Targeted Read Test Failed.

PC check up has a problem. My neighbor had pc check up appear on her desktop and it said the same thing. There is nothing wrong with her hard drive. Believe the chdsk, it`s telling the truth.

Call tech support and request the OS and software utilities discs for your pc. There may be a shipping charge, but it would be worth it.  Tell them what the Dell pc check is telling you. You can make your own disc`s in the Dell Support center. There is a tab that says back up and recovery.

I am going to report the software glitch in Dell support center to a moderator/liaison.

Teddi

Jaggar345,

Just to be sure, try...

How to Run the Dell™ Diagnostics Utility

Rick

Welcome to the forum jaggar345.

What it is saying is that you have a bad sector in the hard drive. You might or might not have a bad sector. Dell pc check up center is not always reliable.  If this were my pc, I would bring up check disc and make sure you put the check marks in to fix errors and  in the scan for and attemp recovery of bad sectors.  Run that. If there are bad sectors in the hard drive it will tell you.

To find the check disc, go to your start menu, computer, local disc c and right click on c drive. Click on properties, A new box will appear and click the tools tab at the top. Click on error checking, put the two check marks in, and finally start. A new box will ask if you want to schedule disc check, click this.

When it finishes, it will tell you if there are bad sectors. Bad sectors are areas that have gone bad in the hard drive. You may need to replace your hard drive if this is true. If it finds no bad sectors you will know that the Dell check up gave you a false reading, and you will not need a new hard drive.

Come back and let us know how it comes out.

Teddi

I ran chdsk already and had both boxes checked and it did not find anything. However I ran another scan with Pc check up and it also said the smart short self scan failed and it said that the hard drive will fail although I have a mixed reading about this because of what you just said. I dont know what one to believe because chkdsk said nothing and everything was fine. What can I do. I cant get a new hard drive because Dell forgot to give me the OS disk to re install windows so if my hard drive does fail I dont have an OS to install. However it seems like its working fine I haven't noticed any slow performance and everything is working,

Jagger345,

Which version of the Dell Support Center software are you using?  If you are using the 2.0 of version of this software you can uninstall it and install the latest version 3.0 from the link below.

Dell Support Center 3.0

Incident # 19092311

I am running 3.0 however I dont trust the dell utilities as I just saw it says my hard drive is going to fail and chkdsk said everything was fine so I dont know which one to believe but I am leaning toward chkdsk as it seems like it would know what its talking about. And I have never seen this pop up before so...

Jaggar345,

What did the Dell Diagnostic Utility tell you? Any error codes?

How to Run the Dell™ Diagnostics Utility

Rick

Hello smilephotoart and welcome to the forum.

I see you have read the thread.

 I am now up to 11 Dell`s with the same problem. Every one of them are Windows 7 and chkdsk is reporting that there are no bad sectors. Some, I have ran other diagnostics on and nothing shows up. All of them are under warranty. I have been seeing Smart extended shelf and short shelf on every one of them. This happened in a two day period. I really don`t think we are having a mass HD melt down and I have reported this to Dell personal and hope they pass it along to the proper dept.

If Dell is willing to put in another HD, so much the better for you. Yes, you will have to let the tech take your HD and send it back to Dell. Take everything off you want to keep. Make sure you wipe everything off that you don`t want any one seeing.

Teddi 

Teddi,

Thanks for your prompt reply.
I hope to rec'v a new drive from Dell and not a reconditioned one....although it will be preloaded with the original image as it was when I purchased, I hope that I don't encounter issues reloading all of my software, I really can't afford to lose access to any of my programs...

What do you suggest I use to wipe the old drive? I have nothing to hide besides personal info and gigs of original photos and art work that I would rather not leave accessible.
I may have a copy of HDscrubber around here somewhere... but it will have to wait until zero hour as this is my primary workstation...

Stvn

If you need the Dell Support Center, read this thread

Dell Support Center Wont Load...

Drivers are there for Dell Support Center 32-bit and 64-bit

Rick

HD scrubber is great if you find it. If not, I use the free program Eraser.  http://eraser.heidi.ie/download.php 

I never leave anything on an HD, it`s just a good safety precaution.

I hope all goes well.

Teddi

Whatever mentioned above is wrong. If you are getting any error while doing Dell PC Check up please contact Dell Technical Support.

I did PC Checkup and I got the following error.

 Targeted Read Test

    Test Started         - 8/25/2011 8:29:16 PM
     
    Error Message:       - 8/25/2011 8:29:35 PM
      Error while reading sector 110340419.
    Error Message:       - 8/25/2011 8:30:07 PM
      Error while reading sector 110340416.
    Error Message:       - 8/25/2011 8:31:27 PM
      Error while reading sectors 110340420 through 110340483.
    Error Message:       - 8/25/2011 8:31:32 PM
      The test found 3 sector errors.
    Test Finished:       - 8/25/2011 8:31:33 PM
      Failed (Error code: WHD20-2YM)

This is because of bad sector in Hardisk. I contacted Dell. Since it is in warrenty I am getting Hardisk replaced.

Regards,

Anil

Anil,

Sorry to hear you had those disk error. Glad you computer was under warranty. :emotion-21: Thanks for posting back.

Take care,

Rick