[Moshi]

I'm just dumbfounded by what happened. 

 

First, specs:

MB: Asrock Z77 Pro4

CPU: Intel 3570K

RAM: 2x Corsair Vengeance 4GB, 8GB total

Graphics card: ATI HD 4770 512 MB

HDD: 1x Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB HD103SJ, 1x WD Blue 1TB

 

Came home and saw nothing but the blinking underscore. I reset the computer and then got no video output at all. PC and fans (and HDDs) were running. My motherboard has DVI and HDMI output as well so I tried on both of them and there was no video output to the monitor as well. I opened the case, did all kinds of tricks with RAM sticks thinking fault lies there. Same story. Then I removed graphics card and got picture to my monitor!

I thought "okay, card is probably malfunctioned because it's 5 years old anyway" and putting the card back into the PC showed no picture again. Then, with graphics card out and picture on monitor, I see it doesn't want to boot. It says "Reboot and Select proper Boot device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key". I went to BIOS and saw my Samsung (which is a boot drive, windows on it) is not detected. Turned off PC reseated the drive, disconnected all others and turned the PC back on. No luck. I noticed the HDD starts normally with no abnormal sounds but after around 15 seconds it just stops and turns off.

I took the drive out put it into my external enclosure and connected it to laptop. Same thing. It starts and stops. The sound when you connect USB device to a computer is heard and heard again when I disconnected it. But nothing is seen in My computer or disk manager. Device manager put a yellow exclamation mark next to a USB Mass storage device with Code 10 error.

 

Is there anything that can be done? HDD situation looks something like this: (not my video). Starts spinning then stops. There are NO such loud clicking noises like in the video, though. But I guess it doesn't really matter?

I've had a few HDDs fail on me including already one Samsung Spinpoint F3. I had HD Sentinel installed, Western Digital Data LifeGuard Diagnostics and some Intel's utilities for hard drives. All that so I was prepared if there was just a hint of one drive starting to fail. I feel betrayed, lol. All these programs and there were no hints whatsoever that the drive is going to die. 100% health, SMART ok, ... Then I get home after a few hours and 800 GB of data is gone. Cool.

 

So to cut things short:

 

1. Why did the faulty graphics card disable all the video outputs? I don't care about it anyway. It needed a replacement and I have video outputs on MB. But I'm baffled why I got no picture on all video outputs??

 

2. Samsung HDD is dead, right? Is this at least sign of a electrical or mechanical failure? Anything that can be done? How the [bleep] do all those programs not see a HDD about to die? Samsung HDDs were bought by Seagate so finding proper support is near impossible. Every support link for these HDDs is dead/404.

 

What a great day.

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Welcome back Moshi.

The drive not seen anywhere and it's start/stop behaviour, I would say it is dead.   Possible cause cold be a power surge as you had no indication of an imminent failure from the software.  

I take it the Code 10 is when you have it connected to the LAPTOP.   Disconnect the USB encloser, uninstall the mass storage device driver, restart windows, If the yellow flag has gone, try plugging in the external encloser again. 

 

 

1. Why did the faulty graphics card disable all the video outputs? I don't care about it anyway. It needed a replacement and I have video outputs on MB. But I'm baffled why I got no picture on all video outputs??

With most recent MBs, when a discrete GPU is present, (detected) the iGPU is disabled by Default, no video output.  Again, damage could have been caused by a power surge.   Perhaps the over voltage protection on the PSU did not kick in fast enough.

Can you test the GPU in another slot, then on another computer?   This will tell if the card is faulty or, if it works, damage to a slot.

What brand/model is the PSU?

[iammykyl]

Welcome back Moshi.

The drive not seen anywhere and it's start/stop behaviour, I would say it is dead.   Possible cause cold be a power surge as you had no indication of an imminent failure from the software.  

I take it the Code 10 is when you have it connected to the LAPTOP.   Disconnect the USB encloser, uninstall the mass storage device driver, restart windows, If the yellow flag has gone, try plugging in the external encloser again. 

 

 

1. Why did the faulty graphics card disable all the video outputs? I don't care about it anyway. It needed a replacement and I have video outputs on MB. But I'm baffled why I got no picture on all video outputs??

With most recent MBs, when a discrete GPU is present, (detected) the iGPU is disabled by Default, no video output.  Again, damage could have been caused by a power surge.   Perhaps the over voltage protection on the PSU did not kick in fast enough.

Can you test the GPU in another slot, then on another computer?   This will tell if the card is faulty or, if it works, damage to a slot.

What brand/model is the PSU?

[Moshi]

 

 

 

Disconnect the USB encloser, uninstall the mass storage device driver, restart windows, If the yellow flag has gone, try plugging in the external encloser again. 

 

 

Any other way to uninstall? When I disconnect the enclosure it disappears from device manager.

 

 

Again, damage could have been caused by a power surge.

 

 

Hmm... I have Belkin SurgeMaster for these kind of reasons. Is it not enough?

 

 

 

Can you test the GPU in another slot, then on another computer?   This will tell if the card is faulty or, if it works, damage to a slot.

 

 

Same story on another slot.

 

What brand/model is the PSU?

 

 

LC Power LC6550GP2 v2.2 550W (not the best, I know)

[iammykyl]

HDD.   With the USB encloser connected to the laptop,  try uninstalling the driver the restart the computer, see if the driver is reinstalled.   Most likelty you will get the code 10 error again.   As it is the Boot drive for the other computer, You will need to install another hard drive then fresh instll the OS.   When performing this, ensure it is the onloy hard drive connected until up and running, then connect any other drives in the computer.

 

Can you borrow any kind of GPU to try on the MB, and you can get a BIOS display, the slot is probable OK.

 

The surge protector is good quality, can only find one on Google where the computer was fried,, and not surprised, as it was a lighting strike.   So yes, the computer should have been protected, just strange that 2 components die at the same time.  

PSU does not get any bad reviews, just an OK one.   Check in the BIOS, health/monitoring, see if there is anything abnormal with the volts, though it only shows them while idle not under load. 

[Moshi]

 

Check in the BIOS, health/monitoring, see if there is anything abnormal with the volts, though it only shows them while idle not under load.

 

Is this OK? http://i.imgur.com/LAdzD7Y.jpg

 

 

Can you borrow any kind of GPU to try on the MB, and you can get a BIOS display, the slot is probable OK.

 

I have an old Radeon x1950 Pro. It works on both slots.

 

 

 

HDD.   With the USB encloser connected to the laptop,  try uninstalling the driver the restart the computer, see if the driver is reinstalled.   Most likelty you will get the code 10 error again.

 

Error installing software for USB MSD when I restart the laptop. It is visible in Device Manager again with Code 10, yes.

 

Nothing to do here anymore, right?

[iammykyl]

Looks like the MB is OK.

Right, nothing to do until you can get a OS running then, if you wish, we can try to get your Data back.

Will you get another GPU?

Let us know how things go. 

[Moshi]

Right, nothing to do until you can get a OS running then, if you wish, we can try to get your Data back.

 

Got a new HDD, well SSD actually and installed Windows back on it. That 14 second boot time!

 

What do you mean with "we can try to get your Data back"?

Who is we? And how do you plan to do that?

 

 

Will you get another GPU?

 

Nah. I'll rather invest money into new backup HDDs. This integrated Intel HD4000 graphics is perfectly fine for normal work.

 

 

 

 

By the way. I forgot to mention I have another Samsung HDD (same size, same model) that is working normally. Is swapping the PCB doable/useful?

 

Do my problems above give you any reasons to think it might be PCB fault? Because the drive spins and works for about 15 seconds.

[Plastic Nev]

Hi, first off, it can sometimes be possible to read and copy data on a drive that is failing, not always, but sometimes it can be done. No harm in trying if there is stuff you would like to get back.

 

A question, what do you mean by PCB, are you meaning the motherboard?

If so, no reason to swap that out as so far it seems OK.

 

Nev.

[iammykyl]

The voltage reading in the BIOS look normal but only the CPU fan show as running.   I would assume there is at least one case fan, needs checking out.

SSD was the way to go, what size?

 

What do you mean with "we can try to get your Data back"?

Who is we? And how do you plan to do that? 

Your user Data, like My Docs, etc.

"We," are the Tech members and would try using a Live Linux Distro to look for your files, if the hard drive can be repaired.

 

I have never tried a PCB repair so could not say if it would work or not. 

Replacing the PCB may fix the problem, but no guarantee.   You should also note, that often once the swapped PCB has been initialized on the damaged HDD, it does not work when put back on the good drive, so you have to be prepared to sacrifice a working drive. 

I would look at the PCB first to see if you can see any viable  damaged.   Second part of this guide, > http://www.lifehacke...-goes-belly-up/

Guide, > http://www.hddzone.c...ment_guide.html

[terry1966]

A question, what do you mean by PCB, are you meaning the motherboard?

no he's talking about the pcb on the back of a hard drive, personally i'd never recommend anyone try swapping it for one off an exact same drive, it is hardly ever the problem of a failed drive in my experience but if the data is that important to you and the drive doesn't spin up then it is worth a try as a last resort.
 
full info and guide are linked in iammykyl's post.

 

[Moshi]

The voltage reading in the BIOS look normal but only the CPU fan show as running.   I would assume there is at least one case fan, needs checking out.

SSD was the way to go, what size?

 

What do you mean with "we can try to get your Data back"?

Who is we? And how do you plan to do that? 

Your user Data, like My Docs, etc.

"We," are the Tech members and would try using a Live Linux Distro to look for your files, if the hard drive can be repaired.

 

I have never tried a PCB repair so could not say if it would work or not. 

Replacing the PCB may fix the problem, but no guarantee.   You should also note, that often once the swapped PCB has been initialized on the damaged HDD, it does not work when put back on the good drive, so you have to be prepared to sacrifice a working drive. 

I would look at the PCB first to see if you can see any viable  damaged.   Second part of this guide, > http://www.lifehacke...-goes-belly-up/

Guide, > http://www.hddzone.c...ment_guide.html

 

 

 

SSD was the way to go, what size?

 

Samsung 840 EVO 120 GB

 

 

 

"We," are the Tech members and would try using a Live Linux Distro to look for your files, if the hard drive can be repaired.

 

But drive stops working after 15 seconds. How do you retrieve data from something that isn't even turned on?
 

[iammykyl]

 

"We," are the Tech members and would try using a Live Linux Distro to look for your files, if the hard drive can be repaired.

 

But drive stops working after 15 seconds. How do you retrieve data from something that isn't even turned on?

I did say, "try using a Live Linux Distro to look for your files, if the hard drive can be repaired."

Remove the cover from the hard drive and see if there is any obvious damage, > http://www.lifehacke...-goes-belly-up/

[Moshi]

Thanks, but I think I'll leave the hard drive alone for a while until I can get it inspected by a proper service shop

[iammykyl]

OK, thanks for keeping us informed.   Let us know if you want further help.

 

Good luck.  

[Moshi]

Central Europe, Slovenia.