Laptop Problem(s)!



Hi. I have been trying to fix my Dads Laptop and am struggling to think of what to try next. He has a Packard Bell Notebook C3300. It started going very slow, so slow that it was basically unusable. I got fed up with it so thought I'd start again and do a 'destructive' re-install via the PB own utilities. This was impossible via the machine itself due to its lack of response so I rebooted from the system discs created at the time of first purchase. This started and must have at least done part of the formatting of the HDD as it got as far as saying that it was copying files to the disc. Then it just sat there and did nothing. I left it like this and went away for some hours and came back to the exact same situation. I had to turn off with the power button, tried again with the same result. As I was getting nowhere doing this I thought I'd try and do a completely different install of Windows 2000 Pro (existing was XP). This failed also regardless of what partition I tried to install to (got so far and then just sat there with no response).

At this stage I was thinking problems with the HDD so thought that I'd create a CD bootdisk and add some diagnostic utilities from Bootdisk.com. I was busy on other things and in the meantime my Dad took it to a repair shop. When I spoke to them on his behalf they said that the partitions on the HDD had become corrupted and that they had performed a low level format and re-installed the OS (for this they charged >£50). On getting the machine back I upped the memory to 768MB (I didn't realise before that it only had 256MB) and got him up and running again. Even though it was sort of ok it was still too slow (especially on bootup) for my liking.

This was less than a week ago and over the last couple of days he has had more problems, some of which related to the Broadband router and wireless adaptor. On trying to sort it again today it looks like we are back at square one again. The machine gets as far as giving a blank screen and is showing no HDD activity. On the last attempt it got a little bit further and showed the message "system failure predicted on hard disk : IC25N040ATMR04-0-(PM). Warning: Immediately back up your data and replace your HDD. A failure may be imminent. Press F1 to continue." (At this stage there is no data to worry about, so I just want to fix the problem). On pressing F1 the windows icon screen came up with the status bar going up and down but the HDD light just stayed constant. Left for half an hour or so and it was exactly the same.

Any ideas anyone? Apart from the obvious that the HDD may be on its way, I have googled and found opinions suggesting that it may not necessarily be so, but with no solid suggestions.

Personally I would like to create a bootdisk on CD but am not sure of the best utilities to load onto it from bootdisk.com. It would be useful to create a disc that may be useful in the future for other problems, so I would like to load it with as many diagnostic and fixing tools as possible. Can anybody give me any guidance here? Plus, if anybody has any other ideas generally and thinks I am on the wrong track, I am happy to be redirected. What I don't want to do (yet) is take this to a repairer and be at their mercy for a problem that I (with somebodies assistance) may be able to resolve.

Thanks in advance.

Hey Pharland,

Welcome to PCHF.

I do think your on the right track in getting your HDD replaced, but there is no need to take it to a repair shop, they are normally very easy to replace. Normally just one screw for the back or side panel on the laptop and another screw holding the laptop in place.

I do have one small suggestion to add to your utils, and this is a memory86 which can be downloaded from here: Memtest86 - Memory Diagnostic Page

Memory can very often be the root cause of a lot of problems, including disk corruption.

Thanks for the memory suggestion and link, I'll check into that. I'm trying to avoid any more expense at the moment (e.g. replacing HDD) and hoping to tie the problem down before biting that bullet. I've no problems with doing it myself either. Thinking about it, it's got to be worth pulling it out and re-inserting it (you never know)!

Thanks everybody for the suggestions. Problem now solved.
Recommendation - DON'T BUY A PACKARD BELL COMPUTER.
They have this 'thing' called tattoo that means that any new hardware (such as a HDD) will not be compatible with the motherboard. Of course it is really but on trying to use the recovery disks to reinstall the OS errors are generated that require a call to Packard Bell. I spoke to somebody in their support area and as the Laptop was out of warranty they refused to tell me how to get around the problem and insisted that I call a number that would cost me £1.50 a minute. I was told that the call would last anywhere between 10 and 30 minutes, dependant on the competancy of the 'engineer' talking me through the process. I almost gave in and called it but after a bit of searching around I found a site that gives the info on what needs to be done. The solution took me less than 1 minute! During the call to Packard Bell I did say that this is the sort of info. that PB should have available on their site as support to their customers. Of course this is nothing more than a way of extorting extra money from an existing customer. I will of course not be a customer of theirs in the future.
Back to the problem. Despite PB advising me that the HDD was a Fujitsu (based on submitting the serial number to their support website) and me spending time contacting Fujitsu for a diagnostics program it turned out to be false info. The HDD was a Hitachi and their diagnostics program confirmed that the HDD was the problem. Both Fujitsu and Hitachi gave me excellent service and were easy to contact and have a sensible conversation with. PB have been the problem. Unless you pay them, they will not offer support or advice. They could learn a lot from the other companies mentioned, but I suppose that all the time the retailers can push their products onto the less computer literate side of the poulation they will continue with this discraceful behaviour.

All done and resolved. New HDD fitted and machine is running better than ever. I have a concern that there may have been an issue with the machine from day 1! I went though a lot of trouble when he first got it trying to get dial up to run properly. No sooner would I sort it out and another issue would come up! Based on this last experience he has finally agreed to listen to me next time he buys anything computer related.

Nice work Pharland. At the first sign of problems, let us know, we will be happy to help.

Will mark this one as resolved.

I've gotta agree with you there .