Hard drive + Windows boot up failure

[LittleEars]

Hi all, this laptop has been a little bit finicky since we got it new, occassional crashes and the screen flashing black from time to time. It wasn't fixed under the warranty, now out of warranty. In the past week it seems to have reached breaking point, crashing, taking me to the black screen of death, and the system tests say that the hard drive has failed.

The error code is

failure ID : 9trh48-88u9kh-mfpx7f-60ed03 Product ID : x7h48ea#abu

I haven't been able to find any information on this failure for this model, and the HP automated chat says it won't give me further information on the issue without paying, as it is out of warranty.

I have backed up my important files - with great difficulty as the laptop refuses to transfer files to my external hard drive, and crashes when I try to upload to cloud storage. It can currently browse the internet and play solitare reasonably happily, but not much else beyond that.

If it is dead, that's not the end of the world as we thankfully bought a new laptop days before this one crashed, but it would be really nice if I could get it up and running again without too much expense.

Any suggestions? Can it be fixed?

[UPDATE] While waiting for feedback, I tried running Diagnose and Fix Issues on the hard drive (by going to properties of the hard drive in My Computer, running a scan and then restart and fix).

On restart the boot up screen said "scanning and repairing drive", however that doesn't fully complete and either takes me back to the black screen telling me I have hard drive issues, or to a blue Windows screen saying "Windows 10 failed to boot up properly" with some options. 

I have tried most of these options such as restoring to a recent backup, and launching in safe mode, but these all ultimately take me back to the same loop of "scanning and repairingr drive", which I can't seem to stop.

I now cannot get into the laptop at all to access my files (my partner has not fully backed up all of his files), and I seem to have made the situation much worse...

I understand I need to replace the Hard drive at this stage - in the short term is there a way to access my files again?

[iomare]

Hi,

The failure code indicates "Hard Disk 1 SMART Hard Drive Detects Imminent Failure"

You can replace the drive for not too much. Currently, there is a 256GB M2 SATA3 SSD installed in the notebook. So, you need a new M2 SATA3 SSD of your desired brand and capacity.

Example:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Crucial-MX500-CT250MX500SSD4-Internal-2280SS/dp/B077SL4FZG/ref=sr_1_9?keywo...

On page 34 of service manual you can see how to replace the drive:

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c05228250

You will need to reinstall the OS on the notebook. I would perform a clean install. Here is a small guide:

Download media creation tool from Microsoft on PC (or in your case better to use different PC), run and create a bootable pendrive with the OS on it. (there is an explanation on the Microsoft web page on how to create the pendrive). Create the drive with Windows 10 Home 64-bit edition. Windows will automatically activate once installed and connected to the Internet.

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

Use the pendrive to perform a clean install of Windows 10. You might need to disable fastboot and secure boot in BIOS (probably not). So, insert the pendrive in the PC and it should boot directly from the drive. If not, turn off the PC by holding the power button. Press the power button and immediately keep pressing ESC until the startup menu appears and then press F9 and choose the pendrive in the boot menu. Once it boots from pendrive follow the procedure to install Windows.

When finished installing allow Windows to completely update and find all or most drivers. You can follow this process by going into settings > Security and update > click on Verify for updates. You might need to reboot a couple of times.

 I recommend installing HP support assistant which will help keep your drivers up to date and much more. You can download the latest version from here.

https://www8.hp.com/us/en/campaigns/hpsupportassistant/hpsupport.html

Once completely updated you can go into device manager and see if there are any missing drivers (there will be yellow exclamation mark next to the device). You can find these drivers and software on HP support page for your product.

https://support.hp.com/us-en/product/hp-pavilion-15-au000-notebook-pc-series/10862158/model/12116428...

Hope it helps,

David

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Please click on accept as solution if answered your question

[LittleEars]

---

@iomare wrote:

Hi,

The failure code indicates "Hard Disk 1 SMART Hard Drive Detects Imminent Failure"

You can replace the drive for not too much. Currently, there is a 256GB M2 SATA3 SSD installed in the notebook. So, you need a new M2 SATA3 SSD of your desired brand and capacity.

Example:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Crucial-MX500-CT250MX500SSD4-Internal-2280SS/dp/B077SL4FZG/ref=sr_1_9?keywo...

On page 34 of service manual you can see how to replace the drive:

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c05228250

You will need to reinstall the OS on the notebook. I would perform a clean install. Here is a small guide:

Download media creation tool from Microsoft on PC (or in your case better to use different PC), run and create a bootable pendrive with the OS on it. (there is an explanation on the Microsoft web page on how to create the pendrive). Create the drive with Windows 10 Home 64-bit edition. Windows will automatically activate once installed and connected to the Internet.

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

Use the pendrive to perform a clean install of Windows 10. You might need to disable fastboot and secure boot in BIOS (probably not). So, insert the pendrive in the PC and it should boot directly from the drive. If not, turn off the PC by holding the power button. Press the power button and immediately keep pressing ESC until the startup menu appears and then press F9 and choose the pendrive in the boot menu. Once it boots from pendrive follow the procedure to install Windows.

When finished installing allow Windows to completely update and find all or most drivers. You can follow this process by going into settings > Security and update > click on Verify for updates. You might need to reboot a couple of times.

 I recommend installing HP support assistant which will help keep your drivers up to date and much more. You can download the latest version from here.

https://www8.hp.com/us/en/campaigns/hpsupportassistant/hpsupport.html

Once completely updated you can go into device manager and see if there are any missing drivers (there will be yellow exclamation mark next to the device). You can find these drivers and software on HP support page for your product.

https://support.hp.com/us-en/product/hp-pavilion-15-au000-notebook-pc-series/10862158/model/12116428...

Hope it helps,

David

Please click on thumbs up for thanks

Please click on accept as solution if answered your question

---

Thank you for your quick response! Understood, I need a new hard drive.

In the time between me posting this topic and your reply, I have managed to stop the computer from booting up and can no longer access any files, web browsing etc. I have put the details in an update in the original post, is there any way I can fix this and get it back to the state it was when I posted?

[iomare · Accepted solution]

The hard drive has probably died completely and needs replacing for the PC to work again and get back into Windows.

There are a couple of things you could try. You could try booting into a live Linux distro and see if it recognises the drive and lets you move files.

The best way would be to remove the drive and get a USB to M2 adapter to try and see if the drive is recognized and then move files.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ELUTENG-Adapter-Enclosure-Aluminum-Support/dp/B07KBT19PT/ref=sr_1_3?keyword...

Regards,

David