BleepingComputer.com: Software or Hardware?

I have been working on a friends computer and just about ready to grab a gun- for it, not me.

When I first started working on it the laptop was infected with Vundo. I have the initial MBAM log, which I had to run in Safe Mode. I posted the log in the "Am I Infected" forum:

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic299955.html

After much frustration at not being able to run anything in Normal Mode, I backed up all of the stuff on an external HD and Restored the Factory Image from the D: partition.

I then went through the process of TRYING to download and install all of the Windows Updates. Windows Update could not download and install all of the updates because of Error Code 80070017. A search of this error code suggested running CheckDisk to resolve the matter. I did this and still had the problem. Another search suggested the following:

Quote

After doing this I was able to get the computer completely updated. I told my friend the computer was fixed and did a little disc cleanup (created a Restore Point, ran Disc Defrag).

I had installed Avast Free and MBAM after the reformat and Factory Image install, and had ran a MBAM scan without any errors or problems before all of the Windows updates were installed. I decided to do one more MBAM update and scan before going to dinner last night. That is when things went wrong.

MBAM stopped responding when it reached this file:
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Thinking this was nothing more than a tmp file that wasn't needed, I decided to move it to a flash drive and rescan with MBAM. During the move I received this Error Message:
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A search of this suggested the following (during the Update error code it also suggested running ChkDsk, and there were some bad sectors):

Quote

After doing this, the screen went to this:
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I am not exactly sure how long this ran, but it started at around 5:00 pm and was still running at 11:00 pm. When I got up this morning, the computer was up and running. I went to the Computer Manager Console to retrieve any reports I could find:



When I clicked on the Errors, this is what happened:




After clicking OK, this popped up:




Does anybody have any ideas on what I can do to resolve the problems? Is there a problem with the HD and should I just replace it? The checkdisk found a lot of bad sectors.

Please Help,

If chkdsk found multiple bad sectors, I would run one more test to be sure the drive is faulty.

You may want to think about testing your hard drive with the manufacturer's testing utility. A list of manufacturer's testing utilities can be found here.

If the manufacturer's drive test once again states problems with the disk, then yes I would replace the failing hard drive.

You also may want to find the install disks for this laptop as you'll not have the "D:" partition or the image on the new drive.

Hope this helps,

Thanks for the reply. I have the machine build information from Dell's website, however I am not sure who the manufacturer of the HD is:

1

GW118

HD,120G,SATA,9.5,5.4K,2.5,H080


Would PC Wizard reveal this? Otherwise, I am sure Dell would be more than happy to sale a replacement. Or, is there another way of finding out who made the HD?

Do you if I can just copy the D: partition to an external HD? If I could do this, I could partition the new HD and copy this back over.

Thanks again,
Tom

Nevermind on the manufacturer. Just did a search and it is an Hitachi. I will run the test.

I've had good success using Acronis True Image with even the worst of hard drives to recover multiple partitions onto a new drive.

I have then been able to use the existing restore partition to "rebuild" the laptop/desktop. Acronis does have a cost associated with it, but in my opinion, it is worth its weight in gold for these situations.

Does it always work and is it foolproof? No. Not always but if you can save yourself some time by trying and even accomplishing the image this way, you're that much further ahead. There would be no having to contact Dell for the CD's.

The easiest way to find out what drive is in the machine is to open the hard drive carrier.

Hope this helps,

Got my answer- HD.






Time to give my friend the bad news....

Thanks again,
Tom