Failure ID lookup?

[dweslow32]

Had a system freeze and bluescreen after attempting to close a window McAfee forced open, and now the laptop refuses to boot. Running the system diagnostics shows a hard drive short dst check failure with the failure ID 64W7TV-7K2A36-MFPV7F-60SP03. Product ID is J9M28UA#ABA. I’d like a bit more information on what could have happened to cause this failure.

[WAWood · Accepted solution]

@dweslow32 

That code is the same as 303 -- which indicates a hard drive failure.

So, there are four issues to address here:
1) Data Recovery
2) Drive replacement
3) Recovery Media
4) System restoration

---------- Data Recovery ----------

Your best bet for recovering data now is to do the following:
1) Remove the hard drive from the PC
2) Purchase a USB-to-Hard Driver adapter kit
3) Download and install this utility on a working PC: http://www.majorgeeks.com/news/story/recover_data_in_3_steps_with_minitool_power_data_recovery_free_...
4) Connect the old drive to the working PC
5) Run the data recovery utility to see what can be retrieved from the old drive.

If that tools does not find what you need, an alternative is Recuva: http://www.piriform.com/recuva

And, if that does not work well, the best tool out there is this one, but only the trial version is free: http://www.file-recovery.com/

---------- Drive Replacement ----------
The drive will need to be replaced. When you remove it, you will see that it is a 2 1/5 inch laptop SATA drive.

You can replace this with any similar laptop drive of the same capacity or larger.

If the PC is still under the original one-year HP warranty, or if you have purchased an Extended Warranty and that coverage is still in place, you should be able to get the drive replaced by HP at no charge. To explore that option, you would have to contact HP Customer Support.

If you live in the US or Canada, contact information is on this page: http://www8.hp.com/us/en/contact-hp/phone-assist.html#section1

If you live elsewhere, contact information is on this page: http://www8.hp.com/us/en/contact-hp/ww-contact-us.html

NOTE: After you get through, stay on the line until you are finally able to talk to some one -- it can take a while!

If you have trouble finding a phone number, then try: If you have trouble finding a phone number, then try: 1 (650) 857-1501. Tech Support's number is 1 (800) 474-6836.

---------- Recovery Media ----------

Once you have the replacement drive, you will need to use something to restore your PC to working condition.

If your PC was made in 2016 or more recently, you can make a bootable USB recovery drive using the HP cloud recovery tool on a working PC. The recovery drive can then be used to install Win10 aand the HP drivers and utilities that originally came with your PC. Here is the link: https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c06162205

If that is not available or does not work, another option is HP Recovery media. This is a set of DVDs and a CD, or USB stick, that will erase the hard drive (removing all data, settings, and applications, reinstall the original OS, drivers, and some HP Utilities. In some cases, you may be able to order a USB stick instead of disks. You have to order these from HP.

You can look online for Recovery Media starting with the linked paged: http://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers

Once there, input your Product name or number. On your Software and Drivers Download page, select your Operating System and and Version. Click "Update". If HP Recovery Media is available for your machine, down near the bottom of the page, you will see an entry for Order Recovery Media-CD/DVD/USB. Click the "+" symbol to expand that entry and click on Order Media for details.

Or, if you prefer, you can do the same by contacting HP Customer Service (see contact info above)

If HP no longer provides Recovery Media for your model, another site you can check is: http://www.computersurgeons.com/

---------- System Restoration ----------

Read through this: http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c00006110

Good Luck

[dweslow32]

@WAWood

Right, thank you! As well, do you have any tips to prevent something like this from happening again? I don’t want to go through a THIRD laptop in the span of 12 months, so any advice on keeping this from happening again would be highly appreciated.

[WAWood]

@dweslow32 

Your drive is failing, not the laptop.  So, you have to replace the drive.

While laptop drives are designed to be more rugged than desktop drives, they are also the most common source of failure because even the slightest bump can cause problems.

My suggestion would be to remove the "weakest link" in the laptop and get an SSD.  I did that with my HP laptop five years ago and have had absolutely no problems with it since.  500GB SSDs are typically available for $50 USD or less these days, and if you can afford it, then  got for a 1TB SSD.