Computer help, please

[TripleDigitRide]

A friend of mine is here with her laptop that won't boot up. Can I plug the laptop HD into my PC to see if her HD is bad? If so, can you explain how I go about doing that?

Thanks in advance.

[trblmkr13]

you need a housing case for the hard drive and you can just connect it via USB you can get them at BB or any computer store for around 20-40 dollars

Edited January 9, 2010 by trblmkr13
add info

[garethsk]

If it is a newer laptop with a SATA hard drive, and you have SATA ports in your PC, then yes you can. Simply plug in the power and a SATA cable.

If it is an older IDE hard drive, then you will need an adapter of some kind.

[jtluttrell]

So, the computer turns on but windows won't load?

[Garufa]

Is there any message during boot?

Chances are highly likely the drive is bad. Very common on laptops.

There is an USB adaptor cable you can buy that will allow you to plug that drive (after removing from laptop) into another computer and just copy what you need off of it.

Depending on what kind of drive it is...there are "kits" you can get for this. Google around for USB to IDE/SATA converter cables. They might even have them at the local electronics store.

[Garufa]

you need a housing case for the hard drive and you can just connect it via USB you can get them at BB or any computer store for around 20-40 dollars

No housing case needed only converter cable.

[TripleDigitRide]

The laptop HD is SATA. I plug it into the SATA cable on my PC, I can actually feel the laptop HD doing something, but not sure what to do from there.

The laptop HD has two sections for connecting cables, the SATA cables on my PC only connect to one of the two sections. But I feel it running, so that should be connected properly, correct?

[TripleDigitRide]

So, the computer turns on but windows won't load?

Correct. The little green bar thingy just scrolls and scrolls and scrolls and scrolls.

[trblmkr13]

use windows explorer and check if you see the drive

[TripleDigitRide]

use windows explorer and check if you see the drive

I'm using XP. I go to 'My Computer', but it's not showing that the laptop HD is connected to my PC. Is that what I'm supposed to do?

Edited January 9, 2010 by TripleDigitRide

[trblmkr13]

Yeah it should show up there

[TripleDigitRide]

Yeah it should show up there

I feel the laptop HD doing something when I plug it into the SATA cable, I go to 'My Computer', but it's not showing up under 'Hard Disk Drives'.

[TripleDigitRide]

Would the fact that my PC is running XP and the laptop HD is Vista have anything to do with it?

[trblmkr13]

no it should detect the files regardless, but you do hear the harddrive spinning correct?

[TripleDigitRide]

no it should detect the files regardless, but you do hear the harddrive spinning correct?

Well, it sounds like it may be spinning, but not really sure what it's doing. I can hear a slight hummmmmm and can actually feel it.

[trblmkr13]

I think your best option is still to get a case that will allow you to connect via usb and if it doesn't work just return the case I did this for my neighbor when his laptop went down

[jtluttrell]

Can you boot the laptop in safe mode? I'm not quite sure what you'll accomplish by hooking up the HD to your pc unless you're just trying to copy files (which may be a good idea if you have to reformat and do a clean install of windows). However, I think if you have the windows cd, you can restore without losing your files.

Edited January 9, 2010 by jtluttrell

[Oh Shoot]

Is laptop drive on it's own controller now? Meaning, don't even SATA HD's have to be jumpered as slaves to be seen on same HD controller with another drive?

- OS

[JeffL]

The laptop HD is SATA. I plug it into the SATA cable on my PC, I can actually feel the laptop HD doing something, but not sure what to do from there.

The laptop HD has two sections for connecting cables, the SATA cables on my PC only connect to one of the two sections. But I feel it running, so that should be connected properly, correct?

It sounds to me like you only have the SATA power cable hooked up. The smaller connector is for the SATA data cable. Does your CD-ROM drive hook up using SATA? You can steal that cable and it should just show up as another drive under Explorer.

[JeffL]

Is laptop drive on it's own controller now? Meaning, don't even SATA HD's have to be jumpered as slaves to be seen on same HD controller with another drive?

- OS

SATA drives don't work like IDE drives in this regard. A SATA data cable only has two connections, one for the drive and the other for the motherboard. If a SATA drive has a jumper it is so you can run it in compatibility mode for SATA 150 if you have a SATA 300 drive.

[saintsfanbrian]

If the drive is spinning it should be read. You can right click on My Computer and go to Manage. Once there go to Disk Management. You should see the drive listed there. If you do not you should also check the Device Manager (also under Management) are there any items that have a yellow ! on them? This would indicate a device that has not loaded correctly.

If the drive is truly spinning then it should show in one of these two places it may simply be configured as a drive letter that you already have enabled (happens frequently with jump drives on network computers.)

If you have a Windows Vista DVD you can repair the installation which should leave files in tact. When you boot to the DVD and start setup it should detect that Windows is already installed and prompt you to repair.

Alternatively you could upgrade to Windows 7 since it is "all the rage"

Before doing either of those see if it will boot to Safe Mode (hold down F8 while computer is booting).

If safe mode works then there is a driver or process that is causing the problem.

Try launching System Restore by launching MSCONFIG and clicking on System Restore and choosing a date with a restore point when the computer worked.

If that is successful you will be back and running in no time. Otherwise you will have to go the repair route.

[TripleDigitRide]

Can you boot the laptop in safe mode? I'm not quite sure what you'll accomplish by hooking up the HD to your pc unless you're just trying to copy files (which may be a good idea if you have to reformat and do a clean install of windows). However, I think if you have the windows cd, you can restore without losing your files.

When I go in Safe Mode, it takes me to Startup Repair (in a round-a-bout way. The Startup Repair is now searching for problems. It says it can take up to an hour or so, so I'll be here a while.

Is laptop drive on it's own controller now? Meaning, don't even SATA HD's have to be jumpered as slaves to be seen on same HD controller with another drive?

- OS

I have no idea.

[garethsk]

The laptop HD is SATA. I plug it into the SATA cable on my PC, I can actually feel the laptop HD doing something, but not sure what to do from there.

The laptop HD has two sections for connecting cables, the SATA cables on my PC only connect to one of the two sections. But I feel it running, so that should be connected properly, correct?

There should be 2 cables, the wider is the power, the narrower the data. You'll need to hook up both cables, and then boot your PC.

You can go to: Control Panel -> Administritive Tools -> Computer Management, then look under the "Disk Management" branch to see if the OS sees the drive, but the partitions should appear in Windows Explorer if the drive can be seen.

[trblmkr13]

are you having any luck TDR?

[redneck]

Use it for target practice !!!!