SMART Extended Self-Test

Question

Hi thereI have an XPS 15 (l02x) and have recently been having trouble with the BSOD, resulting in constant re-starts. I ran the My Dell Checkup program and it says I have 40 bad sectors, and it failed the SMART Extended Self-Test. I did a clean install of Windows 7 but I'm still getting the message, but when I run the diagnostic it gets as far as the SMART Extended Self-Test but doesn't complete. I've left it over an hour and it still doesn't complete. Initially it only took about 15 minutes.Do you have any suggestions as to what I should do?Thanks in advanceGary

ejn63 · Accepted Answer

If the Dell 32-bit diagnostics (F12 at powerup - NOT the PC checkup under Windows) comes back clear, it's not likely a hardware problem with the drive.

You can check the event viewer to see what's causing the issue (start-run-eventvwr.msc).

ejn63 · Answer

You need a new, 2.5' 9.5 mm or slimmer SATA notebook drive.  Once that's in place, then do the reinstall.

garymawdsley321 · Answer

Thanks for the reply. What I don't understand is preety much every diagnostic test I run comes back clear, including the Dell one, and CHKDSK says I have 0kb in bad sectors, but I'm still getting blue screens and restarts. Any idea as to why that is the case? Not sure how bad sectors work but might it help if in the short-term I created a small partition to install Win7 on, hopefully isolating the bad sectors?

Thanks for the help

garymawdsley321 · Answer

Thanks for your reply once again, I appreciate the help.

I've just run the F12 test and this is what it says:

Hard Drive - DST Short Test

Test Results: Fail

Error Code 2000-0146

Msg: Hard Drive 0 - self test log contains previous error(s)

garymawdsley321 · Answer

Does this mean it has only failed because of the previous errors? Also, I've run the event viewer but it means nothing to me. What sort of thing am I looking for? Many thanks for the help

ejn63 · Answer

Unplug the system, remove the battery and hold the power button for 30 seconds. Restart, enter the diagnostics (F12) and run another hard drive test. If you see no error, you're clear. IF you see the same error again, replace the drive.

garymawdsley321 · Answer

Same error message. Looks like it's a new HDD then. Thanks for all the help, I really appreciate it. Out of interest, what sort of thing would I be looking for in the event viewer? Thanks again

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SMART Extended Self-Test

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