Do I need a hard drive replacement??

[varun706]

Hello everyone,

Some of you might remember me posting about asking whether my hard drive is faulty, but till date I haven't received any helpful answers. Hell, I can't even find my own threads.

Well let's get to the meat of my problem.

I own a Lenovo Ideapad Z500 laptop which I bought 5 months ago. It had Windows 8 pre-installed which later on installed Windows 8.1. For the past one month, I haven't been able to properly shut down the laptop. When I press Alt+F4 and select shut down, the screen goes blank, but the light on the power button remains on and I can hear the hard drive spinning. Two weeks ago I re-installed the OS which solved the problem for a week.

Prior to reinstallation, another thing that happened was that my Local Account would get corrupted a couple of times and whenever I log in to my laptop, I would get into a temporary account.

Now I had HD tune software on Windows 8 in which the hard drive health was not a 100%.
It had a warning on "Re-calibration count" parameter.

So, that led me to think that my hard drive is beginning to die. Even the start-up, log in takes two minutes which used to happen in an instant before.

So, can I get Lenovo to replace my hard drive as the laptop is well under warranty?
Or can my problem be solved by some other means which would negate reasons to go to Lenovo for help??

Please I'm counting on you people. Help me....

 

[varun706]

Hey guys, sorry but it's 12:26 in the morning here so I gotta go get some shut eyes. I will update as soon as I get a reply. I won't abandon this thread anytime soon.

 

[ss202sl]

sounds likely that the hard drive is failing(with HDD tune not at 100%). The focus now is convincing Lenovo support that the hard drive is failing. They will probably have you run some HDD tests, but you need to open a ticket with them.

 

[Prostar Computer]

The shutdown hang could be a background service that's not exiting memory. Start up time and the issue you're facing with corruption could be any number of things, but unlikely to be a failing hard drive.

Nonetheless, if disk utilities are telling you the health of the drive has degraded, feel free to get in touch with Lenovo. If they cover it, you're probably looking at shipping cost to them and nothing else, as long as it's under warranty.

 

[varun706]

Well, I have a Lenovo service center two hours away so that is not a problem.
What do you mean by convincing them of hard drive failure??

I was thinking about taking a whole copy of my laptop and wiping it clean and taking it to lenovo for a hard drive replacement.

I'm a gamer and play lot of them, the laptop does heat up a lot. Is it that repeated heating is damaging the circuitry???
But then again, I haven't run any memtest or anything and RAM seems to be okay..

 

[ss202sl]

"What do you mean by convincing them of hard drive failure??"

Your HDD is working, and has not completely failed. So you have to jump through some troubleshooting hoops(some that you've already done) to satisfy them that the drive is bad. It's not a bad thing, but it can get frustrating because it seems like a waste of time to troubleshoot again.

 

[varun706]

So, not completely shutting down and taking a lot of time to log in plus warning in HD tune software is not enough to get my drive replaced???

And, I've been thinking; Can I get them to install a 7200 rpm hard drive?

I've also been thinking about getting a 128 GB SSD and getting rid of ODD drive to place my Hard drive in that. Is that feasible?
Will Lenovo do that for me or should I do it by myself??

Anyway, I fell my hard drive slow, so can't I just tell them that and get a replacement?

 

[varun706]

And hey, coming to think of it; will Lenovo agree to replace the hard drive if I wipe everything on it prior to giving it to them for service???

 

[Prostar Computer]

They're unlikely to take your troubleshooting on good faith. They will bring it in while it's under warranty, check the hard drive health, and replace it if they deem necessary.

Heat will inflict damage but not as much on circuitry as other areas. Hard drives don't get very hot, although heat damage can occur to the solder joints of the drive's logic board (sometimes referred to as chip creep) or even the motor.

They will only install what the system came with if they replace the drive. It won't hurt to ask about an upgrade, but then IF they concede, you'll most likely be charged. And yes, you can put a SSD in the ODD bay with a compatible caddy. Lenovo will not do that for you on warranty service. And again, whatever you tell them about the hard drive they may or may not make notes on, but ultimately they are going to run their own tests at the service center.

It's fine for you to wipe it, albeit perhaps unnecessary.

 

[varun706]

Umm.. guys, I just stumbled upon something.

Here: http/shop.lenovo.com/ISS_Static/WW/emea/merchandising/pdf/Lenovo%20Limited%20Warranty.pdf

Does it mean that I can ask for a replacement or upgrade instead of a servicing visit????

And, tell me whether going with the Lenovo route better or going with DIY route better?? "cause I'm thinking if getting Lenovo to replace my hard drive is such a pain in the neck, why don't I go get myself the hard drive I want and install it myself??

But I'd atleast be relieved to have Lenovo replace the hard disc.

 

[Prostar Computer]

At some point you'll need to go to them for answers on general specifics. If you want to go the DIY route, go for it. You can get it done quicker than them. But only do so if you know what you're doing. Lenovo is there to help as long as you're under warranty.

 

[varun706]

Oh Thanks Man, you have all been of great help.