Hard drive problem in laptop.

[Cuda1447]

I've been having this issue fro a few weeks now, its very strange. I'll be using my computer and it'll freeze up. After about 30 seconds of freezing I get a blue screen. Upon restarting the computer I get one of two screens. One is an operating system not found screen (rare) or the other is a black screen with some information that flashes very quickly, but essentially my hard drive is not detected and it takes me to my setup screen. If I go into bios I do not see my hard drive there.

I can restart 10-20 times to no avail. Eventually though, the computer will start up just fine and I can use it again like normal. It'll work for a day or two and then do this again. I've opened up the laptop to check the hard drive connections. Everything seems to be connected properly. I'm not really to sure where to go from here? Any thoughts?

 

[oynaz]

Sounds like a failing motherboard.

 

[Cuda1447]

Oh really.... that's more... shitty, than I had expected. Any diagnostic programs I can run?

 

[Bubbaleone]

You may have a corrupt boot loader or MBR but you fail to mention what OS you're running. If you're running Windows 7, insert either your repair disk, or Windows 7 installation DVD in the optical drive, then reboot to access the WinRE (Windows Recovery Environment), and run a startup repair. If you have have neither a repair or install disk, you can access the advanced repair option by rebooting and immediately tapping the F8 key. You may have to run the startup repair as many as three times before the WinRE gives you the message that "no problems were detected".

 

[Fardringle]

If the BIOS doesn't even see the drive, then it's not an Operating System problem.


Cuda, most laptops have a built-in diagnostic. It's pretty basic, but will run some general tests on the hardware. Different brands use different keys, but you usually press one of the function keys as soon as the BIOS screen appears in order to get into the startup/boot menu and select the diagnostic option from there. The laptop should actually say which key to press when it starts up (at the same time as "Press F2 (or whatever) to enter Setup").

 

[Cuda1447]

Will try those tips, thanks everyone.