Topic: Acer Aspire One Netbook - died

[W3DRM]

Well, after running non-stop 24/7 since March 18, 2010 my Acer bit the dust yesterday afternoon (October 5, 2011). It has run flawlessly since installation.

The system cannot find the hard disk. All attempts to recover have been futile. I even removed the hard disk and used a separate SATA USB cable device to try to get it to do something but it never recognizes that the device is even connected. I bought the netbook through COSTCO in May of 2009. Fortunately, COSTCO/American Express is going to cover it under their combined extended warranty package. The claim was filed today and I should have a full refund in the next week or two.

In the meantime, I am debating on what to replace it with. Should I go with another netbook or laptop? I don't know if this is just a fluke but it looks like the hard drive and/or its associated electronics has gone bad.

Of course, all of this happens on the day we get snow in the Sierra and rain here in the valley. I've already had several emails asking why I'm not showing current weather conditions.

[xykotik]

Love that Costco extended warranty on electronics.

Maybe look for another netbook with a solid-state drive?  A spinning drive seems to be the first point of failure on just about anything that runs 24x7.  Other than that, a netbook is great for the task, as you already know.

But in the interest of alternatives, there are linux-plug computers.  You can build your own custom unit, or if it is just for a wx server, there are some pre-built ones (weather-plug, meteo-hub, many threads at wxforum) that could be interesting with a little tweaking.

http://www.marvell.com/platforms/assets/Marvell-Plug-Computer-DevKit.pdf
http://www.globalscaletechnologies.com/t-sheevaplugdetails.aspx#component
http://www.rainmanweather.com/site/catalog/WeatherPlug
http://www.ambientweather.com/weambnslu2.html

[W3DRM]

Love that Costco extended warranty on electronics.

Maybe look for another netbook with a solid-state drive?  A spinning drive seems to be the first point of failure on just about anything that runs 24x7.  Other than that, a netbook is great for the task, as you already know.

But in the interest of alternatives, there are linux-plug computers.  You can build your own custom unit, or if it is just for a wx server, there are some pre-built ones (weather-plug, meteo-hub, many threads at wxforum) that could be interesting with a little tweaking.

http://www.marvell.com/platforms/assets/Marvell-Plug-Computer-DevKit.pdf
http://www.globalscaletechnologies.com/t-sheevaplugdetails.aspx#component
http://www.rainmanweather.com/site/catalog/WeatherPlug
http://www.ambientweather.com/weambnslu2.html

Yes, some interesting alternatives - thanks for the links.

I had originally contemplated getting a netbook with a solid state drive but decided against it because of hearing that solid state drives have a limited lifespan especially when running in a 24/7 environment. Perhaps that is a bad assessment on my part and lack of understanding of just how many cycles solid state drives can really handle.

Has anyone here used a netbook with a solid state drive in an always on environment? Am wondering just what the real lifespan would be and whether I even need to worry about it?

In the meantime, I am trying to get an old Dell laptop up and running so I can get my weather data back on-line until I make the decision on what to replace the Acer with.

[d_l]

An XP netbook (if you can even find one for a reasonable cost) with an SSD (which you will probably have to install yourself) won't be able to take advantage of TRIM for recovery of erased bits and will have to rely on the drive's built in garbage collection.

[Bushman]

SSHDs will last longer than a std HD.  They use algorithms to manage the bits on the chip to deal with the write/overwrite situation.

[Mark / Ohio]

Don,

Do you recall what drive it had in it?  Mines showing a WDC WD1600BEVT  (Western Digital Scorpio Blue 160 G - Installed storage access limited to 140G due to preloaded goodies)  Shows a 3 year warranty on it, rated 600,000 load/unload cycles.  Mines been running 27/7 since approx. 7-25-2010.


Chart with the specs: http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/library/?id=283&type=8

[W3DRM]

Don,

Do you recall what drive it had in it?  Mines showing a WDC WD1600BEVT  (Western Digital Scorpio Blue 160 G - Installed storage access limited to 140G due to preloaded goodies)  Shows a 3 year warranty on it, rated 600,000 load/unload cycles.  Mines been running 27/7 since approx. 7-25-2010.


Chart with the specs: http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/library/?id=283&type=8

Mark,

Yes, that is the same model that was installed with mine. I tried to get it to run using a separate cable converter but it didn't even see the drive connected. I then took it to Best Buy and their Geek Squad to see if they could find anything. They also tried using several different styles of interfaces and said the drive just did continuous seeks but never was able to run at all. Finally gave up and have purchased a new hard drive from Best Buy. It is a 250GB drive from Western Digital (WD2500BEVT).
I'm now in the process of reinstalling all of my programs and data files. I've lost the KEY for WeatherLink so aren't sure what I am going to do to get that restored. Hope to be back on-line sometime this coming weekend.

---EDIT---
Hmm, been so long since I did anything with WeatherLink - not sure if there even is such a thing as a KEY for the software. From what I can see now, there isn't...

[Bushman]

No key for WL.  BTW, you could try freezing the drive.  Seriously.

[W3DRM]

No key for WL.  BTW, you could try freezing the drive.  Seriously.

Bushman,

Great idea, I'll see if that works. I've heard about plopping it in a freezer and then powering up while it is still frozen. Can't hurt to try.
Guess I should put it in a sealed baggie first. Anyone else with thoughts on this idea?

BTW, have now successfully gotten the Davis VP2 to talk with my computer and am in the process of setting up VirtualVP, VPLive, VWS, WeatherLink, Image Salsa, Movie Salsa and my webcam. It's a slow process and one that has forced me to "re-learn" the setups and processes that I had gone through six years ago. It's amazing how much of the detail I had forgotten...

Here is a link I found that talks about freezing a hard drive. There are also several links within the article to recovery services.

• http://geeksaresexy.blogspot.com/2006/01/freeze-your-hard-drive-to-recover-data.html

Will post my results of freezing the hard drive. Think I'll give 24-hours of freezing...

[Bushman]

Recovery services cost mucho.  BTDT

[W3DRM]

Recovery services cost mucho.  BTDT

Yes, they are! 

I also vacuum-sealed my HDD prior to putting it in the freezer. I have a Food Saver vacuum device so thought that should help to eliminate any problem with condensation and ice. However, once I take it out of the freezer and remove it from the vacuum, I suspect it will become moist just from the humidity in the air. Guess I'll just have to take my chances and see what, if anything happens. The drive is completely dead and isn't even recognized by the OS. I have nothing to lose. Anyways, I have most of the data backed-up. Only about the last week of data would be lost. I'm not going to fret too much if this doesn't work. I do a full backup on a weekly basis. I may change that to daily once I get everything back up and running again.

[W3DRM]

Hooray!!! 

Pardon my exuberance but, my weather station is now back on-line once again after what seemed to be a long and agonizing period of time from October 5 to October 15, 2011. Most of the functions and displays have been restored except for my webcam. I'll get to that over the next few days.

Hard disk failures typically catch one off-guard and can be very disturbing for those who are hit with them. My advice, to everyone, keep current back-ups of ALL of your weather related programs and data diles including webcam software, etc. You never know when you will need them as they always come at the most inopportune time, never when you have lots of spare time to do what is necessary to get back up and running.

Anyway, for those of you who gave me inputs and ideas, thanks. This forum has always been a source of help to me and the many others who have had problems with their systems and software.

[Mark / Ohio]

Glad to hear your getting things back running!   

Mark,

Yes, that is the same model that was installed with mine. ..

Dang!  That's not what I wanted to hear.     Out of curiosity I fired up HWinfo32 and looks like mine is running fine yet.  Although I sure wish I understood more about the information presented as to what was normal and what might indicate a future problem.





I've always worried about heat causing problems with the small size.  I vacuum it out (from the air vents) every few months, leave the lid open so heat can radiate out of the keyboard, and have about 1/3" air gap under it.  Also have it set to shut of the LCD after 1 minute of inactivity.  Ambient room temp was 74°F when I took the above readings.

I do a daily backup (synchronization) of VWS,WeatherLink, and Image Salsa at 6am to a 1Gig SD card using SyncBack.  About once a week the card gets backed up to a USB hard drive on the home network and at the same time I backup that USB drive to the data drive on my main laptop.  Amazingly I have never lost a hard drive on my home computers.  The computer that I have the USB drive connected to is my old 1999 unit that run Weather duty from 2003 until the netbook arrived.  It's still running the original 6Gig WD main drive.  Been very lucky in that regard.  (To save power it only runs now when I'm doing backups.)  Lost a drive a couple of times at work though.  Thus why I daily and weekly backup both at home and work.   

[W3DRM]

Hi Mark,

I'm running a HDD health monitor program named Crystal Disk Info. Can't remember where I got it but I'm sure you can find it easily with a Google search. It had been showing a "Caution" message about a week before the disk died. Unfortunately, I ignored the information and suffered the consequences. Also, I sadly have discovered that all of my backups of my Image Salsa images and settings where not being backed-up as I thought they were. Thus, I am in the process of relearning IS and how to set it up again - a major PITA, I might add. Seems as though I had a setting wrong in the backup command. UGH!!! 

So, just because you THINK you are doing good backups, it may pay to check to make sure everything is really running correctly. It will save you time should something go bad on you. I have learned the hard way.

This is the second disk I had go bad on me. I was able to recover 100% of the data from the first one. I also had been performing weekly backups on that one but was able to get all of the data off the same day it failed so I didn't lose any data at all.

I also keep my netbook open all the time. I have elevated the back of it with a piece of wood so I have a good 1 to 1-1/2" inch of clearance under the back of the netbook. Have thought about building a little shelf for it with a built-in small fan to help keep it cooler. I see the HDD temps run around 109 to 114 degrees F. That seems pretty warm to me and feel it may run longer/better if I can bring those temps down below 95 or so.

Are you using the free version of Syncback or the Pro version?

[Mark / Ohio]

Looks like I'm good for another week.   



I've had problems with a bad backup too.     At the time I was burning daily to a CDRW disk on the old computer.  That was when it was my only computer and no other hard drives to backup on.  As I recall it was a VWS update that went bad.  Went to pull the backup and the CDRW came up unreadable.  Turned out it had not recorded anything for at least a week and I did not know it.  My fancy store bought backup software for whatever reason never bothered to tell me there was a problem.     After having some other problems with said software I gave up on it.  It was a pretty elaborate professional program with built in security and other features.  I think part of the problem was it was a little too advanced for my skill level to set it up proper.   

I'm using the free version of SyncBack, V3.2.26.0  If something goes wrong during a scheduled backup it will open a log window showing the errors.  So far I've had real good luck with it but like any program it is also susceptible to pilot error when setting it up.   

I've thought about a forced air table to sit mine on as well.  You can get those little units at the stores but most seem to use USB power and I don't want to load the power supply in it with anything additional.  Figured I would run it off a separate power supply if I went that route.  They definitely run warmer then a desktop unit and even a little warmer then my main laptop.  That heat of course is also bad for the battery overtime.

Here's what we really need.   

http://legitreviews.com/article/567/1/

[SlowModem]

I've thought about a forced air table to sit mine on as well.  You can get those little units at the stores but most seem to use USB power and I don't want to load the power supply in it with anything additional.  Figured I would run it off a separate power supply if I went that route. 

My wife and I had some of those fan stands for laptops (not Acers), mine was usb and hers plugged into the wall socket.  They both lasted about a year then the fans petered out.  I guess they make better ones, but they probably cost more, too.

I finally went the "elevate the laptop to let more air flow" route.  It gets kind of warm, and I can feel the fan running on the laptop, but it's still going, so I guess that's ok.

[Bushman]

http://crystalmark.info/software/index-e.html   Freeware.  Has a portable version too!

[W3DRM]

Yes Bushman, that is the link I couldn't remember. The software works seamlessly in the background and I like the temperature showing in the system tray and that you can roll your mouse over it to get a quick indication of how things are doing. I also upgraded to their latest version (4.0.3).

One other thing this whole disk crash episode has taught me is that even though I have a backup, some of the software can't simply be restored (copied back into the target directory) and expected to run without going through the installation and setup process. Sometimes you need to go through the setup process to get everything just right. So, I would suggest that you somehow record all of the settings for each program you install. You could do that by writing it down or using a screen capture routine to record the various page settings. Software, such as VWS, occasionally requires you to reenter some settings during an upgrade from one version to the next. If you don't have that data written down or available in some form, you may find yourself scrambling to remember all of the settings. That can be very frustrating if there are a lot of custom settings to be reentered. Maybe it's just my old brain that can't remember all of the necessary details...

Anyway, just a thought and makes me wonder how others handle this. Do you write down or record all of the settings you have made to your software?

[Bushman]

Use backup software that does a bare metal restore.

[W3DRM]

Use backup software that does a bare metal restore.

Not sure I understand the term "bare metal restore" but am assuming you mean one that restores not only the software itself but also any registry/system information as well. Do you have any particular software to suggest using?

[Bushman]

I'd recommend (and I use it) http://www.paragon-software.com/home/br-free/  Some folks liek Acronis but IMNSHO it is a POS.  In fact, I have two licences of it that  are sitting on the shelf!  Never could get it to work right.  WOM

[W3DRM]

Found another software product (FREE) that looks pretty nice for keeping track of fan speeds, core temps and also the S.M.A.R.T. info for the hard disks on your system. It's called SpeedFan by Almico. Their link is below:

• http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

I haven't loaded it onto my Acer netbook yet but will do so later tonight to see what it shows. Will also DL the paragon backup software this evening and look it over.

[Bushman]

I've used Speedfan quite a bit.  It is OK but does some strange things with certain disks.

[Mark / Ohio]

I've used Speedfan quite a bit.  It is OK but does some strange things with certain disks.

I've got some interesting results with the SpeedFan online test option.  Here's the results from my old desktop w/ 6 Gig WD drive at nearly 72K hours.   






My Aspire 5610 laptop, w/Hitachi drive at 19K hours which is my main computer I use daily:






My Acer Aspire One weather computer w/WD drive at 10K hours:





Looking at the results the 1999 6 Gig that run 24/7 for the better of 8 years is in the best shape of all of them.   

Interesting information to look at but like I tell my customers that ask why an electronic part failed...  anything can happen at anytime and there is more often then not little warning nor apparent reason. 

[xykotik]

...like I tell my customers that ask why an electronic part failed...  anything can happen at anytime and there is more often then not little warning nor apparent reason.

I tell them it was most likely cosmic ray spallation, or residual particle decay activity from the Willamette Meteorite.  I have never been asked to explain in greater detail.