jasonfodor :
We should back up a few steps lol.
Lights on keyboard light but nothing loads on screen (black screen). Took it to computer shop, said hard drives bad and needs replacement. Quoted me $350 for HD and $100 for data recovery (only one shop in town so he rips off).
I can buy HD for $50 and install myself, I've done it with another laptop of mines.
Not sure how to about the data recovery...do I go into BIOS?
The BIOS is not used in any way during the actual data recovery process. All we need it for right now is to determine if the system can detect the drive.
See my post above. We still need more info as to the exact nature of the drive failure. If the drive powers on and the the BIOS can see it, but Windows cannot, data recovery is still very likely with the software mentioned above (of which I am also a big fan).
If however the drive is not detected by the BIOS, you are probably going to need to contact someone more professional than the only guy in town that does data recovery, unless he happens to have a positive pressure clean room available to him.