My laptop shows BSOD while recovery, showed Pending Sector count 200 in Crystaldiskinfo before

[drsumitkb]

Model: HP ENVY 4 1002TX.

The laptop has been great for the last 5 years, one month ago, I noticed random BSOD and random startup delays (where the windows 10 dots keep rotating for 10 min). I checked the HDD and found this.

Crystaldiskinfo shows: Current pending sector count (yellow, everything else blue): 200, worst 200, threshold 0.

Wmic > diskdrive get status shows:

Ok

Ok

I thought I might try to format the laptop, I used my recovery dvds, the recovery process stopped at last moment showing a BSOD saying something generic like you have a new faulty hardware or software. Now my laptop is like this with no OS.

So, I think HDD is the issue. Am I right? Can there be other possibilities like motherboard issues etc?

2nd question, say, my HDD is gone and I need to replace it. Can I put an ssd there? I have a relatively new "kingston a400 240gb ssd", can I put it there?

3rd, I know my laptop has an mssd of 32 gb, I don't know if it is soldered or removable (see service manual, looks removable), but if it is, then can I remove this part altogether? I mean I have been using it to boot up my laptop quicker but as I am replacing it with ssd, I don't need the smaller one, so can I just remove it? Or do I need to put something there because the laptop won't boot if the slot is empty?

Here is a question I found, this guy has the exact same model, the top answer tells something like a RAID setup for two drives, can I not have this and have only one ssd of 240 gb?

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Hardware-and-Upgrade-Questions/Envy-4-hard-drive-failure/td-p...

Here is the service manual if it helps.

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c03282135

That's all. If you guys need any kinda more info, please ask. I do need my laptop at the earliest.

[drsumitkb]

Trying to tag @Huffer as he replied in the above link. Dont know if tagging works here.

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi:

I would try reinstalling W10 using the media creation tool at the link below.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

You have the option of making a bootable W10 installation flash drive (you will need an 8 GB flash drive for that), or save an ISO file which you can burn to a DVD.

During the installation process, if you are asked to enter a product key, check the 'Skip' box and W10 will install and automatically activate once you are connected to the internet.

Then you can install the drivers and available software from your PC's support page.

I have zipped up and attached below, the Microsoft utility that will transfer the ISO file to a DVD so it is bootable. 

You only need the attached tool if you want to make a DVD.

If that fails too, then yes,  can remove the mechanical hard drive and M.2 SSD, and install your Kingston 240 GB SSD.   Chapter 4, page 39 shows the SSD can be removed.

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c03282135

However, you can't change the drive controller from RAID to ahci. 

Doesn't matter anyway.  There is full SSD trim support in RAID.

[drsumitkb]

Hey! Thanks for the quick reply.

So, to be sure, I can keep the mssd 32 gb slot empty and only use one hard drive/ssd right? I don't really know what RAID or AHCI or SSD TRIM is. I'll ofcourse try the previous steps.

Which brings the second question, I have always installed windows 7 via the recovery disks and then upgraded it to 10. Will directly installing windows 10 via USB pose any compatibility issues?

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

Yes, you can clean install W10 and check the skip box, then it will install and automatically activate since M$ has a record of your PC having been previously upgraded to W10.

For any drivers that W10 doesn't install, you should be able to use the W8 drivers from the support page.

You would still have driver issues when going from W7 >W10 anyway if there are any.

If you need help with drivers, just let me know and I will see what I can do to help.

Unless you want to use the M.2 SSD for storage you can remove it.  You won't need it for the SSD.

If it were me, I'd yank it.