Hard Disk Error BIOHD-4

[n2o2diver]

HP Pavilion a6437c

Windows Vista Home Premium 64

500 gb WD HD

Computer shut off by itself and restarted (almost). Would not boot.  Start up recovery option failed. Ran and "f9" diagnostic. Returns Hard Disk Error Code BIOHD-4 Unitialized/Corrupt Boot structure.

Tried to reinstall OS from "f11" recovery from "d" partition and it failed Blue Screen Of Death

Tried to reinstall from recovery DVD's and it failed Blue Screen Oc Death

This thing will not boot!

Is the drive dead or does some one have some insight on how I might fix this.

Thanks

Mac

[Big_Dave]

Boot into the bios (setup) and run some diagnostics.

[n2o2diver]

I did that Big Dave.

Passed the first two tests but then failed the Extended SMART test with Error code 7

Then I redid the original 'F9" diagnostic and it passed. No BIOHD-4 code anymore.

It still would not boot Vista, even in safe mode nor with the recovery options.

I was sick of messing with it so I went shopping.

I just picked up a new 1TB 32M Seagate Barracuda from Wal Mart for $70.

It is installed and running fine.

Next I better check that this isn't one of the Seagate's with bad firmware.

For giggles I hooked up the old drive as a secondary and Vista recognized it and the Windows Disk Management said it was healthy.

So I deleted the Volumes and it is reformatting now.  Hopefully I can use it as a backup.  Don't know why I could not get it to boot from that drive?

[n2o2diver]

Well according to the Seagate Website Serial Number search tool the new drive does not require any firmware updates, yay!

[Obliviate]

What should I do?

I am having this same error and I only have 1 HDD...

My computer turns on and then turns off and then turns on and then turns off and then turns on and starts to boot up but then freezes when it gets to the loading screen and says "Microsoft Corporation" under the loading bar.

Anyone have any ideas??

Thanks,

~~Obliviate~~

[GENE6527]

WHAT DO I DO

[GENE6527]

HAVE SAME ISSUES AS ABOVE

[HardBeatZ]

Hello GENE6527,

Boot into your BIOS and then run the extended hard drive test and see if it shows any error messages.

The hard drive may be failing.

[HardBeatZ]

Did you have a chance to run the extended hard drive test, or replace the hard drive to see if the issue still happens?