Recently my Vista PC started blue screening with various faults and when it came back up it would ask if I wanted to start in Safe mode, this would happen even if I had shut down cleanly. This coincided with me not being able to remove programs or change startup programs, thye were always there when I re-started the PC as though the PC was starting from a backup!

Been fiddling about with it for the last couple of days and tonight ran the Samsung HDD utility which is part of Ultimate Boot CD - Overview

During the test everything is OK apart from the Write Verify which has failed, does this mean that the HDD has Alzheimers? Basically anything written to the disk is not verified and forgotton??

Got a new disk on the way but is there anything that can be done with this disk apart from binning?

Reformat HD after you get new one - and then run HD utility again

How old is your disk, if it's under 3 years old it's under warranty and if it's older then it's probably had it's expected life anyway so a format (not quick format) is worth a try, but don't put anything too important on it and run the util to see what it says.

I think it's about a year and a half old, according to the Samsung web site I have to return it to the retailer not directly to Samsung. This was a rush job from PC World and I don't think I have the reciept.

It was much easier returning a drive to Maxtor!

I think it's about a year and a half old, according to the Samsung web site I have to return it to the retailer not directly to Samsung. This was a rush job from PC World and I don't think I have the reciept.

It was much easier returning a drive to Maxtor!

Contract with the retailer, so basically take it to PCW with the card you paid for it on and they can find it.

At the end of they day if they test it and agree it's faulty they will probably replace it as Samsung will then replace it for them.

Try booting up with the Vista install DVD and try running a repair of the installation - my install of Vista decided last week it didn't want to boot up and running a repair from the install DVD worked a treat.

If the samsung drive util says its failed.. then get it replaced.

it will be worth backing any important stuff up off that drive too as the problem will probably get worse

If the samsung drive util says its failed.. then get it replaced.

it will be worth backing any important stuff up off that drive too as the problem will probably get worse

It depends if it is a write verity failure which has resulted in a remapped sector, or if it's a series of failures that now means it is out of sectors to replace.

New drive installed, along with a new motherboard (You might as well, yes? )

Will install the old drive into another machine today and format using the Samsung util to see what happens.