Acer Aspire 1600 HDD Failure?

Astaras · #1 May 28, 2008, 10:21 AM

Hello, I have an Acer Aspire 1600 laptop, It suddenly gave "Disk Error" message when booting - white text/dark screen/upper left corner. I reboot and it can not find HDD. The HDD is Hitachi DK23EA-40 (ATA-5 Enhanced IDE - not that I understand...), original from factory. I can reach BIOS - the HDD is seen there (Primary), but that's it. I used the ACER recovery discs and they can not help. The issue (confusing) is that I keep on getting different error messages - all relating to HDD. Typical is to get after the "Press F2/F12" stage in start up (dark screen/white text): "Disk Error. Press any key to restart". With Win98 Acer recovery disc, I get a DOS prompt - managed to see c: driver <dir> content once - never again. Now it says "Volume in Drive C is MS-Ramdrive Directory C: File not Found." The WinXP Acer discs fail to find a large drive to install. Once reached the SafeMode options - still failed to boot.Is the HDD dead? Could it be contact issue? Memory? Would love your advice!

retsoksirhc · May 28, 2008, 10:27 AM

I would boot to the winXP cd, and then go into Recovery Console when it gives you the option, and run Checkdisk from there. Here are some more specific instructions:

How to run checkdisk from recovery console - Windows xp - Geeks to Go!

That *Might* help, but i suspect that the drive is going bad. I'm guessing it's 2-3 years old or older? Generally that's when a hard drive will start to fail. Most will last at least 2 years, but it's kindof hit and miss after that. You can take two of the same model, and one will last 3 years, one will last 10.

Astaras · May 28, 2008, 02:31 PM

Thanks! Indeed, the laptop (and the HDD) are both >4 years old (bought it in Fall 2003), and they have travelled across the globe in VERY challenging settings (rain forests etc., ridiculously bumpy roads....the whole works). So, yes, I am not surprised if the HDD goes...The rest of the system worked fine though and it is a pitty to lose the whole laptop. I will run the checkdisk (if possible) application you suggested (although I am not optimistic) and I wil start looking for a replacement of the HDD. I just hope that there is no other hidden problem. Thanks again! If something inetresting comes, I will inform the forum.

retsoksirhc · May 28, 2008, 07:07 PM

If the rest of it is in good condition, a new hard drive shouldn't cost more than $150. You can probably get it for a lot less, depending on how big you need it to be. It's cheaper than replacing the whole thing

Even if it doesn't fix the drive, checkdisk might be able to help you get some information off it.



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