Failed short smart self test shows number HD521-20. How to fix please.

The PC has many parts, some just think of it as a black box.
That's ok, Computers are just toys now, appliances.,
when bad we chuck them or fix them.
most folks don't actually want to fix them or learn, they take it to a PC repair shop, just like when the car dies.
The are 100s of thousands for shop world wide, (avoid geekxxxx)


The most folks its just:
It has screen and a browser,
I'm told most folks live in the browser. (a place you can't go now)
IE11 or Firefox, Chrome or EDGE OR Opera.
when the PC tells you the files are bad, and it sure did tell truth.
one of 2 things (common and lots more)
can be bad.
THE PC is infected. (a virus or other horrible infections)
OR
the PC has a Bad Hard drive, that whirling thing inside that holds ,well, everything in the form of FILES.
so the PC needs service, I'm sure that is obvious. no?
if only infected you could reload the OS, but I'm not going to tell you how.
you can google it all day.
or ask real DELL, FIXYa sure is Not DELL,
DELL.com is. ok?

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Desktop-Hardware/SMART-Short-Self-Test-Failed-Error-Code-HD521-2W/td-p/1181885

Well.. I'm SAD to inform you..your drive has encountered a serious error.

There's a couple of options..none of which you will like.

Drives (SMART) report errors, but sadly don't fix anything. Once a bad-sector has been encountered, its usually an indication of major failure (google/39% of all drives w/bad sectors major failure..etc)

Your options.. Is your data super important--if so, STOP using the drive, send it to a DRC (Data recovery Center), expect to spend $600-1k for the data.

If you've backedup, good news-- drives are cheap.. buy another, plus your drive into tthe 2nd slot, copy off what you can..

the drive itself is having a major failure (meaning it cannot relocate the bad sectors any longer, hence the smart failure)-- meaning-- drives "TRY" to relocate (when they detect failures, they'll move the data else where, mark the bad area, and use a new spot)... Your drive has probably done that.. ALOT. And now... it's gone critical.

BEST solution for you, to save $$ and time.. but a drive ($80-150 bucks)... install your os... put the other drive on the other cable, copy off what you can..and call it a day.

A DRC won't do much more to be honest... if its SUPER critical, contact www.deepspar.com and see if they will recommend you to a DRC locally to you, or do it them selves...again $$$

These are results of two sections of Dell Diagnostics tests which can be run by pressing F10 at startup.

You would have to watch them run to see what has failed during the test.

From Targeted Read Test WHD-20-2RQ failed, could be failure to read RAM (memory), CD/DVD Drive, or Hard Drive.

Something failing within Smart Short Self Test WHD16-FTD could literally be anything within the computer, without seeing what has actually failed during the test.

The SMART feature on hard drives has detected that your drive is coming to the end of its life spand once thats said error smart failure means your hard drive is dead and you will need to buy a new one and softload it with an operating system, it kicks in to protect itself from causing damage to the rest of the computer, there is a slim chance you can put it in a external hard drive caddy and pull the data you need from it but thats only a very slim chance of that working. theres no easy fix or complicated fix your HDD has died. Kronoguy

These are problems that cannot be fixed, basically your hard drive is on the way out. Typically this is caused by drops, bumps, etc. while the machine is on.It has a SATA 2.5" 120gb 5400 RPM drive, I would suggest a larger 7200 rpm drive but it is up to you. You will also have to reinstall windows to the new hard drive.

Hi there.
The error code means the drive has failed or that Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology, or S.M.A.R.T is faulty.

Go back into the bios and disable the S.M.A.R.T, hit F10, save the changes and try to boot again.
Please post back with the results.

Good luck

Most likely you can't...The SMART read stands for Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology. If this test fails the hard drive will likely crash soon so backup what information you can to a CD-R or flash drive.