The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Hardware robbery ?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by d3sp0t, Mar 7, 2009.

  1. d3sp0t

    d3sp0t Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    36
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    heya, sorry for posting here but i really dunno where i can post such a matter.
    my name is andrei, im 23 and im from romania. During my stay this summer in the USA i purchased an asus G50V-a1. Some time in november one of my hard-drives got fried for some reason, so i decided this weekend to come to the asus representative (wich is in another town) to fix it.

    The guy tells me he doesnt have a Western Digital hard disc on stock only hitachi so i agree wich that one as im in a hurry to get it fix because im leaving on sunday.After postponing me all day (brought in the laptop at 10am and got it back at 18.00) when i get it the guy tells me he had to install windows again on the new harddrive for some reason and i should format the old one. If im trying to boot from the old drive i get a blue screen and it wont work, only working windows is the one on the new hard drive. At home i noticed in divice manager that i got only 3 GB of RAM instead of 4.

    Did this guy replace my hardware and thus reinstall windows on the new drive because the old windows had confilicts with a possible new hardware ? does this have a big probability or am i just paranoid ?
    If u just add a new hard drive to the laptop, wouldnt the old windows just recognise it and work perfectly (btw i reinstalled windows 2 weeks ago) ? The representative keeps telling me to format the old drive, but im not shure given the circumstances that its a right call.

    How can i check the freqency of the RAM ? as my RAM should be at 800Mhz.

    any hint/suggestion would help me alot ! thx in advance
     
    d3sp0t, Mar 7, 2009
    #1
  2. Baka

    Baka (・ω・)

    Reputations:
    2,228
    Messages:
    2,111
    Likes Received:
    20
    Trophy Points:
    56
    It's probable that you had a 64-bit OS and he reinstalled the 32-bit OS o.o
     
    Baka, Mar 7, 2009
    #2
  3. d3sp0t

    d3sp0t Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    36
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    yes he did install a 32-bis windows vista buisness.

    But still why cant i boot the old windows from my old drive (that is windows vista premium 64-bit) ... when the loading windows screen comes up i get a short blue screen after wich it resets :S
     
    d3sp0t, Mar 7, 2009
    #3
  4. Baka

    Baka (・ω・)

    Reputations:
    2,228
    Messages:
    2,111
    Likes Received:
    20
    Trophy Points:
    56
    Well 32-bit OS only recognizes 3GB of RAM so that explains the missing 1GB of RAM for you. I can't recall the name of that RAM checking thingy >.< I think it's MemTest to check for faulty RAM...

    CPU-Z's memory tab tells you RAM frequency. Mine's 800MHz and it shows 399.1 right now so it's definitely the right one.

    About booting from the fried harddrive... I'm not sure myself o.o Probably to prevent further hardware damage?
     
    Baka, Mar 7, 2009
    #4
  5. AppleUsr

    AppleUsr Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    347
    Messages:
    1,011
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    that was a good catch Reizo.
     
    AppleUsr, Mar 7, 2009
    #5
  6. d3sp0t

    d3sp0t Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    36
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    not from the fried hard drive ... the asus g50v-a1 comes with 2x250 GB harddrives. 1 of them got fried (not the 1 with the OS on it).
    The representative replaced that 1 with a hitachi and reinstalled windows again on the hitachi so currently i got a 32 bit OS on the hitachi and i should have an operable 64bit OS on the old hard drive ... wich is not so operable :p :(.

    if i wanna boot from old harddrive i get that blue screen-reset cicle.
    So i have to boot from the hitachi, thus the 32bit OS.
    Shouldnt the old windows (wich was perfectly fine before) just recognise the new hard drive and work ok ?
     
    d3sp0t, Mar 7, 2009
    #6
  7. Baka

    Baka (・ω・)

    Reputations:
    2,228
    Messages:
    2,111
    Likes Received:
    20
    Trophy Points:
    56
    Ah okay, did you opt for RAID 0 setting for the 2x250GB drives before it got fried?
     
    Baka, Mar 7, 2009
    #7
  8. d3sp0t

    d3sp0t Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    36
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    i really cant answer that question as i dunno what the RAID exactly is, all i know is if 2 harddrives are connected in RIAD the data transfer works faster. i bought the laptop online from www.xoticpc.com

    the representative told me he cant make a new RAID as the hardrives now are different labels, 1 is Western Digital and 1 is Hitachi.
     
    d3sp0t, Mar 7, 2009
    #8
  9. Yotsuba

    Yotsuba Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    1,593
    Messages:
    671
    Likes Received:
    703
    Trophy Points:
    106
    Why are you cross posting?
     
    Yotsuba, Mar 7, 2009
    #9
  10. Baka

    Baka (・ω・)

    Reputations:
    2,228
    Messages:
    2,111
    Likes Received:
    20
    Trophy Points:
    56
    RAID 0 (striped disks) distributes data across several disks in a way that gives improved speed and full capacity, but all data on all disks will be lost if any one disk fails.

    If you opted for RAID 0, then when one of the drive failed, the data on all disks are lost. That's probably the reason he told you to format your old drive.

    Here's some info about RAID
     
    Baka, Mar 7, 2009
    #10
  11. d3sp0t

    d3sp0t Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    36
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    when the disc got fried i could still access the other harddrive, boot windows etc.
    i kept using the laptop since then, in fact im an active WoW player, it worked fine (except that i was missing 2 partitions :) ) although i did notice some performance decrease, when i bought it i was running WoW on maximum settings , after the hard drive got fried i had to decrease the settings as my fps dropped alot .
    when i handed the laptop in to the representative it was working fine, in fact i was checking my mail right before he came .
    Thats my biggest mistery ... i worked fine before with 1 hard drive, now he ataches a new hard drive and i cant boot the old windows, i got a new windows on the new harddrive etc.
    Shouldnt windows just recognise a new hardware, install it and just work fine ?
     
    d3sp0t, Mar 7, 2009
    #11
  12. Baka

    Baka (・ω・)

    Reputations:
    2,228
    Messages:
    2,111
    Likes Received:
    20
    Trophy Points:
    56
    If you had RAID 0, the fried drive probably was still functioning a bit but when you removed it, the other half of the shared boot data saved onto the fried drive was removed so it causes the blue screens to appear.

    At least that's what i think probably happened o.o
     
    Baka, Mar 7, 2009
    #12
  13. d3sp0t

    d3sp0t Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    36
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    aha, ok thx alot for the info !
     
    d3sp0t, Mar 7, 2009
    #13