Hi all. I know there are posts like this but thought I would quote my sys spec and see if somebody can help. Seagate 40gb on Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Pro 2010 notebook(18 months old). OEM XP Pro. No floppy drive. Notebook ran perfectly until now. I installed PC Tools free version of Spyware Doctor anti spyware that came with the Google toolpack. Slowed my mch down a lot, so decided to shut the anti spyware down. I was prompted that in order to shut it down completely, I should reboot my system. Did this and upon reboot "operating system not found" message. Now bios cannot detect my HDD, and resetting BIOS has no effect. OEM recovery disk ASR and win xp install finds no hdd. F6 to load third party scsi or raid driver offers me two options - "S" to specify additional adapters etc, and "enter" if I don't have device support disks or do not want to specify mass storage devices. If I select "S", setup reminds me that I have no floppy drive (can I do this from a usb flash drive?)I do have Drivers and Utils CD for my notebook. I removed my HDD and it appears to be an IDE drive (like standard desktop pc IDE connector, but slightly smaller and more pins), but I may be wrong. --- Hope this is enough info. Help plse somebody!!:'(
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Jump to PostDid you are using ACER Notebook ?
Jump to PostYou can download many programs that will check your hardware for you without needing an operating system. Go to the manufactures website and see what software they have got for checking hdd. Have a look at this link should be relevant.
Jump to PostThere are a few differnet programs out there that will boot from dos and will check hard drives have a quick google.
Also try supergrub if its a boot problem it will at least let you get onto your partiton. However if your hdd is dead it wont work! …
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To check whether the disk has been corrupted, you could put it into an enclousre and attach it via USB to another PC.
You do need to see whether or not the disk is at all recognisable anywhere else.
Thank you Suspishio. I will need to find somebody with an enclosure for a notebook HDD and do just that. Much appreciated.:)
capie
Did you are using ACER Notebook ?
Hi Thunderstorm98. No, I am using a Seagate 40gb on a Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Pro 2010 notebook(18 months old). May just be a coincedence that my HDD packed up just at the time that I rebooted, but I think it has something to do with the Spyware Doctor anti-spyware software (see original post)
I asked it because Acer Notebooks have maually configuration for HDD Controller in BIOS. Please ensure in your Notebook about it.
I have tried resetting bios but to no effect. There is a section where i can specify configuration manually for the drive, but have no idea about how many cylinders, sectors etc - -
will it help if I take the drive out and read that data from the physical drive, and then input that in the manual config??
Just thinking about it - does the HDD even spin up in your laptop? That has to be a firt step.
if it doesn't, buy a USB enclosure (that's a good investment anyway) and attach that to your laptop with the HDD inserted; you'll know if it spins up. You may even have a BIOS option to boot from USB.
If it span up in the enclosure but not in the laptop, then there's a laptop hardware problem. If it did not spin up in the enclosure, then your HDD is physically shot in some way.
You can download many programs that will check your hardware for you without needing an operating system. Go to the manufactures website and see what software they have got for checking hdd. Have a look at this link should be relevant.
http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/seatools/
Post the results on here will see what i can do im normally a vista person so if i dont reply pm me!
I downloaded seatools for dos but my notebook will not boot from that on CD. I tried putting the iso image on my usb flash drive and changed usb storage device to the first boot option, but notebook will not boot from that either. Just get the "operating system not found" message Suspishio asked whether my drive spins up or not. I can hear it wanting to spin, but making a faint repeated clicking sound. I guess that answers his question.
I am wanting to determine if my HDD is shot without taking it to a professiional company since they want to charge me too much just to determine that. I am extremely cash strapped and would rather just work towards buying a new HDD. I hope my notebook MB is ok. Are there any pointers in BIOS that can assist me in determining that?
Thank you so much to all who are assisting me with my problem:)
There are a few differnet programs out there that will boot from dos and will check hard drives have a quick google.
Also try supergrub if its a boot problem it will at least let you get onto your partiton. However if your hdd is dead it wont work! It is very easy to use.
Dont take your hdd to a company they will charge u loads to probably tell u somethin u suspected. The clicking could be a number of things but I dont think its a good sound.
Most bios wont have a disk checker in the menu but will check it on a post (power on self test). Thats the beep u hear and some output is normmaly put on the screen too. You can sometime set it to do an extented check try this see what results it give and just search your bios menus or manual as you may be lucky and have a drive check tool within your bios.
http://motherboards.mbarron.net/download/index.htm
have a look here see if theres a good tool didnt have a chance to look myself. If nor just try googleing "dos hdd checker" etc
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