Help with phantom during bootup

[larry38]

I am not sure what is going on with my daughters computer, described as follows:

Mobo: ASUS P8H67-MLE Rev 3.0, new H67 B3 revision
CPU: INTEL Core i3-2100
RAM: Corsair XMS3 4GB (2X2GB) DDR3 1333
Optical Drive: ASUS DRW-24B1ST
PSU: Antec 500W green ATX
Video: on board
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640 GB
OS: Win 7 Home Premium 64 bit


The computer has been working great until the past couple of days. Suddenly it has started giving the following message during bootup that one of the disks needs to be checked for consistency. The system then will go through a disk check which lists a long output indicating things are deleted and then fixed etc. When it finishes this the bootup continues to the desktop and the computer appears to operate as expected after that. The same is true if you interrupt the disk check test. Once the desktop appears you can launch programs with no apparent problems, browse the internet etc. I have used windows explorer to look at files on the hard drive and reviewed several of them (mostly pictures) and everything appears normal. I have shut the computer down and rebooted several times with the same result.

I decided to use the WD hard disk utility to see what that would produce. I downloaded the WD Data Lifeguard diagnostics for Windows and when I launch this program the first menu presents the expected information listing the hard drive as drive 1 and indicates it passes the Smart Status. When I try to run the Quick Test diagnostic test it starts and after a few seconds it stops and says Quick Test on drive 1 did not complete. Status Code=07 (failed to read test element), failure check point=97 (Unknown test.) Smart self test did not complete on drive 1.

I am not sure what to do next. Can anyone help?

[rjfvillarosa]

It sounds like the HDD is going bad, maybe not in an area of the disk that is in use as you can access all the files, but as it is such a large drive maybe an unused area.
Try putting the serial number into this page to see if it is still under warranty.
http://websupport.wdc.com/warranty/s...rranty&lang=en
If you send it back for a replacement they will probably ask you for the error code.

[larry38]

Thanks for the suggestion, rfjv. The drive isn't quite a year old so I think it may be under warranty but I'll check.

[larry38]

I just checked the WD website and the drive is still under warranty so I can RMA it with no problem. I do have a question though - should I do a zero fill before I return it to WD for replacement? There may be some information on it that she wouldn't want to get out. Any suggestions?

[rjfvillarosa]

Personally I would backup all her documents and 'YES' I would definately zero fill the drive with at least two passes.

[larry38]

Thanks - my thoughts exactly but any verification is always appreciated. Thanks again for your help, rjfv