Weird Hard Drive problem...

[daniellevine]

I'm not an IT guy but I know a little about computers. Strange story here...

I took my Asus Netbook computer to Reno with me over the weekend. I've had it for about 9 months and love it so far. At my hotel room I unpacked it and booted it up, surfed the web for ten minutes, and suddenly there was a grinding/clicking noise for about three seconds, the system froze, and a blue screen came up basically saying the computer needs to shut down and has a big problem. This is known as the blue screen of death and usually means you have hardware issues and a lot of time and money are needed.

I tried booting it about 12 times and had the same problem, although this time the amount of usage I could get would depend on how much time it had to cool down. I was really frustrated and thought it was a problem with the fan, memory, or hard drive. This worried me all weekend because I am completely dependent on this thing. Next day in Reno, same problem.

I got home an hour ago, in San Jose, and booted it up and now it's running perfectly (knock on wood.) It's been a full hour and it is just like before, with no problems.

I think this strange failure may have been caused by the high elevation in Reno, at over 4500 feet. This laptop has never had any problems, except for the one time it was at a higher elevation. I googled this and couldn't really find any other experiences, other than that most hard drives might not work over 10,000 feet... but no one actually confirming this.

Has anyone else heard of or had any elevation problems? I think the problem had to do with either the fan or hard drive due to different air pressure. I never even knew this could happen. Hoping this is the last time I see that dreaded blue screen of death.

[nj593]

Sounds like the hd is going and air pressure has nothing to do with it since its not made from liquid. They are metal discs running usually on each other unless technology changed the way they are made.

I'm not an IT guy but I know a little about computers. Strange story here...

I took my Asus Netbook computer to Reno with me over the weekend. I've had it for about 9 months and love it so far. At my hotel room I unpacked it and booted it up, surfed the web for ten minutes, and suddenly there was a grinding/clicking noise for about three seconds, the system froze, and a blue screen came up basically saying the computer needs to shut down and has a big problem. This is known as the blue screen of death and usually means you have hardware issues and a lot of time and money are needed.

I tried booting it about 12 times and had the same problem, although this time the amount of usage I could get would depend on how much time it had to cool down. I was really frustrated and thought it was a problem with the fan, memory, or hard drive. This worried me all weekend because I am completely dependent on this thing.

I got home an hour ago, in San Jose, and booted it up and now it's running perfectly (knock on wood.) It's been a full hour and it is just like before, with no problems.

I think this strange failure may have been caused by the high elevation in Reno, at over 4500 feet. This laptop has never had any problems, except for the one time it was at a higher elevation. I googled this and couldn't really find any other experiences, other than that most hard drives might not work over 10,000 feet... but no one actually confirming this.

Has anyone else heard of or had any elevation problems? I think the problem had to do with either the fan or hard drive due to different air pressure. I never even knew this could happen. Hoping this is the last time I see that dreaded blue screen of death.

[Basket Weaver]

I agree, I've never seen elevation have an impact on a hard drive. Think about all the hundreds of thousands of people who fly...daily...depending on their laptops for business needs; I'd think we would have heard some kind of warning by now.

I build computers on the side as a hobby, in fact I received a mother board just yesterday for the space age desktop I'm building for myself. The reason for the rebuild is that my hard drive crashed. It came back up long enough for me to rip all the needed files to DVD so in that aspect I was fortunate; I highly recommend you make a backup ASAP. It sounds as though your computer got jostled during your trip and screwed up the disc's that nj593 described. While the drive is back up now, its not a good sign as the the discs in the drive spin at ridiculous speeds and there is no room for error. Did you bump the laptop somewhere along the trip?

As I already recommended, do a complete backup and try not to worry about it; that won't help anything. Whatever is going to happen, will happen with or without worry. Have a Merry Christmas!

[bricabrac]

Hi DL,

I agree with everyone else, you need your drive replaced so back up immediately!!! Do not waste a second! You can get a USB portable hard drive for a good price right now. I'm sure they are all on sale at your local Staple or Office Depot. I've had this happen on two laptops (personal and business). Good news, the lappy is only 9mos old so its still under warranty. Give whomever handles your warranty a call and open a claim. Backup before the call, if they are anything like Dell they are going to take you through idiotic steps before approving the service call. One of the steps could include a reinstall (wipe out drive completely by reinstalling operating system). Hopefully you have in-home service and they can get a tech out to your home or office to get you up and running! If not, figure at least a week for repair and express mail to\from the service depot.


Good luck!

[daniellevine]

Well thanks for the feedback from everyone. I tossed in my thumb drive and backed up all of my documents and media today. I have all of my programs and OS stuff anyway in case I need a new hard drive. I know you guys are convinced that elevation makes no difference, but I just want to run through a list of oddities:

1. While in Reno, the computer originally booted into Windows, stayed on for fifteen minutes and was able to run internet browsers and MS Word, and then was stopped by a clicking/grinding/halting sound. The screen froze for about 15 seconds, followed by the blue screen.

2. When I immediately tried to turn on the computer again, the clicking/grinding occurred immediately. I couldn't get into windows. If I waited 10 minutes, I could get back into Windows, but after about thee minutes, again everything failed. When I shut it down for hours, it would boot up normally again, just as the first time, and again let me use it for 10-15 minutes before the grinding and blue screen. This led me to believe it was a heat related issue, possibly the fan.

3. I was able to restore the OS to the previously working version. It didn't work and I still got the grinding and blue screen. Probably not a software issue.

4. Since leaving Reno, it's now been over six hours of use and absolutely no problem with clicking, grinding, or blue screens. No strange sounds, no freezing. The only time I've ever had this problem in thousands of hours of use has been at a 5,000 ft. elevation.

5. I read that elevations could affect the hard drive and/or fan. Perhaps the fan had trouble with different air pressure?

Oh well, I just hope this continues to work smoothly. All I'm saying is it is bizarre. I realize most of you know a lot about computers, but I'm telling you that the conditions in Reno may have had an affect on the hardware. If I get the blue screen again, or new problems at a normal elevation, I will post for an update.

[Basket Weaver]

Curiousity got the better of me, check out the link for a discussion of this very subject. Turns out that I was right in my advice, "up" to a point.


OT - I'm curious - HDs and altitude - Photo.net Digital Darkroom Forum

[daniellevine]

Curiousity got the better of me, check out the link for a discussion of this very subject. Turns out that I was right in my advice, "up" to a point.


OT - I'm curious - HDs and altitude - Photo.net Digital Darkroom Forum

Interesting concepts by the commentators. After I got home I opened up the back of the laptop to figure out what had been damaged. They are correct about a very flimsy covering. I've also heard that the fan can also have problems, and as I mentioned, it worked fine until it heated up for ten miinutes, then wouldn't even get past BIOS until it cooled down. Still, my money is on a hard drive problem because the sound it made sounded like a halting and clicking, something more notable than a fan's danger signs.

Well, I may be the one person in the world that experienced some kind of altitude problems, and Reno isn't that hight up. How strange. My laptop has been running smooth as ever since I got back... not one glitch. I thought for sure I would need to frustrate myself for the next few weeks by trying to troubleshoot it with various sparse parts like speciific RAM, fans, and mini hard drives. Thanks for the article... it was a good read.

By the way, can't Microsoft give us some kind of idea of what's wrong besides the blue screen of death with a bunch of 15 digit codes that only NASA can analyze?

Also, Basket, I don't think I banged the computer during the trip. I drove there and packed it with a bunch of clothes as usual. I suppose its possible but not likely. My bag was also wrapped in a bunch of blankets and I've travelled many times with it. It was also very cold in Reno. I suppose its possible that the sudden change from the outside conditions (when we were loading up the valet cart) to the warm hotel room could have messed with the components. You'd know much better than I would.

[Basket Weaver]

When I was assembling my computer I received a bad motherboard from ASUS, I immediately got a BSD (blue screen of death) before I could even install the operating system.

Good luck figuring out the code is, even ASUS couldn't tell me. Microsoft could...for $40...nice of them, eh? ASUS traded out the MB and I'm going to be installing it today.

[ink]

lol Hey danielle! Sound like ur computer just needs a good cleaning. I live at 4000 ft elevation and usually go up high and all i'v realized it that since the air is thinner, it takes less effort 2 blow up some dust or cat hair or whatever junk could enter ur computer through the vents. Clicking sound like when a motor gets jamed by hair, grinding happens after the clicking, and blue screen......not good. lol So like ya, back up ur stuffs then take it to someone who knows they'r way round a computer and ask em 2 clean it out for ya. This happens to alott of my friends. lol Oh hey Weaver! I'v been havin a lotta trouble with ASUS and Emachine hardware so mabey a god idea for ur new computer would be 2 try a different manufacturer. lol Lastly, proof that elevation dosnt affect computers. We have em in space! lol Dont get no higher than that right? lol Cept mabey heaven but i bet there's computers there too but they'r like totally tricked out and u can like play whatever game or program u want on there. lol Sorry for talkin so much. Good luck and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!

[rickyjo]

GWScan from gateway should help you determine if there is a problem, I believe it is essentially data lifeguard from WD. A full media scan takes some time. If it comes back with no problem, consider if there is another part that could have produced the noise such as a fan (this could cause overheating and the blue screen).

Gateway Support Drivers & Downloads

Even if it comes back 100% OK do not trust it completely; however, this should help determine if you should immediately replace the drive. I would probably not replace a drive that passed the full scan but I would keep things backed up and carefully observe for quite some time.