Hard Drive error on Envy 27 at boot

[jaqcal]

Hello,

When I boot my Envy 27, I get the standard blue error stating I have a hard drive error and need to hit f2 to run diagnositcs.  When I run the tests, everything comes back fine - every test passes - but the error never goes away.  I have run the tests on both the 1Tb primary drive and the 16Gb cache drive.

Because both tests came back ok but I could not get rid of the error, I removed the 1Tb drive and placed it on a secondary machine to run a more thorough test.  That test also came back fine, so I determined it must be related to the 16Gb cache drive.  I went in to the BIOS and set the device security option to 'hidden' as suggested other places on this forum and that got rid of the error for now.

My questions are these:

1. Why would both drives test as fine but the error not go away? 

2. Is the 16Gb cache drive necessary for operation or is it just to enable faster boot times?

3. The error is likely related to the 16Gb cache drive.  Can I remove this drive or replace it, and if so - how?

Thanks in advance for the help!

[old_geekster]

@jaqcal, welcome to the forum.

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@jaqcal wrote:

Hello,

When I boot my Envy 27, I get the standard blue error stating I have a hard drive error and need to hit f2 to run diagnositcs.  When I run the tests, everything comes back fine - every test passes - but the error never goes away.  I have run the tests on both the 1Tb primary drive and the 16Gb cache drive.

Because both tests came back ok but I could not get rid of the error, I removed the 1Tb drive and placed it on a secondary machine to run a more thorough test.  That test also came back fine, so I determined it must be related to the 16Gb cache drive.  I went in to the BIOS and set the device security option to 'hidden' as suggested other places on this forum and that got rid of the error for now.

My questions are these:

1. Why would both drives test as fine but the error not go away?  I not certain that we will ever know the full reason for this, but my take on it is that one of the drives may be ready to fail.  SMART is monitoring the drives from the BIOS and will warn you when the is an imminent failure. 

2. Is the 16Gb cache drive necessary for operation or is it just to enable faster boot times?  No, it is not necessary for operating the computer.  It is to boost speed by caching most used data.

3. The error is likely related to the 16Gb cache drive.  Can I remove this drive or replace it, and if so - how?  You can remove it without causing problems.  However, it can be replaced.  You should open the case and find the drive.  Then, read the information on it to help you with ordering a replacement.  You can check HP Partsurfer to see if one is available.  I believe that you will be able to find a video online to help you with the replacement.

Thanks in advance for the help!  You are welcome.

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