No disk drive found

[travelgrrl]

My sister has a Compaq 2810CL laptop.  The laptop started acting up and her husband fooled around in the Bios, then tried to do a "restore" of the OS, and now...

...the OS cannot be reinstalled because 'set-up' cannot find the internal hard disk.  I have rebooted the laptop, clicked F2, and got into the BIOS Setup Utility.  In the "Main" tab it indicates there is no internal disk drive.  Somehow, my brother-in-law managed to make a faux paux that I am trying to fix, so that I can restore the OS.  However, I have been unsuccesful.

Help!  Anything would be appreciated.

[alexfue12]

1. There could be other options in the BIOS pertaining to the hardware. Try looking in the Boot tab in the BIOS and there should be something about hard drives in there.

2. If you think ur up to it, try opening up the laptop and checking the connection to the hard drive. the hard drive caddy (the thing holding the hard drive) might be able to just pull out of the side or bottom of the laptop as well, so look for that first before diving into a mess of PCBs and wires.

[uesquebeathus]

take it carefully and patiently if you rush at it that is not good, make notes of what you see on the screen use the "Pause/ Break" button to pause the screen during boot up.
1st
switch the laptop on holding down the "F10" key, this should get you into the bios, on the screen you should see a choice for default settings which should reset the bios to a normal unchanged routine, then try a restart.
2nd
if that does not work again "F10" into the bios in the second page tab you should see a boot list make sure the first boot device is the hard drive, second cd/dvd, and third floppy. then try a restart.
3rd
try "F10" again and carefully go through all the bios items, look for hard drive and boot items, make sure that the laptop is not set to boot from a cd or usb or other device. and that power saving or hibernation has not been set up
It may be that the hard drive has packed up or another problem like overheating has caused damage, when it starts is the cooling fan running?
if the laptop is booting at all can you see what is showing on the screen does the CPU show then the drives and ram 256mb or 512mb should be showing.
the hard drive is in a sloted location in the bottom probably using one screw to hold its cover on, check that it is in the connector, also locate the ram also in the bottom make sure that is slotted in correctly
 

[travelgrrl]

Thanks so much for your kind assistance; however, when the laptop boots up, all I get is a black screen with a messages in this order:

Initializing MBA: Ctrl + Alt + B to configure...
Argon PXE Boot Agent v2.01 (BIOS integration)
Pre-boot Execution Environment
PXE-E61:  Media Test Failure, Check Cable
Operation System not found

I tried Ctrl + Alt + B and a window came up that stated:
Config Message:    Enabled
Message Timeout: 3 Seconds
Boot Failure Prompt: Wait for timeout
Boot Failure:  Next boot device

I have options to change, escape, restore previous settings, and to move the cursor

Frankly, I am at a loss.  Unfortunately, my brother-in-law tried to so an OS restore, after playing in the BIOS (He has not expertise whatsoever), and somehow, he did something in BIOS that caused it not to recognize the Hard Disk Drive.  I have pulled the laptop apart, and the hard drive is connected.

Oh gosh, Help!

Thanks,
Lucretia

[travelgrrl]

Well, I restarted this laptop and clicked ESC.  I got the "Boot Menu" window, and it looks like this:

1.  Removable Devices
2.  CD-ROM Drive
3.  +Hard Drive
4.  Built-In Lan

<Enter Setup>

When I arrow down and click on +Hard Drive, I get the black screen with "Operating System not found" again.

When I arrow down and click on "Enter Setup", I get the PhoenixBIOS Setup Utility.  On the "Main" tab, under "Internal Hard Disk", it says "None".  If I tab over to the "Tools" tab, there is a "Hard Drive Self Test".  When I click on it, though, it tells me there is no hard drive disk.  Whether I try to run the hard drive self test or not, I am unable to arrow forward or backward to any of the other tabs.  It is like it is frozen.  The tabs I have on the BIOS Setup Utility screen are:  Main, Advanced, Tools, Security, Boot, Exit.  I cannot arrow beyond "Tools".

This is a mystery, but I am unwilling to give up.  Gosh, I wish I knew what my bro-in-law did so I could reconstruct this 'crime'.

Any help will be appreciate greatly.

Thanks.

[contrex]

You may be blaming your BIL unfairly. Hard drives do fail, and laptop drives lead a harder life than most. You say that the machine started acting up. Your BIL may have entered the bios and found the same as you did. You cannot change any BIOS settings such that the hard drive will never, ever be recognised again.

I have noticed a phenomenon which i call "hardware failure denial" where people will do prolonged tinkering with software,  perform the most amazing mental gymnastics and blame hurling to avoid facing the fact that a drive or the memory has crapped out.

Read the messages on the boot screen again.

[alexfue12]

ah yes, i have went through denial, especially when my fx5200 died. Even though it had to be one of the worst cards out on the market, it was the best one i've had at all

hey, i've noticed that you said the laptop was "acting up". Any specific symptoms?

[travelgrrl]

Well, I am not giving the BIL a hard time.  In fact, I gave my sister and BIL a brand new laptop over the weekend.  Still, I would like to get this one resurrected.  So...

...it may be worst fear, then - the hard drive disk.  Well, laptop hard drives are pretty inexpensive.  My only issue now is to get the original hard drive to slide out of the casing.  it should, and I have unscrewed every single screw on this laptop, and the thing will not budge. 

Any ideas, anyone?

Thanks so much,
Lucretia