Dell: SATA disk failed! (Part 1)

Goodness! Seems like a yearly affair. Argh!

This time, the Intel Rapid Storage Technology (IRST) notified me that the laptop's accelerated SATA disk has failed @@. I didn't notice any significant difference in its performance but I understand from a few tech websites that this probably meant the hard disk is dying :(

So these were what I did thus far:

(1) Tried running diagnostic using Dell's Support Assist installed in the laptop. Twice laptop shut down on its own and upon restarting, there was error message saying that Windows didn't load correctly.

(2) The ePSA Pre-Boot System Assessment's normal test showed nothing was wrong. Its thorough test stuck at 97% when it was testing hard drive, after more than the scheduled 30mins.

(3) Tried using Dell's online diagnostic too. Twice there was BSOD with the error message "Kernel_Security_Check_Failure".

(4) Did a system restore but to no avail.

(5) Contacted Dell's technician via e-mail and upon his suggestions, I did the following:

(a) Was asked to update all drivers but IRST still reported the "failed" accelerated SATA disk. Tried Support Assist but it never finish despite after more than 1 hour. Tried Refreshing Windows 10. Didn't work.

(b) Was asked to roll-back to Win8 from Win10. However, I upgraded more than 30 days ago and so the roll-back option was not available to me. So I did a Factory Reset using recovery disc. Alien Respawn detected something wrong with a drive. After reset, the problem was still there. Managed to use Dell's online diagnostic to test (and stress test) hard drive. No issue. Updated drives and did Windows update: problem is still there. Support Assist overall scan: Pass


At this point, the technician ordered replacement part(s) and arranged an engineer to contact me in a few days time. I expect the hard drive to be replaced and so I hope this engineer will do this correctly (since it involves SSD) unlike the previous one. Gosh, really hope it'll go well.

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