Two TouchSmart PCs in different locations die on same day with same error??? ( BIOHD-2 )

[doon]

John,

that is weird. The first guy I spoke to about my hard drive brought up the recovery discs himself. The guy today asked me if I wanted them, to which I said, "Heck yeah!" So, I will be getting them sent to me separately.

I would call there again. Remind them of the situation and that the HP TouchSmarts DO NOT come with recovery CDs... they have a recovery PARTITION (which is fine for when you need to turn the clock all the way back on a working machine). But if your drive is toast, the partition, she no going to help you, my friend.

See what they say.

doon

[Bill_Hicks]

Or you could just make the recovery discs when you first start using the PC so you will have them incase something like this goes wrong.

Did any updates happen prior to the drives failing? For example, did any Windows Updates or HP Updates get installed prior to the errors?

This does seem very odd to have the drives fail like that so near the same time.

[doon]

...both Windows and HP ran at different times.

I have never had a crashed drive stop showing up in BIOS. I can't imagine that an update (or even a virus) could accomplish that feat. Data loss, yes. Corrupt MBR, sure. I could even imagine an intricate stealth virus which hosts itself in some hidden partition and runs a corrupting firmware upgrade on the drive itself. But damage the drive in some way that fries the PCB? So that not even BIOS recognizes it?

I think the drive overheated or the PC overheated and damaged the drive somehow.

Either that, or it was the can of Coke my two year-old poured into the top heating vents. Kidding. I keeeeed.

:-\

[monoman]

Hi all,

This is my first posting.

The same happened to my iq500 after six weeks. I could not believe that the HD had gone (my first ever) HP very helpful although I was talking to Cape Town.

They very quickly diagnosed the HD as the BIOS could not see it. A replacement was received after about a week with the promise of recovery discs to follow from another source but I could not wait so used  the ones I produced when the computer was new. All instructions were in the original documents and it was a breeze although slightly fiddly with very small screws.

The duff HD was a Seagate Barracuda and was replaced with a Hitachi Deskstar.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed

[filwud]

i had a 506 which died the same way. several days of 'windows has recovered from a serious error' messages

then no boot drive, i took it to bits and checked for loose connectors but nothing obvious

i changed it no problem or questions asked at costco for a 515 which seems ok so far.

it is fussy with its blank dvds i had gold maxell +R 's but they allways corrupted after writing 75% of the recovery disks.

i tried some silver TDK +R 's and they work fine ?? same with some linux iso's i was trying to burn.

The 515 also works fine on the 64bit fedora linux live cd. i am going to install it properly soon on a dual boot and see how

that goes

[doon]

So folks,

After a bit of a mix up with getting my drive and recovery CDs sent to me (got lost in the mail), I finally get my replacement drive.

Get this: it is a refurbished Seagate drive!!!! The exact same model as the one that crapped out on me!

It get's better: so I put the new drive in and decide to run the boot-up diagnostics. The drive fails three times in a row! ( BIOHD-8 Error )

As I type, I am on the phone with a very nice CSR waiting for the extended SMART test to finish (the short SMART test failed right away).

I am hoping HP sends me a new drive this time and that it is NOT another Seagate drive.

I am sooooo angry now I can't even tell you.  

Not only did I lose the last three months of data, I still do not have a functioning computer at home! I paid $1200 for this machine...

My trust and confidence in this PC (and HP) is sinking fast.

Message Edited by doon on 01-17-2009 10:23 AM

[doon]

So it turns out that Seagate is having a real issue with these drives. See the following: 

http://i.gizmodo.com/5134240/seagate-reverses-course-offers-free-data-recovery-for-borked-barracuda-... 

http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/seagate-offers-fix-free-data-recovery-for-...

http://techreport.com/discussions.x/16246

The big news is: THE DATA IS STILL THERE!!!

So, if this has happened to you, you may want to check out the Seagate page before ditching your drive.

Here is the info on the Seagate page:
http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/crm/selfservice/search.jsp?DocId=207931

Hope this helps those of you affected with this same issue!

Message Edited by doon on 01-20-2009 11:13 PM

[JimT]

WOW!! That is a kick ass find!!! kudos to you doon...

Model: ST3500620AS, Serial: 5QM1LF2J, Firmware: HP24 (So is my drive one of those?) you mentioned you had the same drive model as well right? 

Message Edited by JimT on 01-21-2009 10:16 PM

[doon]

bad news...

I spent 30 minutes talking to Seagate yesterday and they will not cover the drive nor extend their data recovery service to customers with OEM drives.

We have OEM drives in our TouchSmarts (you can see this if your firmware code begins with HPxx).

So, now I am going to get on the horn to HP again and see if there is anything they can do.

I would hate to send back my drive to HP for refurbishing if my data is still on it!

Let's see what happens...

[doon]

HP says, "Sorry, no can do."

The CSR I spoke to invoked the warranty on me and said that HP is not liable for any data loss. Although understandable, in a situation where this is obviously an issue with a component they have sourced, I was hoping for a bit more flexibility.

The last thing I can think of is to use Seagate's data recovery spin-off company: www.i365.com

But I have a feeling that they will charge and arm and both legs for data recovery.

*sigh*