I ran HDtune on my laptop hard drive and it reported a couple of issues with it in the Health Tab. Its an Hitachi DK23CA 20GB drive. I've included a screen shot and would like the opinions of the folks on this board. I can't seem to post a screen shot of it but it shows the following (I didn't include the entire report):



Temp 66C as reported in the system tray.



HD Tune: HITACHI_DK23CA-20 Health

ID Current Worst ThresholdData Status
((05) Reallocated Sector Count 98 98 10 42 Ok
(C1) Load Cycle Count 1 1 50 1594722018 Failed
(C2) Temperature 48 36 0 4718658 Ok
Power On Time : 795447
Health Status : Failed



The load cycle count and the Temp is what bothers me. Do I have a potentially fatal hard drive issue here?

That temp is pretty high for a HD, very high. And if anything fails with the SMART status like that, then it's usually bad news. I would say to download, burn, and boot the UBCD (not UBCD4Win) and run the Hitachi drive diagnostic utility and get some better information. If any of the SMART, quick, or extended tests fail, then it's time to see if the drive is still under warranty so you can replace it. :-\ If it is bad, you can then boot the UBCD4Win and get any data you need off of it.

I'll follow your suggestions. I do have the Hitachi DFT on CD. Unfortunately the drive is no longer under warranty. I also have a situation where the CPU appears to shutdown intermittently. The screen goes black and you can't do anything. The power is still on and I have to turn the machine off using the power button and reboot. Would the high HD temps cause this type of issue also?

Check that your other system fans are working... you could have a CPU, Power supply or case fan that isn't working which would also cause the system to be getting too hot and shut down. Sometimes just cleaning them out works but usually when I find this issue, I have to replace them...

Sounds like you have a cooling issue. One of the fans could be broken or their could be a lot of dust/crap built up. If you are confident in your abilities on taking the laptop apart, I would suggest that. Hopefully you will be able to find a guide, detailed instructions, etc. for your laptop.

Gladiator Security forum

Post your laptop details here, someone may give you detailed instructions on how to take the laptop apart. I'm a mod over there as well and I've had some really good instructions posted by other members on how to dismantle laptops in the past.

Guys thanks, for all the good input. I ran the Hitachi DFT V4.06 and it reported everything was OK. Both HDtune and the Passmark Disk Checkup SW showed the Load Cycle count as failed. looks like I have a cooling problem and maybe a hard drive going bad.

Stidyup, I'll check out the site you recommended to see if I can get detailed instructions to take apart my laptop.

Stidyup, I checked out the site you recommended and I was able to find some very useful links for my laptop. I downloaded a service manual and took the laptop apart. The good news was that the inside was very clean. No dust and dirt. The bad news was after taking off the heat sink, it appeared to have no thermal grease on the processor. I assume that Compaq would have put it on when the unit was built. The underside of the heat sink that is in contact with the processor chip had a thermal pad with some aluminum foil on it but did not appear to have even a trace of thermal grease. I guess I'll now be getting experienced at replacing the thermal pad and adding the grease. Arctic silver seems to be highly recommended so I'll look for that.

Thanks again.

Many manufacturers only provide a thermal pad and foil as it tends to do just fine, though probably not quite as good as paste. Just so you know it wasn't a fluke or something, it was supposed to be like that.

@thomasjk

There are MANY types of thermal compounds availble for using on the bottom of a CPU, & some are better than others, but also carry a large price tag. Some times the price is simply outragous.

Artic Silver is reviewed well, but here's one thing you might not know about the whole issue surounding thermal compounds: "Di-Electric Tune-up Grease" found at any automotive parts store has the same chemical compounds as many of the leading brands sold for computers & costs a fraction of what the others do. I can't tell you "There's NO differance" in this product, but I can say that I have been using it for about 5 years on everything I build & have never seen any problems related to heat disipation.

$8.95+ shipping vs. $2.99 at your local autozone store, & you get twice (if not three times) as much.

Any one doing overclocking is highly advised to use the more expensive compounds to ensure they have the best heat transfer possable, but there is little differance in the compounds that are used on high-end gasoline engines. For those that don't know, this is the compound you put inside the caps on spark plug wires that makes sure you get a solid electrical connection every time the plug fires.

Your probably right about Compaq not using grease. The problem as I see it is the thermal pad is actually not smooth. The foil has a small ridge in it thus preventing uniform contact. I'll pursue this and see what I can find.

I have often wondered why processor manufacturers even have that pad?? They are very annoying and seem to dissintegrate after a few years? I have seen a lot of systems that appear to not have any type of protection, because it's now gone!

I did read a review a few months back though, that said those pads are a little better than paste. I thought about ordering some from Intel, but at the time I didn't have or didn't want to waste the money on them. They are affordable (only $1) but if you are going to order them, you might as well order several.

@ hilander999

Is this a well kept secret then that automotive grease works just as well? I may have to find a local store and buy some.

Not grease, "Di-Electric Tune-up Grease" used for ignition systems.