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#1
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Dell vostro 1720
Hi,
This laptop coming in from a customer to repair a broken screen, he also says he can't boot or install any OS to any internal drive, he says when he goes to the bios it says HDD froze in the hard drive settings. Anyone know how to remove this "freeze"? Thanks |
#2
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Dell vostro 1720
Hi!
Anyone know how to remove this "freeze"? Have they been doing some less than totally inspired messing around in the BIOS setup utility? It's possible for a drive to have a password set up in its logic that must be entered before access to its data is allowed. If this password is set and an incorrect value entered, the drive may become "frozen". It is typically the BIOS setup utility that will perform the task of accepting the password and directing the drive to store it and enable the security feature set. Some viruses and malware may attempt to set the security feature set on the drive, effectively locking it and requiring the payment of an "extortion" fee to regain access. Data may or may not subsesequently become encrypted, most drives don't do this unless they are so-called "Full Disk Encryption" capable. If the password is not known, the drive may be a paperweight. You can try to recover it (although it's likely the data will be lost) by using a tool such as HDAT2. William |
#3
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Dell vostro 1720
Ricky McDonnell wrote:
Hi, This laptop coming in from a customer to repair a broken screen, he also says he can't boot or install any OS to any internal drive, he says when he goes to the bios it says HDD froze in the hard drive settings. Anyone know how to remove this "freeze"? Thanks Perhaps whatever broke the screen also broke the hard drive? Daddy |
#4
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Dell vostro 1720
On 24/02/2010 18:59, Daddy wrote:
Ricky McDonnell wrote: Hi, This laptop coming in from a customer to repair a broken screen, he also says he can't boot or install any OS to any internal drive, he says when he goes to the bios it says HDD froze in the hard drive settings. Anyone know how to remove this "freeze"? Thanks Perhaps whatever broke the screen also broke the hard drive? Daddy Hi, He says that he tried other hard drives and it does the same thing. Also screen has a massive crack in it from being stepped on. |
#5
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Dell vostro 1720
On 24/02/2010 18:52, William R. Walsh wrote:
Hi! Anyone know how to remove this "freeze"? Have they been doing some less than totally inspired messing around in the BIOS setup utility? It's possible for a drive to have a password set up in its logic that must be entered before access to its data is allowed. If this password is set and an incorrect value entered, the drive may become "frozen". It is typically the BIOS setup utility that will perform the task of accepting the password and directing the drive to store it and enable the security feature set. Some viruses and malware may attempt to set the security feature set on the drive, effectively locking it and requiring the payment of an "extortion" fee to regain access. Data may or may not subsesequently become encrypted, most drives don't do this unless they are so-called "Full Disk Encryption" capable. If the password is not known, the drive may be a paperweight. You can try to recover it (although it's likely the data will be lost) by using a tool such as HDAT2. William Hi, It isn't just the original drive though, it happens with other drives. He has the admin password for the bios as well... Think a bios flash will unfreeze it current version installed is a02? |
#6
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Dell vostro 1720
"Ricky McDonnell" wrote in message ... Hi, This laptop coming in from a customer to repair a broken screen, he also says he can't boot or install any OS to any internal drive, he says when he goes to the bios it says HDD froze in the hard drive settings. Anyone know how to remove this "freeze"? Thanks MoBo's ferked. |
#7
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Dell vostro 1720
On 2/24/2010 1:44 PM, Ricky McDonnell wrote:
Hi, This laptop coming in from a customer to repair a broken screen, he also says he can't boot or install any OS to any internal drive, he says when he goes to the bios it says HDD froze in the hard drive settings. Anyone know how to remove this "freeze"? Thanks Well, the motherboard may not be completely hosed because it does show a BIOS screen, but it could be damaged by whatever broke the screen. I would need to see the EXACT BIOS message, because "HDD freeze" could mean several things. I think you need to get your hands on the laptop and verify what the customer is saying, see what happens with your own eyes, and let us know what's up. Also, make sure that there are not any loose wires, memory modules are securely installed, etc... Ben Myers |
#8
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Dell vostro 1720
On 2/24/2010 4:07 PM, Ricky McDonnell wrote:
On 24/02/2010 18:52, William R. Walsh wrote: Hi! Anyone know how to remove this "freeze"? Have they been doing some less than totally inspired messing around in the BIOS setup utility? It's possible for a drive to have a password set up in its logic that must be entered before access to its data is allowed. If this password is set and an incorrect value entered, the drive may become "frozen". It is typically the BIOS setup utility that will perform the task of accepting the password and directing the drive to store it and enable the security feature set. Some viruses and malware may attempt to set the security feature set on the drive, effectively locking it and requiring the payment of an "extortion" fee to regain access. Data may or may not subsesequently become encrypted, most drives don't do this unless they are so-called "Full Disk Encryption" capable. If the password is not known, the drive may be a paperweight. You can try to recover it (although it's likely the data will be lost) by using a tool such as HDAT2. William Hi, It isn't just the original drive though, it happens with other drives. He has the admin password for the bios as well... Think a bios flash will unfreeze it current version installed is a02? No, BIOS flash will not fix a problem. Get your hands on the computer, rather than reporting what the customer is telling you. First thing is to remove the BIOS admin password, which is a pain in the ass unless you are a corporate IT person. And definitely a pain in the ass when one is trying to repair a computer, rebooting regularly... Ben Myers |
#9
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Dell vostro 1720
Hi!
It isn't just the original drive though, it happens with other drives. He has the admin password for the bios as well... I'd suggest removing that admin password, at least temporarily. It's hard to tell what the BIOS might do if it "knew" that a hard disk password was set. It could, in its infinite wisdom, try to apply that password to other hard drives as they are installed. I have not read of any standard behavior that the implementation of this security mechanism would follow. There may not be one. No, I doubt that a BIOS flash is the solution. You should try the offending hard drives in another computer. As they should be SATA drives, you can easily plug them into a desktop computer equipped with SATA and no adapter is required. William |
#10
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Dell vostro 1720
On 24/02/2010 22:13, Ben Myers wrote:
On 2/24/2010 1:44 PM, Ricky McDonnell wrote: Hi, This laptop coming in from a customer to repair a broken screen, he also says he can't boot or install any OS to any internal drive, he says when he goes to the bios it says HDD froze in the hard drive settings. Anyone know how to remove this "freeze"? Thanks Well, the motherboard may not be completely hosed because it does show a BIOS screen, but it could be damaged by whatever broke the screen. I would need to see the EXACT BIOS message, because "HDD freeze" could mean several things. I think you need to get your hands on the laptop and verify what the customer is saying, see what happens with your own eyes, and let us know what's up. Also, make sure that there are not any loose wires, memory modules are securely installed, etc... Ben Myers Hi, Customer says he has tried the drive in other computers and it works fine. wish i knew what this clever bios is doing, however I won't have the laptop in for a few days yet so I'll report back when I can see the error and everything hands on Thanks for all your replies check back in a few days If anyone has anything else to add please do |
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