Dropped Laptop cant Boot

[Stigofthedump]

I had an old laptop that I got out for the mrs and she managed to drop it down the stairs. Cracked screen but connecting to sep monitor it displays Toshiba and intel but F2 system utilities came up once but I cant get it up again and the F12 boot menu option will not work. Tried recovery disc in power on press F12 and nothing - F2 is please wait.....forever

Any suggestions or is it a new laptop?

thanks for any help (old Toshiba Equium A100-306) I think I can get replacement screen for about £70 - its just geting the thing going again

[Mickha]

It's not worth getting a new screen until you've checked that the motherboard is not damaged.

You can quickly check the memory, and hard drive, by removing the panels at the bottom of the laptop, just to see if they have come loose.

For everything else you will probably have to take it apart and physically check for damage, probably quicker, and cheaper, to get a second hand laptop and transfer all your data from the current hard drive.

[blakey_8]

It's possible that your keyboard is also damage judging by what you said about F2 and F12 not working correctly.

[Stigofthedump]

Originally Posted by Mickha

It's not worth getting a new screen until you've checked that the motherboard is not damaged.

You can quickly check the memory, and hard drive, by removing the panels at the bottom of the laptop, just to see if they have come loose.

For everything else you will probably have to take it apart and physically check for damage, probably quicker, and cheaper, to get a second hand laptop and transfer all your data from the current hard drive.

had a look and nothing seems loose but keybord works ok - used recovery disk and get this
When I insert the Toshiba recovery disc it says "Loading RAMDISK image" and then it goes to the next screen and says "Recovery utility and select language" I click English and a box comes up saying:

"RECOGUI
ERROR: CreateFile .PHYSICALDRIVE0
The system cannot find the file specified."

I then press "OK" and this box comes up:
"RECOGUI
Hard disk #0 is not accessible or bad RAID configuration!"

I then press "OK" and it asks what I want to install, I pick the only option (Windows XP) and click "Next" it then says "warning your hard drive will be erased!! Do you want to continue" I Click "YES"

Then the black DOS screen come up and says:
"Checking MBR partition type
# ERROR: Could not access physicalDrive0!
ERROR: RecoMBR failed!
Press any key to continue" . . .

Then I just get:
"X:i386system32>"

HDD shows 0 on BIOS

so is it a new HDD?

[Stigofthedump]

keybord ok just needed to wait a bit longer than expected no HDD shown

[MorriSoft]

Originally Posted by Stigofthedump

keybord ok just needed to wait a bit longer than expected no HDD shown

That suggests to me that your laptop is no longer detecting the HDD.

As suggested, check the cables/connections to the HDD and see it powers up when you turn it on, you will hear the disc platter inside the HDD spooling up if its getting power and isn't damaged.

If not, you could try hooking the drive up to a pc, and seeing if you can get it to read the disk then, but if that fails it pretty much confirms a dead HDD. If it does work when connected to a PC, it would suggest damage to the motherboard and/or other onboard peripherals.

You could easily replace it and then re-install an operating system (windows xp/vista) with second hand HDDs on ebay going quite cheaply for laptops at the moment in a variety of sizes.

[Mickha]

If it's a EIDE HDD then you can check it in a PC, using a 2.5 - 3.5 converter or in another laptop.
I generally use a very cheap one, similar to this:

[MorriSoft]

Originally Posted by Mickha

If it's a EIDE HDD then you can check it in a PC, using a 2.5 - 3.5 converter or in another laptop.
I generally use a very cheap one, similar to this:

There are also adapters for the newer 2.5" Laptop sata HDDs which allow connection to a PC, I got mine from Maplin (for about 50 pence).

[sambradley]

I would suggest that instead of getting that repaired, You can get the new one.