# AHCI Port 3 Device Error



## DPWFC (May 11, 2005)

Upon booting his PC my brother is getting the error message as attached. The machine is running fine, however the pop up on the 2nd attachment appears sporadically. Machine is less than 6 months old. No new hardware or software (to my knowledge). 

Are we looking at imminent hard drive failure or nothing to be 'too' concerned about?


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## reticentAJ (Jan 20, 2013)

Don't know for sure, but if he has data on there that he doesn't want to lose, I definitely wouldn't risk it and would backup anything of importantance. Then, I would run a hard drive scan to see if it can fix any problems. 

-Go to the start icon in the bottom left hand corner
- type cmd
- Right click on it and select run as administrator
- In the prompt that appears, type chkdsk
- Copy and paste the results into this forum

What this will do is scan your hard drive for errors. When run this way, it won't fix anything, but will show us the problems that it detects. Then, we can use a different command to hopefully fix the errors.


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## Lance1 (Aug 4, 2003)

DPWFC said:


> Upon booting his PC my brother is getting the error message as attached. The machine is running fine, however the pop up on the 2nd attachment appears sporadically. *Machine is less than 6 months old*. No new hardware or software (to my knowledge).
> 
> Are we looking at imminent hard drive failure or nothing to be 'too' concerned about?


I would backup all my stuff and return it to the place of purchase for repair or replacement. It is probably still in warranty being less then 6 months old.


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## reticentAJ (Jan 20, 2013)

Lance1 said:


> I would backup all my stuff and return it to the place of purchase for repair or replacement. It is probably still in warranty being less then 6 months old.


You wouldn't try to see if you could do some easy repairs on your own first? Could be something that windows itself could fix, unless of course it is an actual failing hdd.


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## Lance1 (Aug 4, 2003)

purduebmaker7 said:


> You wouldn't try to see if you could do some easy repairs on your own first? Could be something that windows itself could fix, unless of course it is an actual failing hdd.


You may be able to repair some bad sectors and get the system back up and going butt, being that this system has indicated that the HDD has issues, it will die sooner than later. Then you'll be stuck with the expense of replacement, and loosing the recovery partition.


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## DPWFC (May 11, 2005)

purduebmaker7 said:


> Don't know for sure, but if he has data on there that he doesn't want to lose, I definitely wouldn't risk it and would backup anything of importantance. Then, I would run a hard drive scan to see if it can fix any problems.
> 
> -Go to the start icon in the bottom left hand corner
> - type cmd
> ...


Ran the scan, results below.

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Windows\system32>chkdsk
The type of the file system is NTFS.
Volume label is Acer.

WARNING! F parameter not specified.
Running CHKDSK in read-only mode.

CHKDSK is verifying files (stage 1 of 3)...
235264 file records processed.
File verification completed.
832 large file records processed.
0 bad file records processed.
0 EA records processed.
44 reparse records processed.
CHKDSK is verifying indexes (stage 2 of 3)...
294580 index entries processed.
Index verification completed.
0 unindexed files scanned.
0 unindexed files recovered.
CHKDSK is verifying security descriptors (stage 3 of 3)...
235264 file SDs/SIDs processed.
Security descriptor verification completed.
29659 data files processed.
CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal...
35358504 USN bytes processed.
Usn Journal verification completed.
The Volume Bitmap is incorrect.
Windows found problems with the file system.
Run CHKDSK with the /F (fix) option to correct these.

148041727 KB total disk space.
36676112 KB in 135991 files.
133732 KB in 29660 indexes.
8 KB in bad sectors.
345823 KB in use by the system.
65536 KB occupied by the log file.
110886052 KB available on disk.

4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
37010431 total allocation units on disk.
27721513 allocation units available on disk.

C:\Windows\system32>


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## reticentAJ (Jan 20, 2013)

Repeat the same process and this time, run the command chkdsk /f. This will fix the errors it found. I didn't see anything major. In order for this to fix the errors it found, it will restart your computer. 

As mentioned before, make sure to back up anything of importance!

Also, what's the make and model of the pc? From that, I can provide you will a better tool that can analyze if the hard drive is failing or not.


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## valis (Sep 24, 2004)

reopening per request.


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

Re-opening thread as requested.

But the screenshot in your first post has all the info you need. "SMART Capable and Status BAD" The hard drive is faulty, there's nothing you can do to clear a SMART failure. As mentioned it needs to be returned to the company for warranty service to have the drive replaced or you need to buy a new drive out of pocket.


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## DPWFC (May 11, 2005)

Triple6 said:


> Re-opening thread as requested.
> 
> But the screenshot in your first post has all the info you need. "SMART Capable and Status BAD" The hard drive is faulty, there's nothing you can do to clear a SMART failure. As mentioned it needs to be returned to the company for warranty service to have the drive replaced or you need to buy a new drive out of pocket.


That seems quite clear cut Rob. Is there literally no software or anything I can try here as possibly some of the suggestions above? Machine is older than I thought now and I suspect out of warranty.


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

No software can fix a hardware failure and I don't know of any consumer software that will reset a SMART warning; that's the drive monitoring and reporting itself.

What is the serial number of the hard drive?


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## DPWFC (May 11, 2005)

Triple6 said:


> No software can fix a hardware failure and I don't know of any consumer software that will reset a SMART warning; that's the drive monitoring and reporting itself.
> 
> What is the serial number of the hard drive?


Not sure how I find that out without taking out the hard drive? The computer model is an Acer Aspire AX3910 if that helps.


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

If it's an Acer than the hard drive will have a shorter warranty of 1 year and it must go through Acer.

Check the Acer system warranty here: https://www.acer-apac.com/acer_web/


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## DPWFC (May 11, 2005)

Triple6 said:


> If it's an Acer than the hard drive will have a shorter warranty of 1 year and it must go through Acer.
> 
> Check the Acer system warranty here: https://www.acer-apac.com/acer_web/


Out of warranty. :-(


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

$58 will get you a new 320GB hard drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148766


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## DPWFC (May 11, 2005)

Triple6 said:


> $58 will get you a new 320GB hard drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148766


Thanks Rob. Not as bad as I thought. So here comes the idiotic question. I take the hard drive out, replace with that...will I have a functional pc? What do I do about operating system, compatability etc?


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

You will either have to clone(copy) the drive or make/use the recovery discs from the current drive. The drive is blank when you buy it.


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## DPWFC (May 11, 2005)

Triple6 said:


> You will either have to clone(copy) the drive or make/use the recovery discs from the current drive. The drive is blank when you buy it.


Thanks Rob but I fear this is where my trouble begins. There was no installation/recovery disk provided with the PC and to be fair my brother wouldnt have had the first clue how to create a recovery disk of his own. Now that the pc will not boot to desktop we cant create one now either. (hindsight is a fantastic thing!!). As the drive is now effectively dead I cannot see how we would clone the existing drive or whether we would want to?

I was thinking of attempting this:

http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/how-get-free-legal-copy-windows-7-installation-disk.htm

If I followed the instructions in that link and burned to cd could I boot the new hard drive with the cd and use the product key that is on the sticker on side of the pc for a full fresh Windows 7 installation? Appreciate I may have some driver woes but would this work and be stable? Not sure what else to do here.


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## DPWFC (May 11, 2005)

Found a better link here:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/248995/how_to_install_windows_7_without_the_disc.html

My only concern is that I will be downloading on my own pc but using the product key for the broken pc. Will that download ok?


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

If you use the correct version that matches his license key it will work


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## DPWFC (May 11, 2005)

Triple6 said:


> If you use the correct version that matches his license key it will work


Thanks Rob. Like an absolute idiot I downloaded and installed the 64-bit version for the machine and it should have been 32-bit. Product key was fine but now an invalid error code has popped up and only realised my error tonight.

I have now burned the 32-bit version to cd. Do you know if I boot to the new cd it will overwrite the existing version or do I have to uninstall the 64-bit version first? (again I am not bothered about losing any data)


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

A Windows 7 license key is good for both the 32 and 64 bit versions. You shouldn't have an issue unless you installed a Pro version and attempted to use a Home version key. Did you enter the key again and verify all the characters carefully?

There's no uninstall for an operating system, simply boot the Windows CD, format the drive, and reinstall Windows.


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