Hello, I got this message. Looking at it I would say that the drive is messed, *but* the "tech" says that it isn't the hard drive thats the problem. Assuming that he is correct based on the info we have below, what else could be the problem? If it was a motherboard issue then I dont think she would even get to that screen. Same with cpu, ram, video, power. Only thing I can think of is that the head on the drive made contact when it was dropped. personally I think the guy is lying and trying to get more money out of the girl.
Sounds like hard drive, but it could be the mobo that's gone too. Either way, those prices are utter extortion - £730 for fixing a laptop, which probably isn't worth that much anyway, is mad.
reply Yea that definately sounds like its a problem with the hard drive, doubt it has anything to do with the motherboard with what you have described. £730 is just OTT.
Yeah I told her to goto a different store and just ask for the data to be recovered off the drive. Right now she has an external drive, I suggested she load windows onto it and try to boot from that. if it works we know its the old drive that is shot.
Those guys sound like assholes, 'hey look a women, mate pause your f'ing WoW, we can screw her over a treat!' its like a woman in a garage, by the time she gets the bill it would have been cheaper to buy the car!
99% certain its hard drive, otherwise its the connector on the harddrive. (Work at a laptop refurbishing company) Almost all physical causes of losing hard drive accessibility has to do with the harddrive being messed. Furthermore, since it does "see" the hard drive as being present, but just cant read/write it really seals it. Paying that much $ is definitely not advisable, better to borrow a spare HD from a friend (check if its pata or sata) and see if it works first. Also check to see if your drive is working on theirs. Really basic stuff that most ppl on here take for granted, but if your friend isnt too tech savy, be sure to explain it to her. *also, a lot of pata drives have connections on the end where they plug into the MB, these slide off to reveal the standard pins. Don't mistake PATA for something else just because it doesn't look it.* Also if you know the model, finding out whether its pata or sata should be a breeze. If worst come to worst, and the motherboard is indeed bad, don't pay the tech for the parts(or his labor). Its a lot cheaper just to find a working motherboard on eBay and swap in your parts. It may seems a bit daunting, but really its not. If you've never done it before, then just remember to take your time, and take account of what screws go where and DONT use a screwdriver to pry anything open. If you cant open it with just your fingers, your probably doing something wrong. If you do, your more likely gonna end up with marks on the casing which your gonna regret later. Also, using the external to boot DOES NOT mean the MB is okay. The issue is most likely with the connector if not the hard drive. Using an external will bypass this, and not show the problem.
Why not take a linux live cd, hook up an external drive and boot to the live cd and see if you can access the drive that way. I've had it in the past were even though windows could not load and gave me disc read errors, Knoppix or whatever linux live cd you like was still able to read the disc and pull data off it before it went completely balls up.
