Laptop hard drive is dead?

[Humate]

I posted a while back here: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17598166&highlight=thinkpad+x41

ive had the hard drive clicking problem ever since i bought the laptop but it didnt sound like it was failing.

Anyway, now when i boot i get an error "a disk read error occured, press ctrl+alt+del to restart". I tried taking the drive out and pluging it back in. That didnt work.

Ive been through bios and booted with diagnostics but i get the same error.

Pressing the "access ibm button" also fails to launch the thinkvantage rescue and recovery software that contains the PC doctor hard drive checker thingy.

The laptop doesnt have a CD drive, and i dont have an external one. Shall i give up now and just buy another hard drive for it?

bye bye mr hard drive

 

[Humate]

i have an external floppy actually. Maybe i could download some free software to test the hard drive?

IBM website says:
In the BIOS select Startup and then press the Enter key.
Select Boot and then press the Enter key.
The display should list Hard Drive with a plus (+) next to it if the drive is detected by the system BIOS.
Click the plus (+) to expand the hard drive branch and confirm that the Device Name (or Drive ID) appears normal (example: IC25T060ATCS05-0).


However i dont see a + next to my drive... but i have been in this bit of the BIOS before when the hard drive was working a few weeks ago and i didnt notice the + anyway. The drive is in the list because i moved it to the top.

Oh well... new hard drive time... i might just buy a new laptop, this one is too slow for me anyway.