My laptop needs life support

So I think my laptop may be seriously (to put it in tech terms) fecked. Basically it keeps crashing when I turn it on. It gets to the Windows logo loading thing, then the screen goes blue/blank for a second and it restarts. If left it will do this for hours. If I turn it off and on I used to get the option to start it in safe mode, last working settings and all that but none of the options make any difference and its not even giving me that now. I can change boot order and enter setup on F10 but nothing seems to make a difference and I wouldn't know what to do anyway. Tonight I tried running a "Primary Hard Drive Self Test" twice but each time it stopped at 50% and tells me #2-07 fail. I presume this isn't good. It's Windows XP. Interweb seems to suggest I may need a new hard drive.

Any ideas?

You need these guys:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpH1Zn3hPuI

On a more serious note- it looks very much like your hard drive is fecked.

If you can't get what you need in safe mode, you may want to put it in a plastic bag in the freezer for half an hour and if it boots then save everything you need off it before it dies for good.

Have you tried using a live version of Linux that runs from a cd to see if the drive is still visible, If it is you could drag the data onto a memory stick.

Knoppix being a good one. You could always take out the hard drive, stick it on a caddy and take the data off that way as well. Its sounds like its a new hard drive alright though.

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Originally Posted by Battery Rover

Have you tried using a live version of Linux that runs from a cd to see if the drive is still visible, If it is you could drag the data onto a memory stick.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by A face

Knoppix being a good one. You could always take out the hard drive, stick it on a caddy and take the data off that way as well. Its sounds like its a new hard drive alright though.

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I'll try to do this tonight, though not sure exactly how to do it. If the problem is the hard drive then simply replacing it would have the computer up and running straight away again then? Also, does the hard drive have to be the same brand as the laptop (Compaq)? And is there anything I should look for in a new hard drive?

The hard drive died on my laptop a couple of years ago. I was advised just to get a new laptop. They did manage to copy the hard-drive across to an external drive though.

Check your warranty if you got one at the time of purchase; maybe you can get a replacement or discount laptop.

I intend to get a new one anyway in the new year but just don't have the funds at the minute. Even retrieving the stuff that's on the current drive can wait for now- at the moment a quick fix solution that means I have a working laptop is all I need. All the warranty info is in Dublin and I'm in London so can't do anything on that front at the moment either.

There's no quick fix for something like that I'm afraid, it's almost certainly a hardware problem. If it isn't, it's a nasty software problem.

Have you tried popping the screws off the memory / hard drive access panels and reseating everything?

Just tried it there now but no luck I'm afraid.