Dead laptop.

[Guest]

Hello,
I have a problem with a Samsung A10 laptop. It was working perfectly until I shut it down. A message said that it was installing 13 updates and do not turn off. So I left it. The next time I turned it on it says there is no hard drive. Is there anything I can do?

 

[Saga Lout]

Hello,
I have a problem with a Samsung A10 laptop. It was working perfectly until I shut it down. A message said that it was installing 13 updates and do not turn off. So I left it. The next time I turned it on it says there is no hard drive. Is there anything I can do?

Do you have an XP CD or did you make a recovery disk? [/#000ff]

 

[Guest]

Do you have an XP CD or did you make a recovery disk? [/#000ff]

Yes I do. It tells me it can't load as there is no hard drive. I have an 8GB memory stick and it loaded to that but the laptop won't access the stick.

 

[Saga Lout]

Yes I do. It tells me it can't load as there is no hard drive. I have an 8GB memory stick and it loaded to that but the laptop won't access the stick.

That's odd about the memory stick because it would point to a different problem. Can you start into BIOS and see if automatic detection can find your hard disk? If it cannot, I suggest you remove the disk and slave it to another machine using a converter and run Checkdisk to see if that can repair any bad sectors or maybe entire clusters. [/#000ff]

 

[Guest]

That's odd about the memory stick because it would point to a different problem. Can you start into BIOS and see if automatic detection can find your hard disk? If it cannot, I suggest you remove the disk and slave it to another machine using a converter and run Checkdisk to see if that can repair any bad sectors or maybe entire clusters. [/#000ff]

Thanks for your help so far. Automatic detection can not find the hard disc. How do I slave it to another machine? I have a Dell Inspiron with windows 7 which I am using to send this. Can I use this as a slave? Where do I get a converter?

 

[Saga Lout]

Thanks for your help so far. Automatic detection can not find the hard disc. How do I slave it to another machine? I have a Dell Inspiron with windows 7 which I am using to send this. Can I use this as a slave? Where do I get a converter?

Your local PC shop should have one - it's usually in the form of a hard disk caddy. You can buy one on e-Bay for a fairly small cost, sometimes with a hard disk included and that could be useful for you as you might need a new one of those anyway. Search your country's e-Bay's Computers>Laptop Accessories>External Drives section for the size you want and don't mention the make - it will cost more and they're all the same anyway.

When you plug the USB into your Dell, it should cause the drive to show in My Computer but if it isn't working well, it may take some time to show up so don't make early assumptions that the experiment has failed.[/#000ff]