Member Avatar for RickyRockstar

hey

alright, my laptop has been overheating lately and i tried to clean it of dust, while opening the compartments, i opened the one for my hard drive, unknowingly, and i didnt touch it or anything just pulled it out half way, and put it back. started up my computer and it worked fine, i left my room and came back and saw the it had shut down.

now when i start it up it goes to the gateway screen, then it goes to an error message that says

PXE-E61: media test failure, check cable
PXE-MOF: exiting broadcom PXE rom

i tried to get help from gateway but the options they gave me didnt solve the problem.
i went into my bios and it says my hard drive is not detected

is there anyone who can help me? i want to fix the problem without having to re-boot and loosing all my computers documents and such.

thanks
Ricky

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by jbennet

Dani AI

Generated

Following and , here is a concise, practical troubleshooting and safe‑recovery plan tailored to ’s symptom (the PXE message simply means the laptop fell back to network boot because it could not find a local boot device).

  1. Safe physical check (do this first)
  • Remove AC power and battery. Ground against a metal surface. Slide the drive out fully and inspect the mating surfaces and bay.
  • Look for bent pins (IDE/PATA) or damaged/burnt contacts on the drive PCB or the laptop’s bay connector (SATA uses a flat L‑shaped contact). Also check the drive’s metal/plastic spacer or caddy that holds it in place — if it sits crooked it may not make contact.
  1. Symptoms that indicate failure
  • If the drive spins up normally (quiet hum) when powered and still isn’t seen by BIOS, the bay or connector may be bad.
  • If the drive clicks, clunks, or makes irregular noises, that usually means mechanical failure — stop powering it repeatedly to avoid further damage.
  1. Non‑destructive data rescue steps
  • Use a SATA/IDE to USB adapter, docking station, or an external enclosure to connect the drive to a working PC. If the drive mounts, copy important files immediately to another disk. Avoid running repair utilities that write to the drive until a backup exists.
  • If the drive is still invisible to another PC, try a different adapter or a different host to rule out the laptop bay.
  1. Next actions and cautions
  • If the drive is physically damaged or clicking, professional data recovery is the safest choice. PCB swaps or aggressive DIY fixes can make recovery harder.
  • If data is not critical and the bay/connector proves faulty, replacing the drive and reinstalling the OS is the practical route.

Summary: start with the safe reseat/inspection and an external adapter test. That separates a simple connection issue from a failing drive and preserves chances to recover files without reformatting.

Recommended Answers

All 8 Replies

Member Avatar for caperjack

did you pull the drive out again and put it back in correctly this time

Member Avatar for jbennet

take the hdd out and reinstall it. Check all the cables are connected right then go into the BIOS and change the boot order so that network boot is at the bottom of the list.

Member Avatar for RickyRockstar

i have reinstalled my hard drive a couple of times but i keep getting the same message

and you say check the cables, what cables? like do i have to take my laptop fully apart in order to do that?

thanks for responding

Member Avatar for RickyRockstar

yes ive done it like 4 times and no difference, still says its not detected

Member Avatar for jbennet

probably broke the hard drive

Member Avatar for RickyRockstar

is it possible to break it by just taking it out and putting it in? is it like super delicate?

Member Avatar for caperjack

is it possible to break it by just taking it out and putting it in? is it like super delicate?

check for possible bent pin on it , if the drive is a ide drive and not sata drive

Member Avatar for jbennet

laptop connectors are flimsy

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