Dropped my laptop-need advice on outcome

Brussels Sprout

Yup I'm an idiot. I had my laptop in the bottom of a gear bag which I then dropped from a height of ~ 1 foot.

On the outside it seems to be in perfect condition.

I started it up immediately after and it got as far as the video log-in screen for windows. After it accepted my password froze and then I got a blue screen which I believe said something about a cache error (not 10% on that).

Now when I turn it on the start-up screen comes up and then it just goes black and nothing more happens.

I can get into the BIOS and the keyboard seems to working ok.

I'm fairly sure there is a noise on startup which I haven't heard before.


Edit: it's an Asus PR05G

4GB RAM
Pent T3400
250GB HD
running Vista premium

I'd just like to get some idea of what may be wrong before I bring it to a repair shop.

Alanstrainor

It sounds like it's the hard drive tbh. It's the one part of a laptop that would be must susceptible to damage in a fall like the one you describe. It should be a cheap fix, and it'd even be a DIY fix tbh.

Brussels Sprout

Alanstrainor wrote: »

It sounds like it's the hard drive tbh. It's the one part of a laptop that would be must susceptible to damage in a fall like the one you describe. It should be a cheap fix, and it'd even be a DIY fix tbh.

That's good news although I guess that means I lose everything that was on it yes?

I wouldn't be too confident of changing it myself. If I purchase a suitable hard drive and bring it along to say PC World can they install it for me?

How to I go about finding out what hard-drive I need. I presume it's not one size fits all (or is it?). I was just looking at komplett.ie and they seem to have it broken down into 2.5" and 3.5". Are one for laptop one for desktop or does it vary more than that?

ED E

All laptops are 2.5". There are two thicknesses but pretty much all laptops use the same one.

Changing the HDD is childs play. Take out two screws and then either pull it out of the base or slot it out the side.

Brussels Sprout

I wanted to be sure that it was the hard drive so I burned a copy of Ubuntu onto a CD and tried to run the laptop on that. I took ages but I eventually got to a screen asking me whether I wanted to install Ubuntu or run it off of the CD. I chose the latter and then I ended up on a purple screen with an arrow. I could control the arrow using my mouse but there was nothing to click on. Does this whole thing tie up with hard drive error?

phill106

Brussels Sprout wrote: »

I wanted to be sure that it was the hard drive so I burned a copy of Ubuntu onto a CD and tried to run the laptop on that. I took ages but I eventually got to a screen asking me whether I wanted to install Ubuntu or run it off of the CD. I chose the latter and then I ended up on a purple screen with an arrow. I could control the arrow using my mouse but there was nothing to click on. Does this whole thing tie up with hard drive error?

Think ubuntu can even run without hdd in place. You should get further then that, should bring you to a desktop after it asks you some localisation questions.
Did you try the test media option?

Brussels Sprout

phill106 wrote: »

Think ubuntu can even run without hdd in place. You should get further then that, should bring you to a desktop after it asks you some localisation questions.
Did you try the test media option?

I don't know what that is.

Now when I try and boot from the CD I just get the screen with 'Ubuntu' and the 5 dots underneath alternating between white and orange. It's as if it's loading but not getting anywhere.

Alanstrainor

Brussels Sprout wrote: »

I don't know what that is.

Now when I try and boot from the CD I just get the screen with 'Ubuntu' and the 5 dots underneath alternating between white and orange. It's as if it's loading but not getting anywhere.

There could be driver issues with Ubuntu and your laptop. I've come across it before, and had a similar outcome. If everything was alright it would boot without any hard drive in the machine.

phill106

ok lets go back a step. Bios still works? IN the bios, it should list drives, does it list your drive there?

Brussels Sprout

phill106 wrote: »

ok lets go back a step. Bios still works? IN the bios, it should list drives, does it list your drive there?

Ok I'm not too familiar with all of this so I'll just try and type out what it says:

In the first tab in my BIOS (which is called 'main') I have details for:
System Firmware
Processor
System memory

and also the option to change date and time

the other tabs in the BIOS are 'advanced', 'security', 'power' and 'boot'

Within the 'advanced' tab there is an 'IDE configuration' option. When I press enter on that I get this:

> AHCI Port0 [Hard Disk]
> AHCI Port1 [ATAPI CDROM]

So I clicked on the first one and I get the following details:

---

Device :Hard Disk
Vendor :ST9250320AS
Size :250.0 GB

---

SATA Port0 [Auto]
S.M.A.R.T. [Enabled]

phill106

Brussels Sprout wrote: »

Ok I'm not too familiar with all of this so I'll just try and type out what it says:

In the first tab in my BIOS (which is called 'main') I have details for:
System Firmware
Processor
System memory

and also the option to change date and time

the other tabs in the BIOS are 'advanced', 'security', 'power' and 'boot'

Within the 'advanced' tab there is an 'IDE configuration' option. When I press enter on that I get this:

> AHCI Port0 [Hard Disk]
> AHCI Port1 [ATAPI CDROM]

So I clicked on the first one and I get the following details:

---

Device :Hard Disk
Vendor :ST9250320AS
Size :250.0 GB

---

SATA Port0 [Auto]
S.M.A.R.T. [Enabled]

Ok, it means its not absolutely fubard anyway (the drive), as the bios picked it up.
Try that ubuntu live option again, see how far you get. Should look similar to this vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-W4WC6bfsFM

Brussels Sprout

phill106 wrote: »

Ok, it means its not absolutely fubard anyway (the drive), as the bios picked it up.
Try that ubuntu live option again, see how far you get. Should look similar to this vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-W4WC6bfsFM

it gets as far as what's on the screen at 2'05 on that video and will go no more.

i fired it up on another working laptop and it worked fine. This morning I found my windows recovery disc and I've that in the broken laptop now but it's basically the same thing i.e. it gets to a point in the loading process and then just freezes up

Thanks for the replies btw

Brussels Sprout

After about half an hour of loading the windows disc has got it to a point where i can see the windows desktop but with no icons on it (basically exactly what happened with Ubuntu the first time I tried to load it up). it's almost as if it's working but that it's super super super slow (I get the feeling that if I left it on for another 5 hours I might have something to click on)

Edit: it eventually just gave me the option of continuing but wiping my hard disk. I'd prefer not to do that at this stage so I'm going to try and load Ubuntu again 9this time I'm going to leave ti load up for longer before giving up on it)

bhickey

Just to try and rule out compatibility issues with the Ubuntu CD, could you try an older one (e.g. Ubuntu 9.04 Live CD) instead. Some Live CD's just won't boot up on some laptops. Try it with and without the hard disk in the laptop.

subway

2 things are going to happen in a fall, parts are going to get damaged and other parst are going to get loosened / dislodged.

first thing i would do is remove all physical components that are accessible, inspect for damage and then reinert them fully and carefully.

this will rule out obvious damage and ensure eveything is seated correctly and making full contact

ED E

Brussels Sprout wrote: »

i fired it up on another working laptop and it worked fine

The drive or the disk? If its the disk, swap the drive over to that laptop and see if it boots:)

Brussels Sprout

bhickey wrote: »

Just to try and rule out compatibility issues with the Ubuntu CD, could you try an older one (e.g. Ubuntu 9.04 Live CD) instead. Some Live CD's just won't boot up on some laptops. Try it with and without the hard disk in the laptop.

subway wrote: »

2 things are going to happen in a fall, parts are going to get damaged and other parst are going to get loosened / dislodged.

first thing i would do is remove all physical components that are accessible, inspect for damage and then reinert them fully and carefully.

this will rule out obvious damage and ensure eveything is seated correctly and making full contact

Lethal_Bullet wrote: »

The drive or the disk? If its the disk, swap the drive over to that laptop and see if it boots:)

Ok you guys are all pretty much saying I should open it up and tinker with the insides. My only past experience of doing this is changing the RAM (and that was on a desktop) so I'm not too confident about this. Can any of you maybe link to a good video. Like what's the absolute worst thing I can do? I know from changing the RAM that I shouldn't touch the circuitry but that's about all the knowledge I have.

yes I meant the disc lethal bullet. I like that idea but the other laptop is not mine so I'd be wary in case I broke theirs as well!

TouchingVirus

Brussels Sprout wrote: »

Ok you guys are all pretty much saying I should open it up and tinker with the insides. My only past experience of doing this is changing the RAM (and that was on a desktop) so I'm not too confident about this. Can any of you maybe link to a good video. Like what's the absolute worst thing I can do? I know from changing the RAM that I shouldn't touch the circuitry but that's about all the knowledge I have.

yes I meant the disc lethal bullet. I like that idea but the other laptop is not mine so I'd be wary in case I broke theirs as well!

Where are you based?

Brussels Sprout

TouchingVirus wrote: »

Where are you based?

Cork

TouchingVirus

Brussels Sprout wrote: »

Cork

Eugh, out of luck for my physical help anyways. I was going to offer to crack it open and see what's going on for you as I've a bit of experience fixing laptops that have been handled aggressively or neglected

Can you try a different live CD - maybe Slax?

Brussels Sprout

TouchingVirus wrote: »

Eugh, out of luck for my physical help anyways. I was going to offer to crack it open and see what's going on for you as I've a bit of experience fixing laptops that have been handled aggressively or neglected

Can you try a different live CD - maybe Slax?

No problem-thanks anyway

I'll try that Slax-downloading now

ED E

Dell: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSrIO51voyU

Base Mounted: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPgi8Bsk_O8

Easy. Its probably safer than RAM as you're less likely to kill it with static from your hands.

Brussels Sprout

TouchingVirus wrote: »

Eugh, out of luck for my physical help anyways. I was going to offer to crack it open and see what's going on for you as I've a bit of experience fixing laptops that have been handled aggressively or neglected

Can you try a different live CD - maybe Slax?

Ok I booted up Slax and it appears to be working. Whilst it was loading up there was a lot of text on screen. One of the things I did notice was it saying that NTFS was inconsistent (I guess that's implying my hard disk isn't in good shape) and something about an input/output error.

I have no idea how to use Slax but i am heartened by the fact that is running. I guess I'll just play around with this and see if I can run a diagnostic or something unless someone can give me some good advice on what to do now

Brussels Sprout

Lethal_Bullet wrote: »

The drive or the disk? If its the disk, swap the drive over to that laptop and see if it boots:)

Ok I tried this but unfortunately one of the drives has these metal guiding rail things on it that means it cannot fit in the other computer. Also due to some rubber pads the other one won't into the first one either. So even though both hard drives are the same types their outer dimensions are sufficiently different so that they won't fit into the other computer.

subway

you should be able to remove any caddys on the drives.
however, if the drive is readable, reseating it now may allow the system to boot

Brussels Sprout

I've managed to run Slax both with the hard drive in and with it out. When it is in it comes up in the 'removable storage' folder as two separate folders-one called 'backup' and the other called 'WindowsVista'. When I try to investigate the windows vista folder it keeps stalling and freezing up so that I have to terminate window (if you know what I mean).

Thanks to everyone who has replied so far. If nothing else I'm learning a lot about hardware and different operating systems

Brussels Sprout

subway wrote: »

you should be able to remove any caddys on the drives.
however, if the drive is readable, reseating it now may allow the system to boot

No joy-I'm afraid. Also the funny sound that I mentioned in the original post is coming from the hard drive (now that I know where it is).

At this stage it seems to me that the hard drive is definitely not fully right. The question is really I guess is that the only thing.

Does the fact that I got Slax up and running mean that my RAM and mother board are ok?

bhickey

Brussels Sprout wrote: »

No joy-I'm afraid. Also the funny sound that I mentioned in the original post is coming from the hard drive (now that I know where it is).

Well funny sound from hard drive = very bad ;(

Does the fact that I got Slax up and running mean that my RAM and mother board are ok?

I'm not familiar with Slax but if it's like the other Live CD's then maybe just use the laptop for a while with the Live CD in it and see if it keeps going. It sounds like you should be okay.

Alanstrainor

It sounds like the mobo and RAM should be okay tbh. As i said, i've had trouble with Ubuntu on oldish dell machines in the past, in fact i think it may have been a d600, although i can't be 100% sure about that. It's just driver issues which prevent ubuntu from booting.

Brussels Sprout

Ok then I'm going to buy a new hard-drive. I usually buy electronic stuff from komplett. Is this good or can anyone recommend anywhere else?

I've heard that i should be able to get most of the data from the damaged hard drive. How can I go about doing this?

FruitLover

Brussels Sprout wrote: »

Does the fact that I got Slax up and running mean that my RAM and mother board are ok?

Likely, but I'd run a RAM test to make sure (should be an option to run one on your Ubuntu disc, just after it starts to load)

Brussels Sprout wrote: »

I've heard that i should be able to get most of the data from the damaged hard drive. How can I go about doing this?

If you have an external USB drive, try connecting that, booting from Slax and seeing what you can copy off (try accessing via the CLI if the window manager keeps freezing).

TouchingVirus

The fact you got slax up and running seems to confirm what Alanstrainor thought - that Ubuntu is just having a few driver issues and that your RAM & Motherboard are fine. I can't say the same for the hard drive though, I wouldn't trust that hard drive with my data anyways.

Brussels Sprout

Ok after a massive delay with Komplett my new hard drive finally arrived. So i hooked it up and it seems to be running fine. However I know have a new problem.

I had an Asus recovery DVD (it says 'Windows Vista Recovery Media for Windows Vista Products 32-bit' on it) which I ran on start up. So then it goes through a big loading process that goes up in percentages between 1 and 100 that takes about 20 minutes. Then at the end of it it ejects the DVD and I get a message on screen saying 'Please insert the Driver CD'.

I don't have any other cd. i thought that th recovery dvd was everything that I needed.

Can anyone tell me what it's looking for here?

Edit: if I try and just close the cd drawer again with the recovery DVD inside it trys to run it but then opens up again and I get the following message on screen "Can not open file E:\I386\Recovery.DAT Please Insert the Driver CD"

phill106

Brussels Sprout wrote: »

Ok after a massive delay with Komplett my new hard drive finally arrived. So i hooked it up and it seems to be running fine. However I know have a new problem.

I had an Asus recovery DVD (it says 'Windows Vista Recovery Media for Windows Vista Products 32-bit' on it) which I ran on start up. So then it goes through a big loading process that goes up in percentages between 1 and 100 that takes about 20 minutes. Then at the end of it it ejects the DVD and I get a message on screen saying 'Please insert the Driver CD'.

I don't have any other cd. i thought that th recovery dvd was everything that I needed.

Can anyone tell me what it's looking for here?

Edit: if I try and just close the cd drawer again with the recovery DVD inside it trys to run it but then opens up again and I get the following message on screen "Can not open file E:\I386\Recovery.DAT Please Insert the Driver CD"

Maybe browse the cd in another drive, see if that file is in it somewhere?

Brussels Sprout

phill106 wrote: »

Maybe browse the cd in another drive, see if that file is in it somewhere?

just opened it up on another computer and there's no file or folder with that name

hearny

Can you borrow a Windows Vista Home Premium 32bit DVD from anybody.
You could just install from the disk if you get one and download all of the relevant drivers from support.asus.com
You will need to check that the Laptop has a label with a product key for that version of Windows.

TouchingVirus

Brussels Sprout wrote: »

Ok after a massive delay with Komplett my new hard drive finally arrived. So i hooked it up and it seems to be running fine. However I know have a new problem.

I had an Asus recovery DVD (it says 'Windows Vista Recovery Media for Windows Vista Products 32-bit' on it) which I ran on start up. So then it goes through a big loading process that goes up in percentages between 1 and 100 that takes about 20 minutes. Then at the end of it it ejects the DVD and I get a message on screen saying 'Please insert the Driver CD'.

I don't have any other cd. i thought that th recovery dvd was everything that I needed.

Can anyone tell me what it's looking for here?

Edit: if I try and just close the cd drawer again with the recovery DVD inside it trys to run it but then opens up again and I get the following message on screen "Can not open file E:\I386\Recovery.DAT Please Insert the Driver CD"

Either you need another CD, or they really didn't anticipate your hard drive would fail A lot of computers come with "hidden" partitions, with no letter, where all the recovery files are placed. So all the CD does it enable the copying process from the recovery partition to the C:\ drive.

Since you've a new, empty hard drive you're going to need a proper Vista install CD, or you're going to need to call up the manufacturer and see if they'll sort you out

Brussels Sprout

TouchingVirus wrote: »

Either you need another CD, or they really didn't anticipate your hard drive would fail A lot of computers come with "hidden" partitions, with no letter, where all the recovery files are placed. So all the CD does it enable the copying process from the recovery partition to the C:\ drive.

Since you've a new, empty hard drive you're going to need a proper Vista install CD, or you're going to need to call up the manufacturer and see if they'll sort you out

yeah I think you're right. My old hard drive was partitioned into two halves and I think that the recovery disk works in tandem with the recovery files in one of those halves. I've contacted Asus support now regarding the issue.