Laptop fell.... Now it wont load up

NeVeR

My girlfriend dropped her laptop a few hours ago and now it wont load up.

When i push the power button you get the manufacturer logo "fujitsu" ... Then the windows logo loads... Then it shuts down to the screen says if i want to restart the laptop in normal mode/safe mode/safe mode with command prompt ... When i select one the same thing happens..

My girlfriend has all her college work on this laptop including a thesis !! plus loads of photos etc...

Does anyone have any ideas on how i might go about 1) Fixing it... 2) if it cant be fixed can i get the content ?

Any help would be great... Thanks .

Solitaire

You might need to take out the HDD and slave it to another (desktop) PC. Use Error Checking/CHKDSK on it to see if there's an issue with HDD damage. Also use SpeedFan and see what the drive's SMART diagnostic says. If you can, back up all the data on it starting with said mission-critical documents first. Only then should you put the HDD back and start messing with the laptop. Odds are a device (RAM, graphics card, wifi card etc.) has come partway loose and is causing BSoDs while loading drivers. If it is the HDD just pray it holds together long enough to get everything off it!

johntreacy

To get the important stuff off it Puppy linux or another live cd will probably be the quickest option. Just put in the cd and start the laptop. once loaded you will need to mount the drive and then look for the documents and then copy them to an external drive or pen. As for fixing it can you hear any unusual noises from the laptop like a little clicking sound or anything?

NeVeR

I'm in work at the moment so cant check anything.. But I'll be trying all this in the morning..

if i take out the HDD is it easy to connect to a PC ? never done it before.

NeVeR

Just to add... .I didnt hear the sounds of a faulty HDD... I've heard them before in PC's and it wasnt there... But I dont know it Laptop HDD sounds different.

Alanstrainor

It sounds like the hard ddrive alright. Not all banjaxed hds will click or make any noise, but it's always good when you can't hear it clicking. It could be that it just needs to be resat into position. I wouldn't get your hopes up, but it's worth a shot. As said, either take it out and slave it to retrieve data, or use a live cd.

NeVeR

Alanstrainor wrote: »

It sounds like the hard ddrive alright. Not all banjaxed hds will click or make any noise, but it's always good when you can't hear it clicking. It could be that it just needs to be resat into position. I wouldn't get your hopes up, but it's worth a shot. As said, either take it out and slave it to retrieve data, or use a live cd.

Can i connect to it a normal PC using normal PC leads ?.. I've never opened a laptop before.

what is a live CD ?,, is it a program ?

Solitaire

IIRC it was different with IDE drives but SATA connections are similar on all drive sizes. Just pop it out of the laptop (carefully!) and attach it to normal SATA data and power cables.

A live CD is a modified OS (usually a lightweight Linux distro) designed to run off the RAM and CD/DVD, removing the need for a HDD installation. You can still access the HDD from it though! The advantage of this is no need to open up the laptop at all (although its not usually a tricky process to access the HDD).

NeVeR

I'll try it in the morning. Cheers.

NeVeR

Anyone know if the hard drive is easy to remove on a fujitsu siemens p8020 ?

Solitaire

Nope, sorry. P8020 is one of those infamous Fujitsu models which aren't really designed to be serviced unless you're a tech; no diagrams on teh interwebs as far as I can see but its one of their "disassemble the whole machine to get to the HDD" models :mad: You'll need to unscrew and remove the top of the machine, keyboard and part of the VGA ports to even see the HDD AFAIK. Try a live CD first

NeVeR

just about to try this live CD.. what one should i use ?... also when i do get it working do i just connect a external HDD and move the files over ?

Alanstrainor

Ubuntu 9.10 is good. And yes you can use a usb hdd or a usb stick...anything really.

Solitaire

... so long as its large enough to hold the files you want to transfer!

NeVeR

how exactly do i do it ?... just burn the software to a DVD and load it into the laptop ?

brianwalshcork

If the live CD doesn't work, you still have the option of removing the drive and sending it to a data recovery company to get the thesis and photos etc off the drive, so all is not lost.

It won't be cheap though :-( ... but if you don't have any backup you probably don't have any choice.

bonzodog2

Basicly, yes. Some live cd's may just need a CD rather than a DVD, although DVDR seem to be easier to find lately. You need to make sure the pc is set to boot from CD in preference to local hard disk (probably that way already ?). The live CD will probably automount the local HDD and the USB stick, maybe at /mnt/hda1 for HDD and maybe /mnt/sda1 for USB stick

Do an md5 check on the ISO before you burn a disc

NeVeR

ummm I'm a little lost here guys..

If i put that Ubuntu 9.10 onto a DVD will it not just try install on the HDD ?...

Anyone have a easy to follow step by step on how to make a live CD

NeVeR

I got it working... for anyone trying this just read this .. it's great

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/use-ubuntu-live-cd-to-backup-files-from-your-dead-windows-computer/

and it works.

NeVeR

guys since i was able to access the HDD using Ubuntu and saving the files to an ext HDD does that mean the Laptop HDD is not fcuked ?

CoNfOuNd

Congrats on getting it working. That looks like a very useful site. Did you recover the thesis and all other important files?

Now you've got all the files, you can start to diagnose the laptop. Any chance it's still under warranty?

NeVeR

Yes i got all the files thank god

It's college laptop so she didnt pay for it. I'm sure they are insured for things like this... There's a small crack on the side..

Since i got it working using the Live CD what could be the problem with it in normal mode ?... would something have come lose ?.. I might just get her to bring it to the College tech guy that gave it to her.. they might just send it for repair.