Faulty HP-Af108au Hard Drive Short DST Check: FAILED

Tasmaniac on 19/01/2016 - 18:35

Hi Guy's my laptop is stuck in a boot up loop between the HP logo and "preparing diagnostic tool' screen:/. I've run a Quick System Check that returns a "Hard Drive Short DST Check: FAILED" Message, from what I've read this seems to indicate that the hard drive has failed or is about to fail. My question is regarding my options, is it possible for me to boot from a usb and fix the problem or will I have to buy a new hard drive ?. If I do unfortunately need to buy a new hard drive will any 500gb HP hard drive do ? and could I easily swap it over myself ?.

Many thanks in advance, I'm a bit illiterate when it come to fixing computers so all answers are appreciated.

Regards,
Tas.

Computing

Comments

  • decadent1 on 19/01/2016 - 18:49

    Booting from USB won't fix the problem, it might give you an opportunity to recover any data though.

    As long as the drive is a standard 2.5 inch drive, you should be able to just swap it over.
    I'm not familiar with your model, there might be a HDD caddy, which will make swapping the drive over pretty straight forward. Otherwise you'll have to get at the inside area to make the change, which can be tricky.
    If you're not comfortable working with computers, I suggest you take it to your local computer repairer.

    • Tasmaniac on 19/01/2016 - 20:01

      Ok awesome thanks :) I'll double check the specs and sus out whether or not it's a simple swap over.

  • Davo1111 on 19/01/2016 - 18:52

    yes, you should be able to swap it over, but you'll need a fresh install disk.

    • Tasmaniac on 19/01/2016 - 20:02

      Ok thanks I'll try and source one of those to.

  • Mnke on 19/01/2016 - 20:44

    I have had a external hdd fail a short dst. Turns out the ntfs file system was corrupted and needed a chkdsk run to fix it. Luckily the data was fine.

    • Tasmaniac on 19/01/2016 - 21:32

      Thanks Mnke, Hopefully mines experiencing something similar and it's a simple fix : )

  • pjetson on 19/01/2016 - 21:25

    My understanding is that this error message means that the drive's file system is corrupt, not necessarily that the drive is faulty or is about to fail. I suggest that you remove the drive and connect it as a second drive to another computer. Then download some drive test/repair programs and see what they say.

    • Tasmaniac on 19/01/2016 - 21:30

      Ok cool I'll try that first, Now I've just got to figure out how to remove the hard drive…..

      • pjetson on 19/01/2016 - 21:41

        You may be able to make a bootable CD/DVD or USB stick that contains an OS and utilities. Then you won't need to remove the drive.

        Search google for something like "usb boot rescue".

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