Hi,
I have an Acer laptop and it's about 3 years old. Last week or so it decided that when I tried to start it it couldn't find the operating system and also made a clicking noise. Eventually, after trying to turn it on about 3 times it did boot up and since then has worked fine...that is until this morning. This morning, it did the exact same thing, only that it won't get past the 'can't find operating system' stage.

I am lucky in that at least at uni we have computer rooms, but I am worried my hard drive might not be able to be revived and that I'd lose everything.

Any ideas apart from me glaring at it?

N

Yes. Hard drives wear out. They might last 2 years, they might last ten. You have classic symptoms of hard drive failure. When you notice the symptoms you should immediately make backups of all your essential or irreplaceable data. What you should not do is fiddle about until it finally boots and then just carry on using it until it fails permanently. If by some chance you do get it to boot then don't hang about - back up your data.

There is a trick of refrigerating a drive that sometimes gets it to boot for long enough to retrieve some data. I think you should seek out your local propellor-head

Doesn't sound good, especially if you have no backups. Do you have, or can you borrow, a floppy that you can boot from? If the hard disk is dead it may be possible to recover the data, but it wouldn't be cheap.

Well, it's just turned on, and I've copied any vital documents to a memory stick. I do have a copy of some stuff at home, but not everything.

Would I have to get a new laptop if this hard drive fails?

A repair shop should be able to install a new hard disk. It isn't as easy with a laptop as with a desktop, but I think it's possible.

Can you copy the remaining documents on to CDs or floppies?

I've still got plenty of room on memory stick to copy stuff onto

Ok, well my boyfriend is the definition of computer geek so I've picked up a few things. As mentioned above by 'Mad Tom', if you stick the hard drive in the freezer it un-b0rks itself, to use technical terms .

Also, this is exactly the same problem as what happens with my desktop PC. I purchased an external hard drive (dabs.com are pretty reliable and quite cheap for these) and have mirrored my entire hard disk onto that as a just-in-case precaution. If it refuses to start up at all, try switching it on then holding down the 'F2' button until you see the Windows start-up screen.

Hope that has helped a bit......but I'm not myself a techno-nerd (actually I'm slightly 'technologically-retarded' as others put it).

pikkoloflautist

Unfortunately, it doesn't always work, as I know from trying to rescue data on a friend's hard drive recently.

But, if you are successful getting it to work after quarter of an hour in the freezer, work quickly to back up files on it because it won't work for long and you'll probably only have a few minutes before it stops working again.

Hard drives always fail eventually, so it's important to keep a back up of important documents.

No. Hard drives in notebooks are replaceable - they are a standard size. Get the Largest capacity you can afford.

It is not difficult to do it yourself, as long as you obey the warnings about earthing yourself to the cage of the computer before touching any components.

The only thing that is more difficult about a laptop than a desktop machine is opening it up in the first place. As well as the obvious screws that you can see there are usually a few hidden ones. There will be some in the battery compartment, and maybe in any compartment for plug in cards and extra memory. Sometimes they are under the keys on the keyboard, so have to prise the keys off and click them back on afterwards. Sometimes you have to remove the entire keyboard before you can open the case. The only tools you are likely to need are a couple of watchmaker's screwdrivers of appropriate size and a pair of tweezers.

There are two golden rules:

1. Don't force anything - if the case does not open easily you haven't found all the screws yet

2. Keep detailed records of what order you removed things, and exactly which screw goes there. You may think you will remember. Trust me - you won't!

You may be able to find detailed instructions if you search the web - but you'll need to know the exact model of your laptop.

Cheers
Tom

I replaced the drive on my daughter's laptop a couple of years ago when it started to fail just like yours. Although I found it nerve wracking it was actually quite easy.

You don't need to open the whole case up -- the drive is usually under a panel on the underside somewhere. You should be able to download a manual for your particular model which will tell you where it is.

Just to be safe I used an anti-static wrist strap attached to a radiator. As Mad Tom says, make a note of where all the screws go (take a photo or two) and don't drop any! I found the worst bit was unplugging the old drive. There are about 24 tiny pins which are pretty tight; just gradually ease it a little at a time, working your way along from end to end. When you fit the new drive make sure you get all the pins lined up before pushing it home.

There are some sites here and here which give you an idea.

Isn't there a computer tech at the uni that could do this for you? And I hope you have the disks to reinstall the OS and your programs.

Good luck!

Wow, thanks for these ideas! I think I'll wait until I go home and let Dad touch it.

It's an Acer TravelMate 4060 by the way

Stick them to a strip of sellotape

And easily straightened with a pair of fine tipped long nose pliers - used delicately

I had a lap top like that. I discovered that it did boot up if I wacked it against the fireplace hearth a few times it would turn on. Eventually though, it fell apart
I had one before that you could only get to work if you typed quickly. Was very strange. I don't think spilling irn bru over it helped much though... But the trusty old thing is still under my bed

Well it turned on first time today

My last lap top was fine, except that the fan stopped working effectively, so it would over heat and shut down. If I wanted to use it for more than 30 mins or so, I had to sit it on a bag of frozen peas...

Its amazing what we'll put up with from creaking computers!

Nevertheless, you can't rely on it any longer. Keep backing up everything that you need and get ready to fit a new drive. It looks quite straightforward -- you can download the manual from this site.


Yes, but still best avoided!

Actually I was getting muddled, as any bent pins would be on the failing drive so wouldn't matter. Two years after I replaced the drive on my daughter's laptop she dropped it and bust the power input socket . I drew the line at fixing that but fitted the drive, which was ok, into an external caddy so that she could copy her data over to a shiny new Mac.....