Hard disk sometimes works sometimes not?

I

ihato

New Member
Once when I turned on my computer, played it for a while (5 hours) and then it freezed and crashed.
When I tried to turn it on again, it just does the POST (mem check, ide detection...) and after it just said:
DISK BOOT FAILURE INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER
Click to expand...
Retrying makes it worse and worse, after 6th-7th try the POST didn't even managed to pass the "Detecting IDE drives"
Because of that, and that it the yellow LED lights up before any error, I'm suspecting on a hard disk.


I tried to insert Hirens Boot CD to try to fix that but it will sometimes boot to it, sometimes not. And even if it does, I can't pick up any of the options given because what ever I press it says:
Creating 50MB in R:

An internal stack overflow has caused this session to be halted. Change the stacks setting in your CONFIG.SYS file and try again"
This message is telling you that your software needs more space in memory to work.
Click to expand...

After that didn't work my only thought was to leave it alone.
Tomorrow I thought I should try again, and it miraculously worked!

Though, this happens quite often (once in a week or so), and I don't want to wait a whole day just to use it again. + I'm concirned that this is a beginning of something worse.

What I've tried and didn't work:
  • Booting to Hirens CD for fixing
  • Running chkdsk /f (when it was working)

How can I fix this permanently?

TL;DR version:
System crashed,
I think it's hard disk and it wont boot,
I waited a day, it worked,
it happens every week,
How can I stop it?
 
Backup now!

Does sound like the disk is going to die at any time. While it is working you could download the manufacturers diagnostic tool and run it against the disk to confirm it is faulty.
 
I will back up but I still have no place where to.
I'll buy a new HDD when I collect enough money.

Though, at first I was thinking the HDD was going dead, but I'm now more thinking that it's bad wiring because today, it again didn't work, and I was frustrated and thus I kicked it and it started working.

I'll see if I can open it or else I'll have to buy a new hard drive.
 
No. Don't attempt to open the HDD. Quickest way of killing it.

Find somewhere to back it up to first then do what you want with it.

No user serviceable parts inside a HDD.
 
couple of things.
-It is not a truck. Don't kick it to fix it. Shock can create more damage to the system than just your hard drive.
- Pull the panel or HDD cover off and look at the SATA cables. Make sure that both are plugged all the way into the drive and the motherboard. A loose cable can cause an intermittent issue like this.
-Once you have done the above, grab the test program for your disk and run the deep scan. If you find even one error, replace the drive. If you find no error, then replace the cable and try a different power connector from the PSU.
-If all of the above fails, replace the drive.
 
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