I downloaded the service manual and at a brief glance it looked as if you can get the HDD out without dismantling the machine. Im on dial-up and downloading that (6 or 700MBs) would be totally rediculous. Last night I looked around the forum and found an interesting thread about accessing problematic HDDs and about D'loading the latest knoppix and burning it as an ISO Image to disk to make it bootable. Unfortunately I found in my searches last night that the general consensus is that this Laptop 'eats HDDs' and has known heat probs.Ĭould I use my (genuine) XP Pro Install disk to try and start up this laptop? Its OEM and I might be wrong but I didnt think you could do that. I dont know if Id be confident poking into the laptop, so if possible Id like to try things more in line with ascertaining if the HDD is dead or alive and then work from there. Im pretty sure theres only one memory module. My brother has another LCD screen, could we try booting with that? The Laptop isnt with me, so Im trying to find out as much as I can before I travel back out there and try some things. Ive also tried to warn him to MAKE SURE YOU GET THE INSTALL DISKS!!!! whether you get a new computer or 2nd hand. Not that I have any great tech knowledge, but Ive tried to 'educate' my brother to protect his computer with an UPS and likewise tried to instill the value of backups. Oh yes I have a Smartups1000I which protects my MAC and PC plus some music gear. What do you guys reckon? Motherboard fried? If the computer was 'spiked' then why would it even be possible to boot it at all afterwards? All I could hear was a very faint short dull knock about once a second. I bent down and listened for any HDD noises. I turned it on and all that happens is 3 green lights that come on (top left) and I think its the 2nd orange light from the left at the front which flashes. I went to visit my brother today to see if I could figure out if the HDD is still working or what.

They took it in to see if the tech guy could get it to boot and nope nothing doing. Next day my brothers wife goes to boot up and got to the desktop, then the screen just went black and any attempts to reboot have failed. That was OK and then from what they tell me there appeared to be no strange noises or problems in closing it down. Heres the scenario.Īfter an electrical storm and a subsequent power cut, it went onto the battery. That being the case, the primary goal is to try and get some videos and piks off the HDD if at all possible and Id appreciate some thoughts on diagnostics and the best thing to do, as I'm not familiar with laptops. This laptop is getting pretty old.They got it 2nd hand. My brother has a problem with his Compaq EVO N610c.

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