Have I killed my laptop?

Glass_Half_Empty??

Stupidly earlier, I slammed my laptop shut as the wi-fi was not working in the house and I was frustrated. It started clicking, so I turned it back on and it says I don't have a hard drive and wont go to any other screen.
Have a crocked it?

HappyMJ

Possibly but it's not the end of the world. The hard drive may have died but they are quite cheap to replace. You may have also just knocked it out of it's bay and reseating it may fix it.

Glass_Half_Empty??

If I take the back off and look inside is it obvious what the hard drive looks like? I could obviously just put it back in if this is the case.

Figment

As above, check to see if the hard drive has been dislodged.

Figment

Glass_Half_Empty?? wrote: »

If I take the back off and look inside is it obvious what the hard drive looks like? I could obviously just put it back in if this is the case.

Turn power off and remove the battery. Then hold the power button down for 20 seconds to discharge any remaining power.

Turn the laptop upside down (I'd recommend placing it on a towel or similar soft surface to avoid scratches). You should see two or more removable panels, one of which will house the drive.

If in doubt, post a photo of the bottom of the laptop or the make and model

Glass_Half_Empty??

I have got the panel off the back and am presented with lots of stuff. Most of it is screwed down. So what does the hard drive look like? It is a HP pavillion.

Glass_Half_Empty??

OK, so I have found a pic of a hard drive through google and it is screwed in is it worth taking it out to see if any damage or just seeing if putting it back in will fix it?

TadleyBaggie

If the hard drive is damaged then it will most likely be internal to the drive and not visible. A clicking hard drive is a classic failure symptom. You probably need a new hard drive (plus you would need to re-install windows etc). Do you do backups?

Glass_Half_Empty??

No back ups, only bought it in december
What exactly is on the hard drive as far as info goes? EVERYTHING?
Is there a chance I will be able to have HP fix it under warranty? If not how do I re-install windows when I got no disks in the first place?
Thanks

Notmyrealname

So you've lost all your data unless you send it to a firm like Retrodata who charge £500 or so per 20GB to recover the important information you couldn't be bothered to back up.

HP won't repair it under warranty. The HDD will have recorded the failure as excessive shock.

You're going to have to buy a new HDD and they're at record prices. Also you need to get installation discs of whatever version of Windows you have. Install that and get the drivers from HPs website.

Glass_Half_Empty??

Errr thanks, I think.