Please click here if you have a 60GB 7200rpm T42 :(

Message

kangazoom · #1 Post by **kangazoom** » Fri Jun 25, 2004 8:36 pm

Could you possibly open PC-Doctor, go to "storage", go to "hard drive", and use either of the tests (but the short one would take less time, so it's probably more convenient). If you could run it three to four times, that'd be really great.

Here's why I ask-- My old hard drive failed the SMART short test. Here's a link to my old post about it (http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... highlight=). I mean, the hard drive worked fine after I re-installed everything, even though it still failed the test.

device hts726060m9at00 (my hard drive, i presume) - SMART short self test (error code)

... SO IBM sent me a new, identical hard drive along with the recovery discs. I just installed everything. I ran the same PC-Doctor hard drive test again, and the new hard drive passed the first time. But it failed the second and third times. And it passed the fourth and fifth. Failed the sixth... you see? And it seems to work fine, but I'm afraid of it crashing prematurely or something. I'm afraid something is wrong with it.

I'm about to call IBM again, but I'm getting sort of fed up. I was wondering whether or not this may be normal!?!

//here's what PC-Doctor has to say about the SMART test. Even though I read it a few times, I'm still not sure whether or not my hard drive is okay:

"SMART Test
Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology (S.M.A.R.T.) is an interface between a computer's BIOS and the computer hard disk. If S.M.A.R.T is enabled when a computer is set up, the BIOS can receive analytical information from the hard drive and determine whether to send the user a warning message about possible future failure of the hard drive.

This test performs low-level testing on SMART capable hard disk drives by checking for either predictive or imminent failures. This test will check both IDE and SCSI drives. Both the Windows 9x/Me and NT/2000/XP versions will enumerate if more than one device is present.

How the SMART status is obtained differs depending on whether the hard disk drive is IDE or SCSI compatible. In an IDE environment, driver software on the system interprets the alarm signal from the drive generated by the SMART “report status” command. The driver polls the drive on a regular basis to check the status of this command and if it signals imminent failure, sends an alarm to the OS. This causes the OS to send an error message to the user.

In a SCSI environment, the failure decision occurs at the hard disk drive, and the host notifies the user for action. The SCSI specification provides for a sense bit to be flagged if the drive determines that a reliability issue exists.

Status Test - Checks the status of both IDE and SCSI SMART capable hard disk drives for predictive failures. The test scans the computer for each available hard disk drive. The capabilities of the drive are then checked to see if the drive is SMART capable. If a drive is not SMART capable, a message is logged and the drive is not tested. For each SMART capable drive found an attempt is made to enable SMART. If the SMART enable fails, a message is logged and the drive is not tested. If the SMART enable is successful the SMART status is checked by reading the control registers on the drive. PC-Doctor for Windows will log an error if it finds a predictive failure.

Short Self-Test - Executes the SMART capable hard disk drive’s short self-test routine. This test runs on both SCSI and IDE drives. If the drive does not support Off-line data collection or Self-Test is not implemented on the drive, PC-Doctor for Windows logs an error and does not test the drive. If PC-Doctor for Windows determines that the drive supports self-test, it starts the "short" self-test on the drive and monitors testing until completion. On a failure PC-Doctor for Windows logs an error message based on the results returned by the drive.

Extended Self-Test - Executes the SMART drive extended self-test routine. This test runs only on IDE drives. If the drive does not support Off-line data collection or Self-Test is not implemented on the drive, PC-Doctor for Windows logs an error and does not test the drive. If PC-Doctor for Windows determines that the drive supports self-test, it starts the "extended" self-test on the drive and monitors testing until completion. On a failure PC-Doctor for Windows logs an error message based on the results returned by the drive.

Note on Availability
Although this help file contains information on all the available modules for use with PC-Doctor for Windows, some modules are not available in all builds."

EnsignRicki · #2 Post by **EnsignRicki** » Fri Jun 25, 2004 8:38 pm

I have a 60 GB 7200 rpm HD and just ran the SMART short test and it failed. I wonder what's up with that.

texref · #3 Post by **texref** » Fri Jun 25, 2004 8:46 pm

EnsignRicki wrote:I have a 60 GB 7200 rpm HD and just ran the SMART short test and it failed. I wonder what's up with that.

This might be related to the "patch" that IBM has put out for it's 60GB 7200RPM drive... not sure as I don't have an IBM

(STILL limiting down the choices

). At least I know that the 60GB drive is something to look past.

On to the 80 GB it is

kangazoom · #4 Post by **kangazoom** » Fri Jun 25, 2004 8:49 pm

ensignricki-- yeah, really

but it works fine otherwise, right?

texref-- if you happen to find the patch, let me know

the hard drive is great otherwise. at least, the failure hasn't hampered its performance at all.

#5 Post by **jdhurst** » Fri Jun 25, 2004 9:06 pm

The SMART Short self-test fails on my T41 with the Hitachi 60Gb drive. All the other tests pass. The log says that the self-test routine was aborted by the host. Since all the other tests passed, and since the drive is working fine, I suspect it may be a software issue with the test software.
... JDHurst

Conmee · #6 Post by **Conmee** » Fri Jun 25, 2004 9:08 pm

I've got a T42p (2373GRU) with the Hitachi 60GB 72K HDD, with the latest firmware, and I ran the test three times, and it passed on all three. The PC Doctor test version is 1.05.013 (this is the version number shown with on the results page).

Daniel.

EnsignRicki · #7 Post by **EnsignRicki** » Fri Jun 25, 2004 11:07 pm

kangazoom wrote:ensignricki-- yeah, really but it works fine otherwise, right?

As far as I can tell it seems to working just fine.

gg3761 · #8 Post by **gg3761** » Sat Jun 26, 2004 1:13 am

Mine works fine. Passed all tests. T42 2379-DXU with latest firmware

krosenstein · #9 Post by **krosenstein** » Sat Jun 26, 2004 2:49 am

I've got a T41 2373-9FU with the 60gb 7200 rpm HD with the patch installed, and it passed the test three times. PC-Doc v.1.05.011.

nesen · #10 Post by **nesen** » Sat Jun 26, 2004 7:10 am

i did the test 3 times, one of it failed.

i remember having moved my thinkpad in the 2nd test, which failed --> maybe the APS causes the SMART Selftest to fail?
just an assumption, though

because i really can't believe that the harddisk on nearly every thinkpad has an error.

dclee012 · #11 Post by **dclee012** » Sat Jun 26, 2004 8:17 am

could this have anything to do with a the recovery partition? maybe some users wiped their hd clean, while some have the other partition?

krosenstein · #12 Post by **krosenstein** » Sat Jun 26, 2004 12:24 pm

I ran the tests referred to above with the APS turned off - all three passed. I just reran the test with the APS turned on and moved the machine while the test was running - it failed the SMART test.

ahts · #13 Post by **ahts** » Sun Jun 27, 2004 7:12 am

can anyone else comment on this? I'm just about to buy a TP with the 60G HD and I'm beginning to wonder if I should settle with a slower 40G one. I asked Bill about this and he said its fine, but he didn't elaborate any further. Any comment or suggestion would be appreciated

Sci-Clone · #14 Post by **Sci-Clone** » Sun Jun 27, 2004 3:58 pm

I just recieved my 2373-GVU (T42p) less than a week ago. I ran the test th first day and it was fine. Passed all the test. I just tested today again, and it still passed all the tests. Maybe I am lucky or maybe they have fixed the newer ones. There are many things that they fixed. For example, the keyboard flex on the arrow keys that many people were complaining about, there was a strip of some sort of fabric/foam that IBM put there. My keyboard has no flex what so ever. Those little things are being fixed as people call and complain. So, people.... CALL AND COMPLAIN!!!

Mofongo · #15 Post by **Mofongo** » Sun Jun 27, 2004 8:15 pm

I have the 5K80 drive, and when I wan PC Doctor, I noticed that it also failed the SMART Short test, but the error was "Aborted by Host". I ran the short test again and it passed. I think this particular error message is nothing to worry about because something probably happened in software that caused the test to abort. I have not really investigated this further, but as somebody else noted, the APS seems like a likely culprit. APS was on during both of my scans.

Mofongo

Flightvector · #16 Post by **Flightvector** » Sun Jun 27, 2004 9:48 pm

I have a T42 2378DXU and 60Gb 7200 RPM HDD. Ran the short test 4 times in a row, passed 4 times. I made it a point to not shake the laptop and left APS on. Keep in mind that my APS is set to medium sensitivity. I would not get a 40 or 80 because the HDD is usually always the component that is the bottleneck, which makes a fast processor or GPU somewhat pointless. But I am sure that the APS kicking in could be your conflict.

kangazoom · #17 Post by **kangazoom** » Mon Jun 28, 2004 12:26 am

whew, what a relief.

thanks guys.

Please click here if you have a 60GB 7200rpm T42 :(

Please click here if you have a 60GB 7200rpm T42 :(

curious

Who is online