help, something seriously wrong with my hard drive

Hello, I have a major problem with my laptop and am hoping that someone can help me. Please bear with me because I know as much about laptops/computers as my grandmother and basically have no understanding of computer jargons.

This laptop is HP Pavilion ZX5000 and a few weeks ago, I could hear this really loud screeching noise coming from the bottom of the laptop, then it eventually crashed. It seemed like it was coming from my dvd/cd drive and I took it to a friend of mine who’s pretty knowledgeable with computers.

Anyway, it turns out, or he thinks, the hard drive crashed for some reason. He tried to run a diagnostic test through what’s called BIOS but to no avail and he says it’s not recognizing the hard drive.

So here is where it stands right now. Every time I turn it on, I can clearly hear some grinding noise from my hard drive. I have taken out the hard drive and while it seems like there may be a loose part, but it could be a little part that goes up and down (not sure what that’s called) and I wouldn’t even be able to know what’s wrong with it anyway.

And the screen that I get reads as follows:
For Realtek RTL8139(X)/8130/810X PCI Fast Ethernet Controller v2.13 (020326)
PXE-E61: Media Test failure, check cable
PEX-M0F: Exiting PXE ROM.

This screen repeats itself over and over.

As I said, my friend tried to go into BIOS and somehow got into a screen that reads HDD Self-Test but he said he can’t run it as it reads, Test Status: NO IDE Device.

Does anybody know what’s going on with my laptop? It’s somewhat understandable as I’ve had it for a couple of years now, but really can’t afford to buy a new one either.

He says that one option is to buy a new hard drive and I found some on various sites for sale and the refurbished or used ones are not too expensive. Is that the solution? If I buy the same model and just place it back in my laptop, would that do the trick?

I would appreciate anyone’s help on this matter. Again, my computer knowledge is almost non-existent so I would appreciate hearing back in a very simple understandable language. Thank you in advance.

Sarah

By the way the hard drive is TOSHIBA 80GB MK8025GAS

 

Hi,

Your hardrive is probably dead, buying a new one would indeed be the best solution. I would strongly advise against refurbished harddrives. You should be able to mount just about any notebook harddrive, just make sure you get a 2,5" drive and NOT a 3,5".

There's a very slim chance you could get some data of your old harddrive, but don't count on it too much. I suggest you ask your computer friend to attach it to his desktop computers IDE port, adapter pieces are cheap and easy to get.

Ice-Tea

 

Hi thank you for the reply. What do you mean by 2.5 and 3.5? Is that the size you're referring to? If so based on some search, I'm supposed to get a 2 and a half inch size.
Actually I found some on EBAY. Unfortunately, I just might have to get a refurbished one just because it's so much cheaper and hopefully it will do the trick at least for a year or so, and maybe down the line I can get a new one. This seller supposedly has made many sales on refurbished hard drives and all the reviews sound good about him.

Also what do you mean by "I suggest you ask your computer friend to attach it to his desktop computers IDE port, adapter pieces are cheap and easy to get." If my hard drive is dead, isn't getting a replacement simply the solution? Or do I have to do something else? I'm sorry but since I'm not really familiar with PCs or laptops, I'm not sure what you mean by that.

Thanks again!

 

Hi,

Yes, 2.5 inch is the size I'm referring to. And again, I would advise buying a new one. It's 55$ for a brand new one on newegg.

Attaching your drive to your friends computer may salvage some of your data if you're lucky and he knows what he's doing. But if there's no data on that old disk, there is obviously no need to do that.

 

You might want to buy a usb case for the drive to see if you can get any data off that way.

 

Hello, thanks for all the advice. Well I am looking at newegg but don't see my model which is mk8025gas. If it's only $55 for a new one I would definitely consider that option since I was about to purchase a refurbished for around $40 on Ebay. Please let me know where you found that on newegg.
Thanks again.

 

heh .. my HP pavilion DV1K did this yesterday. im shopping for a new drive now too. does anyone know who makes a good 2.5? all their specs look the same.. besides RPM anyway.

 

You do not have to buy that exact model (mk8025gas). Just about any brand would do as long as it is a 2.5" and with a 9.5 mm height. Most 2.5" drives nowadays are 9.5mm thick, but on the odd occassion you might come across some that are not and it might not fit the laptop.

The one for $55 that someone suggested is not an 80-gig like yours is/was, but probably only a 40-gig which should be adequate unless you save a lot of music and video files on the drive.

 

You do not need to buy the same hard drive model for your laptop. Almost any notebook hard drive will work. Just make sure you purchase IDE or ATA. Do not buy SATA it will not work with your laptop.

Try to buy a new 5400 rpm hard drive from Hitachi, Seagate or Western Digital. These are the better brands. They all offer 3 year warranty, I think Seagate even offers 5 years warranty. Toshiba and Samsung hard drives are not as good.

 

Hi guys, thanks for the tip. I feel like a fool because all along I was under the impression that I had to get the same exact model with all the same specifications. I obviously don't know much about all these but I'll take your word. And I'm glad I listened to you guys since I was counting on purchasing a refurbished one on Ebay and the bid just ended at the final price of $56 plus $15 shipping. That's $71 for a refurbished and god only knows how much mileage it has.
So what I'll do is to try to search for a brand new one and since I don't really need 80 gigs, I can cut my cost by searching for a 40 gig.

Some have suggested that I look for one on newegg and I was wondering if someone can help me find one on the site. I just don't know which one is compatible with my laptop, for example, I was under the impression that I had to match the rpm of 4200 but like Iku suggested I can actually get a 5200. I was also under the impression that I had to get it from the same manufacturer which is Toshiba.
Well this is what I have. My hard drive says Toshiba, MK8025GAS, HDD2188. And according to HP product search site it says "80GB Ultra ATA/100 EIDE hard drive - 4,200RPM, 2.5-inch form factor, 1.0-inch height" although I think they have the 1.0 inch party wrong since it's clearly not that high because I measured it and it's more like a quarter of an inch or 9mm.
So I now know that they don't have to match exactly the same but I'm not sure what needs to match if at all. On Newegg, I get nothing by typing in MK8025GAS or HDD2188 but can someone help me find something that's equivalent which is compatible with my laptop? Again, 40 gigs will do since it's a lot cheaper.
Thanks a lot again and hope to hear some responses.
sarah

 

Here is the link.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?N=2010150380+130971540&Submit=ENE&SubCategory=380

Hope this helps.

 

Since you are on a tight budget, this looks very good.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144377

 

Hi Iku, thanks a bunch. I think I'll seriously consider getting that one. Just a couple of questions.
Not to doubt you but since I don't know what these mean, is ATA-6 (as listed on the one you recommended) compatible with my laptop?
Also, I saw some other ones with a 2MB. Just by the number I take it 8MB is better but does it make that much difference?

 

Yes, ATA-6 is what you need. This is the usual interface for notebook hard drives. Your dead Toshiba is also ATA-6.

The 8MB buffer is indeed better than the 2MB. Think of buffer as a kind of memory for the hard drive. I can't really explain it, I hope someone else in this forum will help me out. In general, with a larger buffer, you get better performance. Trust me it is worth the $5 or $6 difference.

 

Nothing much to explain ... the buffer is like temporary memory which is used when the drive is already using all available standard memory for whatever task it is doing. So the bigger the buffer the better.

 

Thanks for explaining it. I knew what it was just couldn't think of how to put it in words.

 

Hi, I see what you're saying now and have pretty much have an idea of what I need. I do have another question. You said I need ATA-6. But on the HP website it said Ultra ATA/100 EIDE hard drive.
As I was doing more search, there are different ATA such as 6, 7, etc. Does mine have to be ATA-6 or is it ok as long as it says ATA?
I just saw one that seemed to fit all descriptions but it said ATA-133.

 

They are all the same. Its ok as long as it is ATA. I myself have wondered why there are so many different names for basically the same thing. I belive that there is supposed to be difference in speed but its not really noticable. Just make sure that you do not get SATA as this is a different interface.

 

I see, thank you for the explanation.
What do you think of this? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144375
This one only costs $9 more than the one you suggested but has 60GBs instead of 40GBs but the downside is it's 2MB instead of 8MB.
This is the one you recommended earlier: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144377

 

The speed difference between 2MB and 8MB would hardly be noticable. If you want the last grain of speed, take 8MB. If you need storage, for mp3's, films, files etc, just take the 60GB. You won't even notice. This is what the buffer does...

CPU: Yo, harddrive, fetch me these files, will you? Oh, and btw, can I pick them up a wee bit later? Got some stuff to do.
HD: No prob man, I'll just store them in this cool fance buffer 'till you got the time, mkay?

Or something like that

 

LOL

nice explanation.

Although how much data could an HD "save" with 6 more mb? Why don't HD's just be built with 512mb buffers or something.

 

Missed that one when I looked at newegg. That looks good. I would take that over the 40 GB as you will have more space. There is a 60GB model with 8mb buffer for about $5 more if it will fit your budget.

When I suggested the 40GB WD, I was recommending one based on your statement that 40GB is enough. I suggested the 8mb buffer bec it was only a few $ more. I still say that the 8mb is worth it specially since it is practically free.

I suggest that you get a drive that is big enough, that you will never fill it up and still stay within your budget. I thought I won't ever fill up a 40GB drive but as it is I only have 10 GB left available.

 

1. I’m pretty much set on what I will get but the question is which manufacturer makes the best hard drive or how has the reputation of making a good one. The following link has the list of hard drives I’ll probably end up purchasing. Except the top one, they all pretty much have identical features. They are 8MB, 5200 RPM, and 60 GB. I guess out of these manufacturers, which one you would recommend (Hitachi, Samsung, Toshiba, Seagate, and Western Digital).
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...5507777+1309721213&Submit=ENE&SubCategory=380

2. It seems like they all come with a 3 year manufacturer warranty but they also have another set of one year or two years service net replacement plan. Do you guys have any idea what the difference between the two warranties? (the 3 year manufacturer and the service net replacement plan). I can’t distinguish the difference between the two. And do you guys usually get these warranties?

 

Hitachi, Seagate and Western Digital are all very good manufacturers.
I'm currently using a Hitachi drive that came with my laptop. It's fast and does not get hot at all. A little louder than I'd like but no big deal.
Seagate is one of the largest hard drive manufactures and they offer 5 year warranty. My experience with them is limited to desktop drives. They have excellent reputation for performance and relaiability.
I have not used Western Digital drives but one of the moderators on this site says that they are the best.
Toshiba's relaibility is not stellar. I'd stay away from them.
Samsung makes very quiet drives but are a bit slow and they only give 1 year warranty.

Manufacuter's warranty is warranty given directly by the manufacturer. Service replacement plan is a warranty sold by the vendor, in this case newegg, you pay for it and it only applies after the manufacturer's warranty have elapsed. Since you are already covered for 3 or 5 years by the manufacturer, I would not recommend getting it.