Hard drive/SSD smart check failed

[triathlete365]

Hello last week I noticed that my laptop would suddenly freeze and I would have to force shut it down. Yesterday tried starting my computer up and I received an error. When testing the drive it said that the hard drive/SSD Smart check failed.

Failure ID: PLL3NF-A2RB9C-MFGG21-60CK03

PRODUCT ID: 7GZ76UA#ABA 

I was wondering how I can fix this error to log back into my computer? It's only 2 years old, any help would be appreciated

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

Below is the failure report generated by the code you posted, minus your notebook's serial number.

Failure Information

Failure ID Tag Checksum HP Serial Number Test Date Failure Code Device Includes Error Message

PLL3NF-A2RB9C-MFGG21-60CK03

OK

00000

10/27/22

301

Storage

Floppy Drive, Hard Drive, Memory Drive, Optical Drive, SCSI, Tape Drive

Hard Disk 1 SMART Hard Drive Detects Imminent Failure

You will have to install a new NVMe M.2 SSD and reinstall the operating system.

Below is the link to the service manual, where you can find the M.2 SSD removal and replacement procedure.

Maintenance and Service Guide HP 14 Laptop PC

You can buy a larger capacity NVMe SSD if you want.

I recommend either the Samsung 980 (not 980 Pro) or the Western Digital Blue SN 570.

After you replace the drive, you can use the HP cloud recovery tool to create a bootable USB recovery drive that will reinstall W10, the drivers and the software that originally came with your notebook.

Hete is an info link for how to use the utility.  You can install it on any PC running W7 64 bit or newer, and you will need a 32 GB USB flash drive to create the recovery media with.

HP Consumer PCs - Using the HP Cloud Recovery Tool in Windows 11 and 10 | HP® Customer Support

After you install the utility, enter your notebook's product number in the tool's search window:  7GZ76UA#ABA 

[triathlete365]

Thank you so much for your guidance Paul, I was just looking at the hard drive options and I was wondering if this is the one you would recommend? Amazon.com: SAMSUNG 980 SSD 500GB PCle 3.0x4, NVMe M.2 2280, Internal Solid State Drive, Storage for...

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

Yes, that is the drive that I recommended for you.

[triathlete365]

Thank you Paul, and based on your expertise, is it worth buying a new hard drive for this laptop or should I just purchase a new laptop since this one is already having issues and it's less than 2 years old? Will the new hard drive make this a reliable computer going forward? Just trying to weigh the options. Thank you

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

If that issue is the only one you had thus far and your notebook is in excellent cosmetic condition, the battery holds a charge for a decent time, then I would spend the $60 dollars to fix it (assuming you are planning to do it yourself).

Otherwise, you're looking at $500+ for a new notebook that would be worth buying.

[triathlete365]

That is great to hear, I will purchase the new hard drive. Once I receive and install it on this laptop, is there a way to save the data that is currently on the laptop or will I lost that?

[Paul_Tikkanen]

If the currently installed drive is not working, you may not be able to recover the data.

You will need additional hardware to try and recover data...a USB3 to NVMe adapter.

Something like this:

Amazon.com: SSK Aluminum M.2 NVME SSD Enclosure Adapter, USB 3.1 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) to NVME PCI-E M-Key...

In order to try recovering data, after you remove the failed SSD, install it in the adapter, plug the adapter into your notebook's USB3 or USB-C port and see if you can read/copy any files from the failed drive to the PC.

[triathlete365]

Thank you for this information. I think I'll be okay if I'm not able to recover the data that was on the computer, there wasn't to much on there. For next steps, I will order the hard drive you recommended, and then when it arrives and I install it. What is the next step that I should take? I appreciate your help with this, a lot of this is way beyond my area of expertise, just want to make sure I'm doing everything right to get the computer running again

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

What you can do now if you have another Windows PC would be to create the bootable USB recovery drive with the cloud recovery tool to reinstall the operating system and software that came with your notebook after you install the SSD.

That should be it.