Laptop Help !!!

[Steven Forster]

Need help trying to sort my laptop out, i knocked my laptop of the arm of the chair which caused my laptop to go off.

When i turned it back on i had 2 options

check hard drive for problems or start windows as normal !!!

I tried both options as niether was working it just seemed to have froze or stopped working altogether after letting them run for hours (noticed the hard drive was not active or flashing away).

I left laptop for a few days then turned it on which then gave me a different screen with this.........

PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable
PXE-M0F: Exiting Broadcom PXE ROM.
No bootable device -- insert boot disk and press any key

Ive tried the recovery/boot disk which loads up, gets so far through disk 1 pauses (Hard drive light not active or flashing) for about 30 mins then says error reading disk, then back to start again

Ive tried 2 copies of the recovery/boot disk so think the problem is something else !!!

Is my hard drive goosed or is it something else ???

cheers

[Andrew Twigger]

Hard drives really don't get on well with shocks whilst they're spinning. It's possible you've fecked it enough for Windows not to start but could be recoverable. Most of the shagged drives I deal with at work can have their data recovered fairly easily by using a boot CD.

[Steven Forster]

Originally Posted by Andrew Twigger

Hard drives really don't get on well with shocks whilst they're spinning. It's possible you've fecked it enough for Windows not to start but could be recoverable. Most of the shagged drives I deal with at work can have their data recovered fairly easily by using a boot CD.

Ive got myself a hard drive enclosure but its not being picked up on my dads laptop and also the hard drive is making a clicking or tapping sort of noise when you turn laptop on and the same happens when plugged into my dads laptop also..........

thanks for the reply

[Andrew Twigger]

There is an arm that moves within the drive to read the data on the disk. This has probably moved further than it should and could have become stuck. Popping the drive in the freezer can shrink the platters sufficiently to allow the arm back into its rightful location. This is often a short term solution though and once it warms back up (which isn't long) it could foul up again. Obviously the risks of putting electrical equipment into an environment in which they can become moist are clear.

Unless your data is really important, I'd brace yourself for the fact the drive has probably had it. Now if you'd have dropped the laptop when it was switched off, you probably would have been ok!