Laptop died? Can't find OS or Hard Drive

Dave_6

Samsung P28 laptop, had it 3 and a half years from new

yesterday turn in on, 10 minutes into usage and it starts beeping from underneath followed by a clicking sound, then freezes up

turned it off and re-started and it stops on start up and says can't find operating system

put the samsung restore disc in and it goes through its bits and then says can't find hard drive :-(


is there anything I can do or does it look like I need to find a new hard drive online, buy and fit that, sounds dead to me


bit of a pain as i move out in 3 weeks and I was just going online to buy a nice new tv


thanks
Dave

totalsolutions

Might have died, under more stress than desktops. Might be the drive or a corrupt boot system files. Re-installing system disc will loose all your data though. New HDD were about £35, just remove a couple of screws and remove. Its a 2.5" drive and a "pata" type from the age of your laptop.

geordie458

hi Dave

I had a samsung laptop that did a similar thing with me a while ago. Sometimes the hard drive ribbon cable comes loose and the HDD doesnt show up when the laptop boots so it cant see the OS. What you can try is locate the HDD cover, remove it and gently make sure the HDD ribbon cable is correctly seated. it should only need gentle pressure. Then try booting again. Samsung laptops are notorious for HDD ribbon cable problems.Hope this helps

Dave_6

Hi guys, managed to get hold of a 60gb hard drive for free so thats currently fitted and working, my old 40gb hard drive is now with someone else whos going to take a look to see what they can do with it

I backed up most of my stuff 2 weeks before the crash so its not all bad :-)