HDD failure or Vista problem?

[lopdog]

Hi!

Yesterday I restarted my computer, and suddenly it didn´t recognize my HDD, and therefore did not want to load Windows Vista. The BIOS stated that no HDD was installed. I restarted a few times, and suddenly it was back, and a message told me that Windows could not load, giving me options of Normal Startup, Safemode etc. I´ve tried all of the options, and after loading a few seconds the computer will just freeze.

I´ve been able to start with Ubuntu and Knoppix Live-CD, and Ubuntu detects the two partitions of my drive. I cannot access the Vista partition (error message with a suggestion to run chdsk /f from windows, something I obviously can´t do...) but I can see the contents of the second partition (but I can´t open the files, I get a read/write error).

I´ve also tried to reinstall Vista (booting from DVD) but the installation program doesn´t detect any discs.

Is this likely to be a physical problem or could I repair the disk if I format it or something?

Any help appreciated.

 

[Joe Walton]

I can't see it being a problem with Vista because that wouldn't stop it from showing the hdd in the BIOS, that sounds to me like a hard drive problem (maybe im wrong) is it a sata hdd ? in that case do you have drivers for it. Also maybe try booting from an XP disk and see if that picks up the hdd.. just a couple of ideas

 

[lopdog]

I´ve booted from and XP disk, and same thing happens, no hdd found.
I also downloaded Seatools (http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/seatools/seatooldreg, and run a short and long test. The short test reported an error, and recommended me to run a long test. The long test had no problems (passed). But nonetheless the problem persists.

 

[lopdog]

Confirmed: This is an electrical problem with the drive, I´m returning it to get a new one.