Laptop won't boot

[rodboy]

Hi, I hope some of you guys can offer me some advice.

My son has an Acer Aspire 5100 notebook running XP that will not boot. It loads to a black screen displaying ' disk error' & 'press any key to continue'

It will not boot up in safe mode or any other mode for that matter and when I tried to run check disk it got only so far before powering down completely.

Is there any way to recover this computer or does it look like I need a new hard drive......which is not the end of the world !

Any advice is welcome, thanks in advance.

 

[Dutcho]

Sounds like a hard drive issue, have you tried booting from cd ?

 

[daveleebond]

you could try fixboot or fixmbr from recovery mode.

 

[jaffa]

As above or you could try getting a hold of something like Hirens Bootcd or BartPE, they will allow you to boot the system and get anything off it you need or repair it.

 

[rodboy]

Thanks for the quick replies guys.

I have tried to recover it from CD's ( run check disk ) but the process only goes so far then the unit powers down. The unit has an in built disk recovery whereby if you press ALT + F10 on boot up it should bring up an e recovery screen, alas this screen doen't appear, that's why I'm thinking it may be the hard drive thats shagged.

 

[Kris]

What CDs did you try to recover it from? A manufacturers recovery disc or an XP disc?

I wouldn't say that the hard drive is shagged so soon. Check the BIOS to see if the hard drive is showing in there first. If it's there, try booting up using a Linux Live CD. It doesn't install anything but will load an OS off the CD. If that works, the hard drive should be fine. You can also use this method to back up any files you need.

If the hard drive isn't being shown in the BIOS, open up the bottom panel and check that it's connected securely. It should be a rectangular panel about the same size as the hard drive on the Aspire.

 

[rodboy]

What CDs did you try to recover it from? A manufacturers recovery disc or an XP disc?

If the hard drive isn't being shown in the BIOS, open up the bottom panel and check that it's connected securely. It should be a rectangular panel about the same size as the hard drive on the Aspire.

Thanks Kris my friend,

I think I might be able to go back to factory reset with the recovery discs ??? but with XP disc I cant run check disk

I'll open the bottom panel and check the hard drive out tomorrow after work..........why do you think the hard drive may have become 'unseated'...is this common ????

 

[Kris]

Thanks Kris my friend,

I think I might be able to go back to factory reset with the recovery discs ??? but with XP disc I cant run check disk

I'll open the bottom panel and check the hard drive out tomorrow after work..........why do you think the hard drive may have become 'unseated'...is this common ????

You can carry out a repair install with the XP discs but yes you could also do a factory reset with the recovery discs. Either would do the job.

It'd probably be easier to go into the BIOS first to check if it's there. If it's not, it's worth opening it up for a look. I had my DVD drive become unseated on my laptop not long ago. The bracket basically became loose and the DVD drive slipped off slightly. Took it out and tightened the bracket and screwed it back in. Sorted it perfect.