Help please, Toshiba laptop won't boot up

[Gouldy]

Hello,

I've got a Toshiba laptop I use purely for iTunes and for storing music and pictures. I've gone to turn the laptop on this morning and it won't boot up. I get met with a message that says that a removable storage device is missing and I can press enter or tab. If I press either, the screen goes blank for a few seconds and the error screen reappears.

Is there a fix for this?

Is there a way to boot the computer up?

Thanks in advance

 

[PP200t]

My toshiba has recently done this. Looks like my hard drive has gone. Does it say a disc is missing or something? Are there any noises from it on boot up?

 

[Gouldy]

No unusual noises, just noise it makes when I turn it on and the fan kicking in. Yes, it says that a hard drive is missing but it states that it an external one. I've never used an external HD with this laptop.

 

[sbridgey]

When you turn it on you should see a message saying how to choose boot device, press the required button, choose the hard drive and it should start up, if not it suggests the hard drive may me knackered.

 

[Silent_Scone]

Do you know where the HDD is located on the laptop? Usually two screws and a lip on Toshes. Unscrew it and re-seat it, might just be a dry join

 

[Gouldy]

When you turn it on you should see a message saying how to choose boot device, press the required button, choose the hard drive and it should start up, if not it suggests the hard drive may me knackered.

As I posted in the OP, pressing either the enter key or the tab key (my only options) does nothing but load the screen again after a blank screen appears for a few seconds. What would be my options if the HD had packed in?

Can I get anything off it and onto another HD?

 

[Gouldy]

Do you know where the HDD is located on the laptop? Usually two screws and a lip on Toshes. Unscrew it and re-seat it, might just be a dry join

I'll give that try, thanks.

 

[sbridgey]

If the hard drive is properly broken your data is lost, I had one last month that wouldn't boot but when I plugged it into my desktop it appeared and I grabbed the data, if your lucky its the same.

i would try pressing either f10 or f12 on startup, just hammer the key after turning it on, might show a boot selector, if it doesn't allow you to enter the BIOS it could be more serious than Hard drive but chances are your data is safe.

 

[Gouldy]

I've removed the panel covering the HDD, I removed the HDD and then replaced it making sure it's seated correctly.

I tried booting up the laptop and it has done exactly the same thing.

 

[Silent_Scone]

Is it a mechanical drive or an ssd?

If its mechanical you might find its the pcb that's shat itself. Which isn't too hard to retrieve data.

 

[MikeoftheQuays]

Whip it out and get someone to check the drive in their machine, see if they can see the drive as a non-bootable drive?

 

[Gouldy]

It's a Hitachi mechanical drive. There is a plastic compartment, underneath sits the HDD which can be sliden out and back in again. There is a computer shop round the corner from me, do you reckon it's worth taking up there?

Even if they can get the data off it, I have nowhere to transfer the data to

 

[PP200t]

Try pressing the esc button like mad when it starts up, that's how I got to the bios screen on mine, then select hard drive. It'll show either **gb or 0gb.

 

[Gouldy]

I've taken it to the computer shop nearby. They've tested the HDD and it's dead.

 

[MikeoftheQuays]

Unlucky.

You backed up?

 

[Gouldy]

Nope, I've been meaning to buy an external HDD for months and like a fool, I've kept putting it off. I'm not too bothered about the music as most of that is on CDs knocking around my house somewhere, it's the pictures I'm bothered about.

Gutted isn't the word.

 

[sbridgey]

If you need it back, there are companies out there that can retrieve data from a dead hard drive.

 

[Gouldy]

I've left it with them. They have sent the hard drive to head office to have a go at getting the data of it. Apparantly they have more facilities there.

 

[Silent_Scone]

Will be a clean room job. Have a good company down in the South West that do retrieval for fairly cheap. By fairly cheap I'm talking about £350.

 

[PP200t]

You've gotta have some serious stuff on the hard drive to warrant £350!!

 

[sbridgey]

How much are memories worth...

 

[Gouldy]

I'll live if I don't get anything off it, I'm still pretty pissed off though. I'm not paying £350 to retrieve the pictures.

 

[MikeoftheQuays]

There's software you can get fairly cheaply that will give it a go. It isn't right good though. You should get some stuff of it though. Unless of course it's completely knackered and won't even spin up.

 

[Gouldy]

I'm going to order a cable to connect the HDD to our lasses laptop and see if I can get anything off it.

 

[Gouldy]

I've been messing about with the laptop this morning. I've got into Toshiba's set up utility and it's displaying the HDD as if its being recognised. I've taken a picture of the screen;

 

[Gouldy]

Surely if the HDD has been recognised, then I can get data from it?

 

[sbridgey]

That is the BIOS btw.

i expect you will be able to retrieve data from it, but it may be a bit flakey and randomly drop out. Best thing to do is get a connector to plug it into a laptop usb port and see what happens.

 

[Gouldy]

I ordered one yesterday. Hopefully I'll be able to get some stuff off it.

 

[PP200t]

Looks like it working from the bios page, mine showed 0mb and still does.

 

[Gouldy]

On the screen shot, it shows I have 2050 something MB. Would that be some of the space on the hard drive?

 

[MikeoftheQuays]

Nah, that's your system memory.

The fact that the BIOS is recognising your hard drive is encouraging though.

 

[Gouldy]

Sounds promising, I'll have to wait until the transfer kit arrives to know for sure.

 

[Ronnie R]

I'm pretty sure you could get a Linux CD, boot from it and browse to the HD that way.

 

[Gouldy]

I don't know how to operate Linux. I've heard of it before but I've never used it.

 

[Silent_Scone]

You don't have to

 

[Gouldy]

Expand?

 

[Silent_Scone]

It's just a boot cd

 

[Gouldy]

So that'll get the laptop to boot up?

 

[Gouldy]

Right, I really wanted to buy a mac book pro but I've just spec'd one up and its come to £1200. I don't have £120, never mind £1200 so that's that idea out of the window.

Instead, I've decided I'm going to have a bash at repairing my laptop and to prevent this happening again, I've found a SATA solid state drive.

So;

I've looked at the laptop and removed the panels underneath, removing the HDD and exposing what I think are the processors. I don't want mess about with the processors so I replaced that panel and I replaced the other panel covering the HDD.

I've found a replacement SSD;

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B007BBQQ04/?tag=cliospnet01-21

Is it just a case of swapping the drives followed by installing windows again on the new drive then transferring the data across?

 

[Gouldy]

Some pictures of the removed HDD;





As far as I'm aware, this is a hitachi 2.5 inch SATA 160GB HDD.

Is that correct?