laptop needs new harddrive?

[rosie78101]

I ran McAfee virus scan on my laptop (Dell Inspirion 1100) and the next day it crashed.  The scan detected some infected files and removed them.  The next day I turned it booted up but there was no start menu or icons displaying.  I called Dell and we ran a check on my laptop, they suggested it needed a new hard drive which costs almost $200.  Can I purchase the harddrive some where else and install it myself.  I am kind of confused, can someone explain it to me and with any suggestions.

Thanks,
rosie

[Calum]

You could indeed buy your own HDD and fit it yourself, saving lots of money
You'd need to make sure it fits in your notebook and that it had the right connector
Also, you'll need to open up your laptop, which isn't for the novice and will void your warranty

[street1 (RIP)]

Increasingly, notebook manufacturers are making it easier to remove and replace an internal hard drive. Physically, the entire process may take just a few minutes, requiring not much more than removing a screw, sliding the old drive out, and popping in the new one. Before you attempt this, though, check your notebook's documentation to get a sense of what's involved. If you don't feel comfortable following the instructions in the manual, you might want to hire someone for the job.


Below is your original size but,look around on the site.You may want a
40-60 GB drive for more storage.

http://www.drivesolutions.com/cgi-bin/shop/store.cgi?command=listitems&kind=laptop&pos=0&type=itemid&itemid=l109.5

[Fed]

I'd like to know how they came to the conclusion that you need a new hard drive.
They may be right but it doesn't sound right to me.

[street1 (RIP)]

I'd like to know how they came to the conclusion that you need a new hard drive.
They may be right but it doesn't sound right to me.

I got the same feeling.Someone would rather sell a $200.00 'not'"so they say" hard drive than address the problem.

So what programs did they run with the phone?

Do you have restore on a hidden partition?

Do you have your restore disk?

[rosie78101]

I was told to partition and format the disk, but when I entered Windows Setup the following message appeared:  The file mountmgr.sys is corrupted. Press any key to continue. Setup failed.
 
What do I do from here?

Thanks

[street1 (RIP)]

I was told to partition and format the disk, but when I entered Windows Setup the following message appeared:  The file mountmgr.sys is corrupted. Press any key to continue. Setup failed.
 
What do I do from here?

Thanks

Did this happen with your restore disk being used.If so you may have a faulty restore disk.

Did you have windows XP or, 2000?

[GX1_Man]

I would check the hard drive for fitness with the free diagnostics from the appropriate drive maker's site.

If you don't know what kind you have, use SeaTools from www.seagate.com

Post back with the results.