three warranty information i get from dell page about my studio. days left 111 for this three service from dell.

 

r u sure its part of KB !!! they why they say i have replace the whole MB.

 

another thing is that about the wifi led button. not the on/off switch. talking about the led button which glow. i only noticed it working when i press it while the lappy is in suspend mode. what the purpose of it ? should not be the led light glow everytime u connect a wifi AP and keep glowing like the power button??

 

Because the sad truth is, your average Dell technicians at the India call centers don't really know anything beyond what their customer service manual tells them. I've installed a new keyboard myself on my 1535, and the LED is definitely part of the keyboard. Most likely, the guy told you that just to get you to shut up. Sad but true.

I also got the standard 1 year warranty with nothing extra. Dell has sent me a technician for replacement parts on two occasions. They should do the same for you.

You mean the WiFi Catcher on the left hinge? It's supposed to work when the laptop is powered down or in sleep mode. It blinks to show you the availability of wireless networks in the area. If you press the button while in Windows, nothing happens if you don't have QuickSet installed, and if you do, it brings up a list of wireless networks in your range.

 

thx for the wifi catcher info.
the information i provided about my warranty do u think they will send a tech to my place for a hdd replacement ?

i will talk to them again about the numlock light.
thx for ur help.

 

Next day on-site warranty means that if you need a part replacement, Dell should have a technician at your house with the part ready to install the next business day. That's even better support than I have. You should not have to send your laptop in to the depot for service.

 

thx for the info again frnd. i need a suggestion from about that numlock light. if they agree to change the keyboard, should i change the kb, cause i heard from one of my frnd that dell may replace it with a refurbished kb instead of new kb.

 

Keyboards aren't really something I care about whether it's refurbished or new. I replaced my 1535's original brand new keyboard with a refurbed backlit keyboard from eBay, and I've never had any issues with it.

 

ok, i have convinced dell to send a tech to my place and replace the three parts.

1. hdd (giving smart error)
2. keyboard (because numlock led not working)
3. dvd drive (making noise)

but the main thing is that they will replace this three parts with refurbshied ones. plz suggest what to do for each parts.

and if its possible plz alsp explain what dell talk a refurbshied parts. is it factory refurbshied or refurbshied from the parts that user returns.

for the hdd they told me to debug the hdd for removing the bad sectors and then chk if smart still giving the error. they will call me tommrom and guide me to debug the hdd.
can u plz explain what "debug the hdd" means ?
is it safe to do so?
if after debuging the smart msg gone or not coming is it ok to not to replace the hdd.
is debuged hdd better than refurbshied hdd ?

the supervisor told me that for Green World or similer kind of reason dell and many other companies dont throw electronic parts instead somehow they try to repair the parts and resend those parts back to the customer.
what the heck reason is this ?

 

All replacement parts that Dell installs are refurbished. To their credit, they will never give you a part that they know has not been completely fixed. I've had several replacement parts installed, and they all work well. It's simply a money saving tactic for Dell. Why waste money sending a brand new part for replacement when they can send a refurbed part, when it will work just the same anyway?

 

so, will i go for a debug to hdd as they told me to do, or i just order a replacement ? whats this debugging actually ?
pla help.
and i have also decided to not to change the KB and dvd drive. numlock led not imp. to me the as a new KB.

 

ok, the debugging has been done today guided by dell tech support. but no fix, still windows showing the hdd smart error. dell eng. will come next week to replace the hdd. he also coming with a new (refurbished) dvd drive.

i have chked with UBCD also, "port 0x6E70 giving a smart error".

full smart report on this hdd - - - http://rafb.net/p/ynlPpY28.html