New laptop hard drive cranky.
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From: David Farber on 26 Jan 2010 18:39 I am servicing an HP dv2125nr notebook computer. The problem was that it came up with a blue screen while booting and said, "unmountable_boot_volume." I took the drive out and mounted it in my desktop pc via the on board SATA controller. I booted to my system and ran a chkdsk and an anti-virus scan on the notebook drive. It found some problems and fixed them. I put the drive back in the notebook and it started working again. So far so good. I put the drive back in the desktop pc and made an image backup to my internal IDE drive. Still, so far so good. I bought a new Fujitsu hard drive off of ebay, received it, and mounted it in my desktop pc thinking I could restore the image file from hard disk to the new Fujitsu drive. However when I powered up the pc, the pc speaker beeped once as it always does after posting, then it froze at the screen where it displays the components attached to the IDE and SATA controllers. After a few seconds, the screen went blank and the system rebooted again. It stayed in this loop until I had to manually remove the power. I was unable to get into the bios settings. If I remove the new drive, of course everything is fine again. I called Fujitsu and told them the story and they said it could be a firmware problem where it was only designed to operate in certain systems. That was news to me. I never heard of a new, empty hard drive being designed to only operate in specific systems. Have any of you encountered a problem like this before? I doubt the hard drive is defective but on the other hand, I can't think of any other reasonable explanation. By the way, if I put the new drive in the notebook and try to boot with a utility cd, the same thing happens. It freezes on the HP logo though it doesn't constantly reboot. Thanks for your reply. -- David Farber David Farber's Service Center L.A., CA
From: Sylvia Else on 26 Jan 2010 19:33 David Farber wrote: > I am servicing an HP dv2125nr notebook computer. The problem was that it > came up with a blue screen while booting and said, > "unmountable_boot_volume." > > I took the drive out and mounted it in my desktop pc via the on board SATA > controller. I booted to my system and ran a chkdsk and an anti-virus scan on > the notebook drive. It found some problems and fixed them. I put the drive > back in the notebook and it started working again. So far so good. > > I put the drive back in the desktop pc and made an image backup to my > internal IDE drive. Still, so far so good. > > I bought a new Fujitsu hard drive off of ebay, received it, and mounted it > in my desktop pc thinking I could restore the image file from hard disk to > the new Fujitsu drive. However when I powered up the pc, the pc speaker > beeped once as it always does after posting, then it froze at the screen > where it displays the components attached to the IDE and SATA controllers. > After a few seconds, the screen went blank and the system rebooted again. It > stayed in this loop until I had to manually remove the power. I was unable > to get into the bios settings. If I remove the new drive, of course > everything is fine again. > > I called Fujitsu and told them the story and they said it could be a > firmware problem where it was only designed to operate in certain systems. > That was news to me. I never heard of a new, empty hard drive being designed > to only operate in specific systems. > > Have any of you encountered a problem like this before? I doubt the hard > drive is defective but on the other hand, I can't think of any other > reasonable explanation. > > By the way, if I put the new drive in the notebook and try to boot with a > utility cd, the same thing happens. It freezes on the HP logo though it > doesn't constantly reboot. > > Thanks for your reply. What happens if the blank SATA drive is the only drive in your desktop system? Can you at least get to the BIOS then? Sylvia.
From: Dave Platt on 26 Jan 2010 20:19 > I called Fujitsu and told them the story and they said it could be a > firmware problem where it was only designed to operate in certain systems. > That was news to me. I never heard of a new, empty hard drive being designed > to only operate in specific systems. > > Have any of you encountered a problem like this before? I doubt the hard > drive is defective but on the other hand, I can't think of any other > reasonable explanation. I've seen occasional weirdness, somewhat like this, when attempting to install a new SATA-2 hard drive in a system with a SATA-1 host interface. There appear to be some cases in which the drive and the host controller fail to correctly negotiate their way down to the SATA-1 signalling rate, and the PHYs tend to hang up. In cases lile this, it may be possible to put the hard drive into a newer PC with a SATA-2 interface, and then use a vendor-specific utility to configure the drive for SATA-1 operation. -- Dave Platt <dplatt(a)radagast.org> AE6EO Friends of Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!
From: David Farber on 26 Jan 2010 21:58 Sylvia Else wrote: > David Farber wrote: >> I am servicing an HP dv2125nr notebook computer. The problem was >> that it came up with a blue screen while booting and said, >> "unmountable_boot_volume." >> >> I took the drive out and mounted it in my desktop pc via the on >> board SATA controller. I booted to my system and ran a chkdsk and an >> anti-virus scan on the notebook drive. It found some problems and >> fixed them. I put the drive back in the notebook and it started >> working again. So far so good. I put the drive back in the desktop pc and >> made an image backup to my >> internal IDE drive. Still, so far so good. >> >> I bought a new Fujitsu hard drive off of ebay, received it, and >> mounted it in my desktop pc thinking I could restore the image file >> from hard disk to the new Fujitsu drive. However when I powered up >> the pc, the pc speaker beeped once as it always does after posting, >> then it froze at the screen where it displays the components >> attached to the IDE and SATA controllers. After a few seconds, the >> screen went blank and the system rebooted again. It stayed in this >> loop until I had to manually remove the power. I was unable to get >> into the bios settings. If I remove the new drive, of course >> everything is fine again. I called Fujitsu and told them the story and >> they said it could be a >> firmware problem where it was only designed to operate in certain >> systems. That was news to me. I never heard of a new, empty hard >> drive being designed to only operate in specific systems. >> >> Have any of you encountered a problem like this before? I doubt the >> hard drive is defective but on the other hand, I can't think of any >> other reasonable explanation. >> >> By the way, if I put the new drive in the notebook and try to boot >> with a utility cd, the same thing happens. It freezes on the HP logo >> though it doesn't constantly reboot. >> >> Thanks for your reply. > > What happens if the blank SATA drive is the only drive in your desktop > system? Can you at least get to the BIOS then? > > Sylvia. Hi Sylvia, Same thing happens when the SATA drive is the only drive in the desktop pc. Keeps rebooting and cannot enter into the BIOS. Thanks for your reply. -- David Farber David Farber's Service Center L.A., CA
From: David Farber on 26 Jan 2010 22:06
Dave Platt wrote: >> I called Fujitsu and told them the story and they said it could be a >> firmware problem where it was only designed to operate in certain >> systems. That was news to me. I never heard of a new, empty hard >> drive being designed to only operate in specific systems. >> >> Have any of you encountered a problem like this before? I doubt the >> hard drive is defective but on the other hand, I can't think of any >> other reasonable explanation. > > I've seen occasional weirdness, somewhat like this, when attempting to > install a new SATA-2 hard drive in a system with a SATA-1 host > interface. There appear to be some cases in which the drive and the > host controller fail to correctly negotiate their way down to the > SATA-1 signalling rate, and the PHYs tend to hang up. > > In cases lile this, it may be possible to put the hard drive into a > newer PC with a SATA-2 interface, and then use a vendor-specific > utility to configure the drive for SATA-1 operation. I found the specification sheet for the new hard drive here:http://www.fujitsu.com/downloads/COMP/fcpa/hdd/mhw2160bh_datasheet.pdf It says the transfer rate 150MB/sec which is the SATA-1 protocol, no? The HP notebook specification sheet is here: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00771060&tmp_task=prodinfoCategory&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&lang=en&product=3245594Thanks for your reply.--David FarberDavid Farber's Service CenterL.A., CA |