How do I work out what is wrong with a laptop?

[Magic_x_uk]

Hi, got a laptop (xp) that wont boot windows.

Just keeps attempting to start windows xp but then coming up with a blue screen and some numbers, but flicks of so quick I don't have time to read it. This is in normal or safe mode.

Tried to reinstall windows XP with a disc in the laptop but then it keeps popping up with something along the lines of 'cant find hard drive'

Any ideas of what to try next?

I do not have any means of being able to plug the HD from the laptop into anything else/ caddy etc to check it unfortunately.

 

[Magic_x_uk]

Can I do the following.

Take Laptop HD out and pop into my pc, or are the sata connectors different on a laptop HD compared to a normal 3.5" HD?

Not sure on this one.

I really need to buy a caddy or something suitable for reading laptop HD's

error code is
*** STOP: 0x00000024 (0x00190444, 0x849DCD88, 0xC0000102, 0x00000000)

 

[Magic_x_uk]

well i think the HD is detected in the BIOS, it is NOT anywhere in BOOT options. Just running a HD self test, which is in the BIOS, see what that throws up.

Just did not know if I could physically put a 2.5inch laptop HD in a 3.5inch HD sata caddy, Didnt know if the connectors were the same or different?




Thing is I have a XP Disc, I popped that it and tried 'R' for repair and also tried a new install, just came up with a message along the lines of 'cannot find hard drive/no hard drive installed'


OKAY, ran the 70min BIOS HD test, no errors came up, tried to reboot and again nothing.

Most odd.

I wouldnt care if it would just allow me to re install XP, but just keeps saying cannot find hard drive

 

[Magic_x_uk]

faulty HDD or faulty HDD ribbon cable [if your laptop has one] try and boot from an external source such as cd or USB and see if that works. Or you can remove the HDD, plug in into a caddy and run hd tune on another computer

edit:yes you can plug it into your pc

What can I try as in booting from CD or a USB stick to check?

Like i said, when i tried to install XP from a CD, it came up ' cant find HD'

 

[Magic_x_uk]

i think i may need to load sata drivers during win xp installation.
BUT i cannot as
A) no floppy drive on this laptop and
B) it wont allow me to choose where the drivers are.

It just expects them to be on a floppy.

What is a work around for this?




Thinking of trying LINUX LIVE CD.

see if that works either on a CD or USB, can anyone point to the right place as there seems to be lots of versions. Want to try and get data off of HD first.

thanks

 

[Magic_x_uk]

popped it out and connected to into a usb caddy, the HD from the laptop (seagate 120GB SATA) started actually BEEPING, i have never heard a HD do that before.

Anyhow, disconnected and connected it a few times and it finally showed up on 'my computer' as a drive, but when I clicked it nothing, a few times it said 'you need to format this drive' I tried that and it did actually allow me to format it.

So HD is formatted...But how can I install XP on that laptop as it asks me for SCSI drivers from a floppy and of course laptop now dont have floppy drives?

Sod it. Tried to install windows 7 on it. Worked perfectly (well so far)

Laptop working fine now. Or at least certainly seems so.

getting from windows 7 a battery warning, which because laptop some 3 years old. Can understand.

but windows 7 seems to be working fine.

 

[Magic_x_uk]

Chili. If you read what I put. I could NOT install XP as it kept saying 'cannot find Hard Drive'

yet when I did a install with Win 7, it installed fine.

Cannot understand why it wouldn't allow an XP install though.

 

[Magic_x_uk]

i couldn't find anything regarding that name in my Bios?