Member Avatar for ccs78

We are operating a Gateway computer with XP. When we boot the computer up, a black screen pops up stating American Megatrends 3rd Master Hard Disk: S.M.A.R.T. Status BAD, Backup and Replace. Press F2 to Resume. Once you press F2, it takes you to a Blue screen stating CMOS Setup Utility. There are several choices on this screen to choose from. When you try to exit it goes right back to the initial screen. Does any one know what causes this and how to fix?
Thank you!

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Short primer: the BIOS banner "American Megatrends … S.M.A.R.T. Status BAD" is the drive's self-monitoring flagging one or more attributes past the vendor threshold — a strong indicator the disk is at high risk of imminent failure. was correct to treat the drive as suspect, and 's ability to copy files from Safe Mode shows data can sometimes still be recovered if acted on quickly. Rarely the message is caused by a cable/power/firmware issue, but treat SMART BAD as urgent.

Practical, low-risk recovery order (do these before any repair attempts):

  • If the system boots (Safe Mode), copy irreplaceable files immediately and stop using the drive.
  • If it won't boot, use a rescue environment (Live Linux or Windows PE) or attach the drive as a secondary/USB disk to another machine and copy files. The live-USB approach suggested by is a good way to avoid writing to the failing disk. 's point about isolating the bad drive before reinstalling an OS is also sound.
  • Avoid running write-heavy repairs (full chkdsk, surface scans) until after you have a backup — those can accelerate failure.

If imaging is needed, use tools that tolerate bad sectors (example with GNU ddrescue):

ddrescue -f -n /dev/sdX /path/to/imagefile.img rescue.log
ddrescue -d -r3 /dev/sdX /path/to/imagefile.img rescue.log

After data is secured, run non-destructive diagnostics (vendor tools or smartctl) to inspect SMART attributes:

smartctl -a /dev/sdX

If SMART failures are confirmed, replace the drive and restore from backups. If data remains inaccessible and is critical, professional data recovery may be the only option. For : changing SATA mode (AHCI/IDE) after Windows was installed can cause BSOD because of missing drivers — revert to the original mode or install the correct storage driver before switching.

Prevention: set up regular file and image backups, monitor SMART periodically (CrystalDiskInfo/smartmontools), and treat any SMART BAD alert as end-of-life for the disk.

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All 8 Replies

Member Avatar for Rik_

You have a failed hard drive and that's your bios telling you so! You need to replace the faulty hard drive with a new one!

Member Avatar for ccs78

Thank you for the reply! Can I get past this screen to back up my documents or is it too late?

Member Avatar for Rik_

It's most like too late. Professional data recover will most likely be the only way to get at your data and that will be very very expensive.
You should always have a backup of any data that is important for situations like this.

Member Avatar for gerbil

ccs, disconnect the failing drive. Then when you have installed windows to your new drive reconnect the failing drive. Restart your sys; if that is successful then try to copy over any files you require/can access, and then throw out the old drive. Its life is over.

Member Avatar for tigerbright

hi - an alternate solution might be to run a Ubuntu linux v10.10 os in "try it" mode , which will load onto the ram memory and boot from there.
if all is well you will be able to access the Windows volume and copy personal files to a flash drive or external drive or even burn to optical drive disk
The linux distro is a re-distributable bootable iso file - just download and burn to disk using the burning program iso option
Is freeware
http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/get-ubuntu/download

btw - what options were offered after the F2 resume option was clicked ? if one is boot to the F8 start menu - you might be able to boot windows in safe mode which would enable saving personal files

Member Avatar for ccs78

Thank you for all the responses! I was able to get past the blue screen by entering in safe mode and was able to copy all the data. Thanks again for the advice.

Member Avatar for Rik_

What? That post makes no sense at all!

Member Avatar for winston.jacob3

well i had the same problem and i am unable to enter via safe mode as i am getting a blue screen (of death). Changing the SATA mode to compatibility from AHCI is not helping.

Please help!

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