HP Pavilion ze5531EA - Possible Hard Drive Failing

eddiem74

Hello,

I have a HP Pavilion ze5531EA Laptop since December 2003.

I have had an ongoing issue for sometime where the laptop keeps switching to battery and then back to AC intermittently. Its not everyday but can be enough to be noticed and a little annoying. Any ideas ?

Also I recently done a reload of the OS from the recovery CD's as performance had slowed over the years. Once I done this, and took some advice from these forums, performance was great, apart from the persisting battery/AC issue.

Now over the last week, the hard drive has started to make some weird noises, scratching/rubbing or something like that. From a quick google browse it would seem I am on the brink of a hard disk failure. I have stopped using the computer, pending figuring out the right thing to do here?

Any suggestions ?

I have a lot of items already backed-up from the recent OS refresh, not 100%update to date, although near enough, if I'm in a worst case scenario.

What to do ? Where to get a new compatible hard drive ? Can I also fix the battery/AC issue ? Or is it time for a new one ?

Expert advice welcome...........

Karoma

Does it start to make noise after a while when it's in use or straight away?
Open it up, check all cables are plugged in and the disk drive is sitting properly (Taking appropriate ESD considerations, etc.) Examine the drive & arm.

majiktripp

I'd say it could be time for a new laptop.
I think the power issue is more severe than the hard drive.It sounds like the PSU pin on the motherboard has become slightly loose and may not be making connection 100% of the time hence why windows appears to switch to battery.
If this is the case it will only get worse and not better.Its an expensive thing to fix and, due to the nature of pluging in and out a power connection on the back of the laptop , theres no guaruntee the repair would last.
Now to the hard drive. Just back everything that you need up to a usb key or burn it to a dvd. Once thats done you could download and burn IBM's Drive Fitness Test to a cd drive and give the hard drive a full test.
If it fails well then you've a dodgy hard drive and dodgy power pin, new laptop time.
If it passes well at least you can continue using it until you have enough monies to buy a new one!

eddiem74

Well the weirdest thing. I discovered when I went to boot backup the laptop that the power supply was damaged, and went to Peats to pickup a universal replacement as the battery was also dead.

When I came home, attached the new power supply and booted up the laptop, no noise whatsoever from the hard disk ? I ran a chkdsk, and also an online HP advanced diagnostics, which all indicated everything was working fine with no errors ????

Looks like I've been lucky so far, will allow me to get a backup routine in place anyway. Unfortunately, the power/battery issue still exists

Anyway,thanks for your feedback seems I am okay at the moment for another while anyway.

eddiem74

Ok, I think the hard disk is gone ? There was no more noise but today when I tried to turn it on, it kept blue-screening during the Windows Login process. I did see an error "PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable".

I tried following some of the recommendations after googling the error such as removing and reinserting the hard drive, resetting the boot order to the default. I also then ran a Hard Drive test from the set-up menu, and the dreaded word "FAIL" appeared.

So I think I need a new hard drive ? Can I pick one up in a store or should I go online ?

Any recommendations as a replacement ?

Thanks again !

Tom Dunne

eddiem74 wrote: »

So I think I need a new hard drive ? Can I pick one up in a store or should I go online ?

Any recommendations as a replacement ?

You will always get a better price online. I replaced a hard-drive for a friend before Christmas - I got a 120Gb 2.5" IDE from Komplett for €90.

That would be what you need.

majiktripp

I needed a HDD in a rush there recently and got one in PC World (ugh..shudder...) , a 80GB 2.5" IDE for €60 which isn't all bad!
The PXE message you were seeing is related to the laptop trying to boot from the Network connection as it has passed over the hard drive , presumably because of the fault.
Good luck with the reinstall!

Tom Dunne

majiktripp wrote: »

I needed a HDD in a rush there recently and got one in PC World (ugh..shudder...) , a 80GB 2.5" IDE for €60 which isn't all bad!

Actually, that's not bad at all. If I had a known that at the time, I would have nipped in and bought it there.

I feel dirty now.

eddiem74

Cheers guys !!

Do I need to replace with IDE or could I get a SATA drive ? Any benefits to doing that?, or do I need to replace like with like ? No expertise here, so just asking, as I thought I had seen somewhere SATA might be better ?

Thanks again.

AlmightyCushion

If it has a sata drive in there then you have to go with a sata, if it's an pata drive then you have to go with a pata.

Tom Dunne

eddiem74 wrote: »

Cheers guys !!

Do I need to replace with IDE or could I get a SATA drive ? Any benefits to doing that?, or do I need to replace like with like ? No expertise here, so just asking, as I thought I had seen somewhere SATA might be better ?

SATA might be better, but if your laptop doesn't have an SATA controller, you can't use an SATA drive and you can't install an SATA controller. So you are stuck with IDE.

TBH, you won't notice the difference.

eddiem74

Cheers guys, picked up a new hard disk from PC World y/day for 65euros, stuck it in, and then used the recovery CD's to get back into action. All seems to be working well at the moment !

Appreciate your help !