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Acer Hard Drive problem

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by kewlharsh

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I have an Acer Aspire 5100 running windows xp, it has been running well for 18 months now. A few days ago, the computer gave a BSOD saying something about a memory dump. After that, every time i start the computer, the BIOS loads up and then i get the message "realtek media failure, check network cable". I had the impression the hard drive was corrupt. So i dwnlded a diagnostic tool from Hitachi's website and ran it. It said my hard disk had a few corrupt sectors, and then it fixed them. Even after that, i still have the same message flash up on booting up. Its like the bios does not see the hard drive present. I removed the hard drive once and cleaned its connector and replaced it. After it the computer ran like magic for 5 hrs after which i recieved the same memory dump error and then when i tried to boot it again, it gave me the message "realtek media failure, check network cable".
Could there be something wrong with the connector? how do i fix this?

8 replies

by ic-it

However you still may want to open a cmd prompt and type chkdsk /r
You will get a prompt saying can not do this blah blah. after reboot - Select yes and let the checkdisk run on reboot.

for the media failure - Open the connection properties then the Configure Button for that adapter. Power Management Tab - Uncheck allow the computer to turn off this device.
If the issue reappears try a known good ethernet cable.

by kewlharsh

ull have to help me out here, coz i cant get past the boot bios booting. as soon as the bios boots, it starts giving me the message media failure. I cannot get to start windows at all.

by ic-it

It is looking to boot from your NIC. Something happened in the BIOS to change the boot order.
Enter the BIOS and change the boot order to something like
CDROM
floppy
Hard Drive
NIC

by jnhager

When you see the "realtek media failure" it usually is trying to load an operating system from the network because you are unable to boot from your hard drive. Your hard drive is probably going bad. If you have an extended warranty, time to use it. Getting a new hard drive and reinstalling Windows is probably the best option.

If you want to recover any data on your old hard drive I would try using the program called Spinright.

http://www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm

I have used it a couple of times when my hard drive was corrupt and it was able to boot up and copy all my data off the hard drive. It is about 90 bucks and it takes all night to recover the data.

by kewlharsh

i agree the bios tries to load from the network becoz it cant detect a hard drive.
i also thought the hard drive was corrupt. but i ran hitachis DFT diagnostics, and they returned normal apart from a few corrupt sectors, but which were still fixable. after that i was able to boot from the hard drive and work with it for 5 hrs, but then it started again,
i really want to be sure if it is the hard drive. coz i dont want to buy a new one unless necessary. can i plug this hd into a compaq computer?

by ic-it

to the Compaq. Verify that the jumper is set to Cable Select. Then run the Chkdsk /R on it. Repeat until no errors. (If possible this would be a good time to backup your files or image the drive).

You may want to download this ISO, create the CD, read the documentation, and let it run a few loops.
Set the program to repair and conduct a loop test. I have had a lot of luck recovering drives with this program. (I have no affiliation with them).

http://hddguru.com/content/en/software/2005.10.02-MHDD/

by ugadata

Your hard drive is going bad. You really need to stop using ASAP. The sooner you stop using this HDD the better your chances of recovering your data from this drive (after you get a new drive).

If your lucky maybe you can get an image backup of the drive and restore that image to the new drive. This way you may not have to reinstall the OS and programs.

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