Replacing the hard drive in a Compaq 2500

[JE78]

A friend of mine dropped me off her laptop to format and reinstall XP. After trying about 20 times to format it i've come to the conclusion that the hard drive is bad and needs to be replaced. I've never touched a laptop's hardware so I don't have the first clue where to start, so i'm going to need all the help I can get. Is there a manual or something that shows how to remove this laptop? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[TheCanuck]

Try looking here (see page 39):

Service Manual

 

[JE78]

Thanks, sure looks pretty easy. Anyone ever done one?

 

[JE78]

With this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822146202 hard drive work in the Compaq 2500?

 

[unfalliblekrutch]

yea, but for very little additional cost, you can buy a 5400rpm hard drive instead. The difference will be night and day

 

[JE78]

i'm not the one buying it. I gave her a few options and this is the one she picked. Thanks.

 

[Ionizer86]

Funny she'd pick a 4200rpm disk. I'd have gotten the 5400rpm disk with 16MB cache for a similar amount.

 

[TheCanuck]

Get her this one: Cheaper & Better Drive

If she doesn't want a faster drive for less money then I'd refuse to fix her computer!

 

[cheesehead]

I recall having purchased a Hitachi TravelStar 60GB 5400rpm/8mb disk for about 85$ a month or two back. The Hitachi TravelStar lines are very good drives, from what I can tell. (I own two; my 7200rpm/60gb disk is still running fine.)
EDIT:
You can get the exact same drive for 99$. For the improved performance and 50% greater capacity, it's worth the extra 24$.
http://www.a2zcomp.com/buy.asp?REF=12&SKU=08K0638

 

[JE78]

Thanks for all the info guys. Another noob question, when I get the drive installed all I have to do is start up the laptop and with the XP cd in the drive and format and install windows right? There isn't a spcial process for notebooks is there?

 

[jm0ris0n]

Nope, just boot to cd and format/install away ~!

[edit] You might want to have some drivers for the system accessible [/edit]

 

[JE78]

Thanks! Wasn't 100% but figaurd it would be the same as a desktop.