I'm beginning to think I can fix a rainy day

[D-Dan]

I was asked on Friday to bring a dead laptop home and see if I could get it going.

Friday, no joy.

Saturday, no joy.

Sunday, no joy, but I managed enough to think the hard drive was dead. The owner is friend, and has no money to start spending, and I'd pretty much told her "No money - it can't be fixed".

Ithe my other project this weekend (getting a fully functional OS on a USB stick) having worked out, I decided to boot with the USB. I got to full desktop and confirmed everything else worked - and yes - HD problem confirmed.

I decided (just for fun) to wipe the drive with fdisk and gparted, then went for the reinstall again.

This time, things improved, and the install DVD actually got to the start of the installation process, but then complained about the partitioning of the drive (gpt). A quick DOS prompt and a few ill thought out command (yes, I was really out of my depth here) I tried again.

Now, the reinstall is on it's way and looking promising. I'm not prepared to guarantee it if it finishes, but at least it will work again.

As Doc McCoy said, "I'm beginning to think I can cure a rainy day".

Steve

[D-Dan]

And yes - it booted (after a full power down) and is happily updating as I type

Another challenge beaten 

Steve

[Simon]

Excellent, Steve! 

[D-Dan]

Thank you so much - the best I expected was a "Well done" 

[Simon]

I'm feeling generous today.  

[Niall]

Fix my laptop. I think the HD is dead. I hope it is, but I can't afford to throw £70 at something that might not be broken

[Technical Ben]

Live linux CD is your friend. If you can see the files on the disk, at least you know the HDD is alive, but just needs the boot partition or file list fixing or similar. Hope you get it sorted. My laptop is now resting in pieces in the cupboard.

[D-Dan]

If I'm totally honest - I'd already diagnosed a dead HD sight unseen, and this was confirmed. I'm starting to think that the filesystem just got so screwed it didn't know what it was.

I'm reasonably confident I've made a full repair, and this is a lesson to trust hardware before software.

Steve

[D-Dan]

Live linux CD is your friend. If you can see the files on the disk, at least you know the HDD is alive

This was the problem. The boot USB drive is a Linux Mint installation, and couldn't see the drive at all, but BIOS could and no SMART warnings.

I basically reset the drive to factory condition (and that wasn't easy since no OS boot would see it), and I named it Lazarus.

Steve

[Rik]

Nice work, Steve.

[Ray]

Well done, Steve.

[mrapoc]

Nice one!

I recently had a hdd which was making random loud noises almost like screeching!

I thought I wouldn't even be able to recover the data off it as it would just stop transferring data and locking up all the time.

Stuck it in a freezer bag in the freezer a couple of times for a day or so at a time.

First time almost completed the backup...failed

Second time almost again,

Third time went perfectly after leaving it for three days in the freezer (lol) and also somehow cured the drive of any defects. Went on to reinstall vista on it and is now back with the owner!

[Rik]

Freezers am wonderful, Sam.

[Ray]

Especially when they're full of DR meat. 

[Rik]