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Overheating Killed My Hard Drive?

post #1 of 6
3/3/06 at 3:40am
Thread Starter 
Ok, I'm pretty much a computer n00b here.

I've been running MoH:AA and AoE:III on my Latitude D600. A lot of the time it gets hot (really, really hot) underneath, and gameplay slows to like 5fps. When that happens, I normally leave it alone for a while, until it cools off. Other times, when the game is "important," (i.e. online) I'll let it sit for only a few minutes before resuming.

I was playing tonight, it heated up, I cooled it off for a couple of minutes, but then returned to finish the game. As soon as I was done, I exited the game, closed the lid, and left it on my couch. Now, when I open it up I receive a "Hard disk read failure: no bootable devices."

Have I fried my hard drive? Where do I go from here?
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post #2 of 6
3/3/06 at 4:55am
Its possible you killed the drive but heat is not a common enemy as you would think. Because notebook drives have a pretty high tolerenace to heat its unlikley heat was the culprit. My guess is the drives platter has just plain failed. If you have warranty its time to call dell to get your drive replace and if you dont have warranty then diagnose the drive first using dells diagnostic utility.
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post #3 of 6
3/14/06 at 7:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by (Enter)Sandman
Ok, I'm pretty much a computer n00b here.

I've been running MoH:AA and AoE:III on my Latitude D600. A lot of the time it gets hot (really, really hot) underneath, and gameplay slows to like 5fps. When that happens, I normally leave it alone for a while, until it cools off. Other times, when the game is "important," (i.e. online) I'll let it sit for only a few minutes before resuming.

I was playing tonight, it heated up, I cooled it off for a couple of minutes, but then returned to finish the game. As soon as I was done, I exited the game, closed the lid, and left it on my couch. Now, when I open it up I receive a "Hard disk read failure: no bootable devices."

Have I fried my hard drive? Where do I go from here?
Put the drive in a fridge for a couple of days and it might fix itself.
No seriously, a friend of mine did that and his drive was suddenly brought back to life
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post #4 of 6
3/14/06 at 10:41pm
..but won't that create condensation in the drive?
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post #5 of 6
3/14/06 at 10:51pm
This is an old technique (and works too), but to be extra safe:
1. plastic bag the thing
2. for extra credit, put in some of those dessicants (you know, like those silica beads); this will keep moisture off the drive.

EDIT: Here's a link to "200 ways to revive your hard drive"

http://techrepublic.com.com/5100-1035_11-5029761-2.html

#1 on the list? Freeze it.
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post #6 of 6
3/23/06 at 6:06pm
Did it work? My friend is having the same problem.
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