7

OK, so a short story long: I had windows 8. It was working fine. When updating to Windows 10, the process interrupted, corrupting my windows installation.

I formatted and reinstalled windows. fine.

After some month, it wouldn't boot anymore. OK.

I format again, reinstall Windows again. Then, when windows was updating itself, after a specific update it wouldn't boot up anymore. rinse and repeat, I format, install windows again, it updates, and doesn't boot again anymore.

Now i'm trying to find out what the problem is. is it the hard drive, other hardware or the update?

right now i'm on a bootable Ubuntu stick. I tried figuring out if my hardware is broken and since Ubuntu is running just fine, I assume the computer, sans the hard drive maybe, is just fine.

Using smartctl I got the following report, pasted on pastbin:

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family:     Seagate Momentus 5400.6
Device Model:     ST9500325AS
Serial Number:    5VE0VSAH
LU WWN Device Id: 5 000c50 0139b26cc
Firmware Version: 0001SDM1
User Capacity:    500,107,862,016 bytes [500 GB]
Sector Size:      512 bytes logical/physical
Rotation Rate:    5400 rpm
Device is:        In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is:   ATA8-ACS T13/1699-D revision 4
SATA Version is:  SATA 2.6, 3.0 Gb/s
Local Time is:    Sat May 28 16:53:57 2016 UTC
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED
See vendor-specific Attribute list for marginal Attributes.

General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status:  (0x82) Offline data collection activity
          was completed without error.
          Auto Offline Data Collection: Enabled.
Self-test execution status:      ( 121) The previous self-test completed having
          the read element of the test failed.
Total time to complete Offline 
data collection:        (    0) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities:            (0x7b) SMART execute Offline immediate.
          Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
          Suspend Offline collection upon new
          command.
          Offline surface scan supported.
          Self-test supported.
          Conveyance Self-test supported.
          Selective Self-test supported.
SMART capabilities:            (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering
          power-saving mode.
          Supports SMART auto save timer.
Error logging capability:        (0x01) Error logging supported.
          General Purpose Logging supported.
Short self-test routine 
recommended polling time:    (   1) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time:    ( 140) minutes.
Conveyance self-test routine
recommended polling time:    (   2) minutes.
SCT capabilities:          (0x103b) SCT Status supported.
          SCT Error Recovery Control supported.
          SCT Feature Control supported.
          SCT Data Table supported.

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 10
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE      UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
  1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate     0x000f   104   076   006    Pre-fail  Always       -       68954612
  3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0003   099   099   000    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032   097   097   020    Old_age   Always       -       3350
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   100   100   036    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x000f   066   060   030    Pre-fail  Always       -       438506601361
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032   077   077   000    Old_age   Always       -       20514
 10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0013   100   100   097    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
 12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   097   037   020    Old_age   Always       -       3314
184 End-to-End_Error        0x0032   076   076   099    Old_age   Always   FAILING_NOW 24
187 Reported_Uncorrect      0x0032   001   001   000    Old_age   Always       -       10156
188 Command_Timeout         0x0032   100   098   000    Old_age   Always       -       592
189 High_Fly_Writes         0x003a   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
190 Airflow_Temperature_Cel 0x0022   062   048   045    Old_age   Always       -       38 (Min/Max 27/38)
191 G-Sense_Error_Rate      0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       5
193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0032   001   001   000    Old_age   Always       -       469038
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0022   038   052   000    Old_age   Always       -       38 (0 11 0 0 0)
195 Hardware_ECC_Recovered  0x001a   044   040   000    Old_age   Always       -       68954612
197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0012   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       3
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0010   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       3
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x003e   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0

SMART Error Log Version: 1
ATA Error Count: 10726 (device log contains only the most recent five errors)
  CR = Command Register [HEX]
  FR = Features Register [HEX]
  SC = Sector Count Register [HEX]
  SN = Sector Number Register [HEX]
  CL = Cylinder Low Register [HEX]
  CH = Cylinder High Register [HEX]
  DH = Device/Head Register [HEX]
  DC = Device Command Register [HEX]
  ER = Error register [HEX]
  ST = Status register [HEX]
Powered_Up_Time is measured from power on, and printed as
DDd+hh:mm:SS.sss where DD=days, hh=hours, mm=minutes,
SS=sec, and sss=millisec. It "wraps" after 49.710 days.

Error 10726 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 20513 hours (854 days + 17 hours)
  When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

  After command completion occurred, registers were:
  ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  40 51 00 d8 cc 06 00  Error: UNC at LBA = 0x0006ccd8 = 445656

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC   Powered_Up_Time  Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ----------------  --------------------
  25 00 08 d1 cc 06 e0 00      00:00:31.281  READ DMA EXT
  25 00 08 87 b9 13 e0 00      00:00:31.280  READ DMA EXT
  25 00 08 c9 cc 06 e0 00      00:00:31.280  READ DMA EXT
  25 00 08 c1 cc 06 e0 00      00:00:31.279  READ DMA EXT
  25 00 08 8f b9 13 e0 00      00:00:31.279  READ DMA EXT

Error 10725 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 20513 hours (854 days + 17 hours)
  When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

  After command completion occurred, registers were:
  ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  40 51 00 d8 cc 06 00  Error: UNC at LBA = 0x0006ccd8 = 445656

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC   Powered_Up_Time  Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ----------------  --------------------
  25 00 40 99 cc 06 e0 00      00:00:28.805  READ DMA EXT
  25 00 40 59 cc 06 e0 00      00:00:28.803  READ DMA EXT
  25 00 40 19 cc 06 e0 00      00:00:28.801  READ DMA EXT
  25 00 40 99 ca 06 e0 00      00:00:28.798  READ DMA EXT
  25 00 40 59 ca 06 e0 00      00:00:28.787  READ DMA EXT

Error 10724 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 20513 hours (854 days + 17 hours)
  When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

  After command completion occurred, registers were:
  ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  40 51 00 d8 cc 06 00  Error: UNC at LBA = 0x0006ccd8 = 445656

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC   Powered_Up_Time  Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ----------------  --------------------
  25 00 00 b9 c9 06 e0 00      00:00:26.276  READ DMA EXT
  25 00 00 b9 c8 06 e0 00      00:00:26.262  READ DMA EXT
  25 00 08 3f 74 62 e0 00      00:00:26.247  READ DMA EXT
  25 00 08 57 a8 61 e0 00      00:00:26.241  READ DMA EXT
  25 00 08 77 1c 61 e0 00      00:00:26.226  READ DMA EXT

Error 10723 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 20513 hours (854 days + 17 hours)
  When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

  After command completion occurred, registers were:
  ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  40 51 00 d8 cc 06 00  Error: UNC at LBA = 0x0006ccd8 = 445656

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC   Powered_Up_Time  Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ----------------  --------------------
  25 00 40 99 cc 06 e0 00      00:11:40.047  READ DMA EXT
  25 00 40 59 cc 06 e0 00      00:11:40.044  READ DMA EXT
  25 00 40 19 cc 06 e0 00      00:11:40.044  READ DMA EXT
  25 00 40 d9 cb 06 e0 00      00:11:40.043  READ DMA EXT
  25 00 40 99 cb 06 e0 00      00:11:40.043  READ DMA EXT

Error 10722 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 20513 hours (854 days + 17 hours)
  When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

  After command completion occurred, registers were:
  ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  40 51 00 d8 cc 06 00  Error: UNC at LBA = 0x0006ccd8 = 445656

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC   Powered_Up_Time  Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ----------------  --------------------
  25 00 00 b9 c9 06 e0 00      00:11:37.591  READ DMA EXT
  25 00 00 b9 c8 06 e0 00      00:11:37.580  READ DMA EXT
  25 00 08 8f 24 61 e0 00      00:11:37.578  READ DMA EXT
  25 00 8d 19 6d 07 e0 00      00:11:37.565  READ DMA EXT
  25 00 7a 8e 6c 07 e0 00      00:11:37.564  READ DMA EXT

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num  Test_Description    Status                  Remaining  LifeTime(hours)  LBA_of_first_error
# 1  Short offline       Completed: read failure       90%     20514         445656

SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1
 SPAN  MIN_LBA  MAX_LBA  CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
    1        0        0  Not_testing
    2        0        0  Not_testing
    3        0        0  Not_testing
    4        0        0  Not_testing
    5        0        0  Not_testing
Selective self-test flags (0x0):
  After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.

I'm not sure what all that means, I believe it will usually show up some errors even if everything is basically fine, so I cant figure out if anything of that means serious damage or not.

I basically just want to know if I should just upgrade to an SSD and put Windows 10 on it or try Windows 10 on my current hard drive.

Improve this question
4
  • I had similar situation. I could not fix the Windows boot, but Linux ran just fine. So I installed Linux Mint. Then I installed a Windows VM in Linux and Windows ran perfectly. I'm on year 5 of that set up. (16 mb ram helps) Though, I run Linux more often than Windows now.
    – Paulb
    Commented May 28, 2016 at 17:45
  • That hard drive died a long time ago. Trying to use it for anything now is asking for trouble.
    – Michael Hampton
    Commented May 29, 2016 at 12:08
  • @Canadianluke, is there a reason why you put back the capitalization, punctuation, and grammar errors? Other than the tags, your edits don't seem to make sense.
    – fixer1234
    Commented May 31, 2016 at 1:14
  • @fixer1234 caching. I edited the tags (which I don't need to load the full editor for), and it overwrote your changes. You'll understand at 10k when editing... Interesting bug though
    – Canadian Luke
    Commented May 31, 2016 at 2:37

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
15

Now I'm trying to find out what the problem is. Is it the hard drive?

From your SMART report:

ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME   FLAG   VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE    UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE

...

184 End-to-End_Error 0x0032 076   076   099    Old_age Always   FAILING_NOW 24

Based on the above report your disk is failing.

Urgent data backup and hardware replacement is recommended.

Hard drives, supporting this attribute

Samsung, Seagate, IBM (Hitachi), Fujitsu, Maxtor, Western Digital, Hewlett-Packard

Description

End-to-End error S.M.A.R.T. parameter is a part of HP's SMART IV technology and it means that after transferring through the cache RAM data buffer, the parity data between the host and the hard drive did not match. For detailed information see SMART IV Documentation from HP.

Recommendations

This is a critical parameter. Degradation of this parameter may indicate imminent drive failure. Urgent data backup and hardware replacement is recommended.

Source 9119: S.M.A.R.T. Attribute: End-to-End error

Background Reading

How SMART IV works

  • SMART IV uses a 2 byte parity code to enable it to better detect if data is valid during transfers to and from the data buffer of the hard drive. If the parity data does not match after transferring through the cache RAM data buffer, then depending upon the command, the drive can do a background retry to get data again or report the error message to the host.

  • During a disk read, a 2 byte parity code is generated after the data is transferred from the disk. After transfer from the data buffer to the drive interface, the parity data is checked (see Figure 1).

  • During a disk write, a 2 byte parity code is generated and appended to the data going into the data buffer. The parity code is checked before it goes into the data buffer and before it is written to the disk (see Figure 2).

  • If an error is detected by the drive and the data cannot be retrieved or sent without failure, a protocol is in place to notify the host operating system of the error. The host operating system can then decide to resend the command or notify the user that a data error may have occurred.

  • If errors are detected, a SMART attribute called End-to-End Error Detection Count is updated. If the SMART threshold is crossed, an imminent failure error message is reported to the user either through Client Management Software that has been installed in the operating system or by the HP BIOS on the next reboot. Since all HP BIOS issue the SMART status command, no additional software is required.

enter image description here

Source SMART IV Documentation from HP.

Improve this answer
3
  • He said he formatted, I don't think he has anything important on that thing anymore.
    – oldmud0
    Commented May 28, 2016 at 23:04
  • @oldmud0 True. He can just buy a new drive then ;)
    – DavidPostill ♦
    Commented May 28, 2016 at 23:05
  • Not only the end-to-end error in David's answer but there are several other attributes that are above threshold and showing pre-fail.
    – Cand3r
    Commented Jun 21, 2016 at 14:39

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .