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Thread ID: 125105	2012-06-07 00:34:00	Is this a hard drive failure?	tuiruru (12277)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1280066	2012-06-07 00:34:00	Probably a daft question but.... A couple of weeks ago SWMBO reported that her lappie wasn't starting. When I went and tuned it on it was fine. Anyway, it got a bit "iffy" after that - sometimes firing up and sometimes not. It was very cold mornings at the time and plugging the power supply in seemed to solve the problem for a bit. Anyway, to cut a long story short, it wont kick into life at all now. Plugging the power supply in and pressing the "ON" button causes various lights to come on and a few attempts ago the fan even started briefly. However, now the light's stay on for about 10 secs and then everything goes off. No sound of the hard drive starting and certainly the hard drive indicator light doesn't even wink.No splash screen either so you can't start it in any sort of safe mode. So, is it a hard drive failure or could it be something else? It's a Compaq Presario running Vista Business. Thanks - I wait with bated breath......	tuiruru (12277)
1280067	2012-06-07 01:19:00	Its one of two things at a educated guess, either the HDD or a motherboard problem. Normally in a case like this I would remove the HDD from the lappie, attach it to a known working PC and see if it fires/ spins up. If it does then the problem could be the motherboard, if its still dead, then yep RIP HDD. Another test I do is put in a known good working HDD and see if the same thing happens ( not booting). Basically you can guess all you like, but until its actually determined what is giving the problem then its only a guess.	wainuitech (129)
1280068	2012-06-07 03:46:00	As soon as it had problems you backed up? I hope.	Nick G (16709)
1280069	2012-06-07 05:24:00	The cold might have caused some bad connections. Try re-plugging all your power and data connections for drives etc.	Agent_24 (57)
1280070	2012-06-07 05:31:00	The cold might have caused some bad connections. Try re-plugging all your power and data connections for drives etc. I had the same problem with a laptop ages back -win 2000 ages. I'd add to that by saying try starting it up in a warm room, that is what helped my old one when it wouldn't start up in the cold.	Nick G (16709)
1280071	2012-06-07 06:35:00	Its one of two things at a educated guess, either the HDD or a motherboard problem. Normally in a case like this I would remove the HDD from the lappie, attach it to a known working PC and see if it fires/ spins up. If it does then the problem could be the motherboard, if its still dead, then yep RIP HDD. Another test I do is put in a known good working HDD and see if the same thing happens ( not booting). Basically you can guess all you like, but until its actually determined what is giving the problem then its only a guess. Thanks Wainui	tuiruru (12277)
1280072	2012-06-07 06:36:00	As soon as it had problems you backed up? I hope. All the data from her user folder, yes - on two separate drives	tuiruru (12277)
1280073	2012-06-07 06:39:00	I had the same problem with a laptop ages back -win 2000 ages. I'd add to that by saying try starting it up in a warm room, that is what helped my old one when it wouldn't start up in the cold. Ho, unfortunately the "warming up" bit doesn't work. What I find strange is all the indicator lights (apart from the HDD) come on briefly and then die	tuiruru (12277)
1280074	2012-06-07 06:41:00	Maybe stuffed PSU or motherboard then	Agent_24 (57)
1280075	2012-06-07 07:00:00	Maybe stuffed PSU or motherboard then In which case, is it better to try and replace the mobo or just flag the whole thing and buy a new lappie (she's not a "power user")?	tuiruru (12277)
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