Laptop took a knock...

Evol · 9 Jan 2009 at 15:41

Long story short my mrs tripped in our living room while holding her laptop, which managed to bounce about 3 times and end up on the other side of the room.

The lid was closed thankfully, but now it wont boot. Just hangs on the very first startup screen.

Is it likely that something is well and truly screwed? I know harddrives are pretty sensitive to knocks and the like - or could it just be somethings come loose somewhere?

Any response or input welcome.

beermonster · 9 Jan 2009 at 16:08

Possibly the hard drive has come addrift, its usually under a panel on the base. Whats the make and model will be able to advise better.

Mr Paul · 9 Jan 2009 at 16:29

Something could have popped out from the mobo??

Evol · 9 Jan 2009 at 16:34

The laptop is an Acer Aspire Gemstone 5710, or something along those lines. Was bought as a present by her parents about a year ago.

I had a look on the underside, it appears only the battery is removable without unscrewing some screws in other compartments, is it worth me having a look?

beermonster · 9 Jan 2009 at 17:25

yeah usually there will be a memory cover, hd cover and posisbly a wifi cover, or one cover may cover all the above.

slinxy · 10 Jan 2009 at 19:14

sounds like the hdd died... remove the hdd and the cd-rom drive and shake the machine and see if you can hear anything rattling in the machine. Take it from a guy who fixes them for a living, its unlikely that anything has come off the mainboard as they so well screwed on, and on most laptops the mainboard is pretty much the only thing in them.