IBM Thinkpad R50e harddrive dead!! Warranty expired

titewad_2 · 7 December 2006 at 5:40PM

The IBM Thinkpad R50e that my daughter uses got infected with some kind of virus and or spyware from MSN.These slowed it down (even slower than usual) it got bombarded with a !!!!!! dialler popup,It turned windows firewall off and wouldn't let me turn it back on.It would show a box with
C:\windows\system32\z14.exe in it which would disappear after a while.It also showed a window with
"chgif2.exe " encountered a problem and needs to shut down.
It would then proceed to Windows as normal but then would freeze up after just a few minutes and need restarting.

My daughter has loads of media studies course work on the hard drive and unfortunately none of it was backed up so she potentially stands to lose hundreds of hours work here.
That being the case I tried a system restore but that function had been removed.I didn't want to use the the factory setting restore thingy Windows preinstalled on a hidden partition)and lose all the work so I borrowed some leads of a mate that allow you to remove a hard drive from a system and via usb connection make it a slave drive of my proper computer,hoping to save her work on that before doing the rescue thing.
This didn't work as the hard drive did not show up my computer so I put it back in the laptop and tried to start up again.This time I get a message that "operating system cannot be found"
I've taken the hard drive out again today to take to a more knowlegeable friend and it transpires that it is dead,wont power up or spin,so thats why it didn't show up on my computer.Is there any way of rescueing my daughters work now???

Also I dug my receipt out and true to form it is just out of warranty,bought from Staples by credit card on 1st Oct 2005 (warranty 1year in UK).
I do remember reading somewhere on this forum that sometimes you have a comeback even out of warranty.Can any one enlighten me on this or offer advice please.

nickmack · 7 December 2006 at 5:57PM

OK, there are two issues here:

The first (and probably more important) is recovering the data from the disk. If it's not powering up, as you found it's no good trying to access it from any PC. It sounds like it's physically damaged so if your friend is sure they connected the cable and power correctly, don't keep trying to use it. You can use a data recovery expert, but they are not cheap!

Secondly, even though it only has a year warranty, you'd normally expect a hard disk to last more than a year. You should quote the Sales of Goods Act to the supplier and state that one year is not a 'reasonable time' under the Act and you want it replaced.

albertross_2 · 7 December 2006 at 6:00PM

have you bent any of the pins when removing it? Also sometimes laptops require an extra connector on the drive, did yours have one?

Does it def not spin?

yellowlawn · 7 December 2006 at 6:15PM

If all else fails I offer a data recovery service. PM me if your interested and we'll work out a deal. If I can't recover it I don't charge.

titewad_2 · 7 December 2006 at 6:28PM

albertross wrote:

have you bent any of the pins when removing it? Also sometimes laptops require an extra connector on the drive, did yours have one?

Does it def not spin?

Don't appear to have bent any prongs and also no obvious place for another connector. Definately not spinning although I failed to notice this last night

titewad_2 · 8 December 2006 at 4:48PM

albertross wrote:

If it's not spinning, and the connector is on the right way around, then getting the data back won't be cheap, but replacement hd's are nowadays (if that's any consolation)..

In future, I suggest you use norton ghost to do backups.. £30 well spent.

If you start the laptop without the hard disk in, do you get the same o/s not found message, or a bios message saying that there is no primary hard disk? o/s not found usually means that it can see the disk, but can't read it, or it is corrupt, rather than completely dead.

From IBM a new 40G hard drive is £200 and that doesn't say whether I get windows preinstalled again either. Found them cheaper on ebay £70 ish,but definately no Windows on these.

With drive removed I get the same O/S not found message.

Rang Staples but they not interested and just refer me to manufacturer who they tell me will charge for whatever they do.

albertross_2 · 8 December 2006 at 5:42PM

Don't you have the XP disk to reinstall the o/s? If not, phone IBM up and ask for the restore CD's, they should be free.

40G drives are about £30 here..

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/search/?strSearch=&intCatID=4&intStoreID=33&bolShowAll=true&intSubcatUID=19

I'd avoid ibm/hitachi travelstar drives when you replace it.. they don't last very long in my experience.

http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/98162

titewad_2 · 8 December 2006 at 5:54PM

albertross wrote:

Don't you have the XP disk to reinstall the o/s? If not, phone IBM up and ask for the restore CD's, they should be free.

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/search/?strSearch=&intCatID=4&intStoreID=33&bolShowAll=true&intSubcatUID=19

http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/98162

No never had a disc as windows was preinstalled on a hidden partition in the drive with a factory restore feature.Thanks for the link,I hadn't found one as cheap as that elsewhere although I will still have to fork out for XP again and it still doesn't get my daughters work back.She's upset about this and I'm on a bit of a downer myself,finding it hard to understand how one minute we have a virus/spyware infection (but at least it booted up)then next a dead hardrive.

bobbych_2 · 8 December 2006 at 5:59PM

if you purchase the drive, then all you need, is to borrow a copy of windows from someone, as long as you have the original XP sticker on the laptop with the serial number, then you are fine, and there are no priacy issues, you simply install from the XP CD, and use your original Licence number

albertross_2 · 8 December 2006 at 6:11PM

As I said, you shouldn't have to pay for XP again, ring IBM up and ask them to send you the recovery CD.. I have done this before and had no problems, they just sent it.

You may possibly have damaged it with static, or dodgy usb adapter, or putting the power connector on the wrong way around.. this is assuming that it is really completely dead, when you put it in a usb caddy, does it make any noise at all, clunking sounds, spinning up?

Ebuyer also sell 2.5 to 3.5" ide adapters to allow you to plug hard disks into a larger PC, may be worth a try for a couple of quid..

titewad_2 · 8 December 2006 at 6:40PM

albertross wrote:

As I said, you shouldn't have to pay for XP again, ring IBM up and ask them to send you the recovery CD.. I have done this before and had no problems, they just sent it.

You may possibly have damaged it with static, or dodgy usb adapter, or putting the power connector on the wrong way around.. this is assuming that it is really completely dead, when you put it in a usb caddy, does it make any noise at all, clunking sounds, spinning up?

Ebuyer also sell 2.5 to 3.5" ide adapters to allow you to plug hard disks into a larger PC, may be worth a try for a couple of quid..

The 2.5 to 3.5 adapter is what I used,red light comes on in the adapter to show power is present but absolute nada from the drive.Tried my mates laptop drive and it showed straight away.
Not sure what you mean by usb caddy?? It is enclosed in its own little case,you can't see the hard disc like the ones in the link you gave me.

IBM Thinkpad R50e harddrive dead!! Warranty expired

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