BleepingComputer.com: Bad Drive and Laptop...?

So here it is...after many hours and quite possibly lost data!

Not long ago my IBM T42 Laptop began acting funny, the screen would flicker. I would give it a light tap and everything would return to normal. Over time the flickering got worse and the screen would go black...a slightly harder tap/bang and it would come back on. Eventually if it came on at all, I could not move the computer or it would go off (the screen) and not come back on. I took the entire thing apart...EVERYTHING and checked all connections...still, nothing. What would cause the screen issues? Is the laptop a lost cause?

New problem...with all of this I had done a few dozen start and shutdowns (by pressing the start button and holding it) trying different things. I could not pull info from my drive while it was hooked up to my desktop (secure info that I did not have rights to open. I was able to get my laptop working long enough to change some shared settings and that type of thing before it blacked out on me again. Went to hook it up to my desktop and the drive does not show up. Hooked it back up to my laptop and get get a Media Test Failure and OS not found message. Is it shot? The drive, am I SOL? Can I recover the info from it?

Oh and while starting and shutting down, trying to get it running with the screen working, I would start it (while in the laptop) and the laptop would shut itself down after 4 to 10 seconds. HELP!!!!!!!!!

This post has been edited by thaddy1978: 08 March 2009 - 12:09 AM

you sure you fully plugged the hard drive all the way in? im assuming its an IDE drive, I did that with my laptop-inserted the hard drive but didnt get it fully sat, and it gave me the full message. as for your screen, its prolly either a bad screen, a bad connection in the wires going from the screen to the motherboard, or the video card going bad, you cant always see these things with the naked eye, and there is a chance in all the moving that the hard drive did go bad. were you walking over carpet with it? were you propery grounded during the removal/installation progress? and did it come close to any large magnets? if worse comes to worse, if you have a linux live cd/dvd try booting ur desktop up with that and see if linux will read the files.

the_patriot09, on Mar 8 2009, 12:22 AM, said:

Properly grounded...? Nope! Sitting on my couch, feet on the foot stool, wearing wool socks, and the only thing grounded was my butt...on the couch. The drive was fully plugged in to both my laptop and then my desktop. Is a laptop video card serviceable? Mine just seems to have a chip on the MB. Bought it on eBay for $350 and all of this started happening 3 months after the warranty was up...which was 6 months after I bought it. No, I don't have a linux either, so checking the drive that way isn't happening. No magnets near and yes, I walked all over carpet with it.

well, static electricity is a bad thing with any computer component, that is why when working on one you want to make sure you touch something metal before you touch any component and not move your feet or anything, and best done on a hard surface like linoleum or wood. as far as linux, you can download a Ubuntu live and burn it to DVD in less then 15 minutes, and boot it up from DVD (you wouldnt even have to install it on your computer) and see if it reads the files, though theres only a marginal chance of sucess with it, might be worth a try. as far as the video is concerned, its integrated into the motherboard, and no its not really serviceable unless you really feel like cutting the chips out and sodering new ones in, and im not even sure that would work it would take a supergenius, if its the LCD screen or the connector between the screen and the motherboard you will need a new LCD screen unfortunatly.

And I much prefer working on my cars and guns...If I screw up, the only data loss is that coming out of my mouth: what the @!*#% !!! This piece of #(&$%#@ !!! I think perhaps the other problem is that I work on my computers like they were one of my cars or guns. Personally, if I can't resolve this problem, I am going to take it out back and put it to rest--it would make for great target practice.

lol thought about doing that myself a few times :D

So do you think the drive is a goner too?

possibly, but not necessarily. your setting all the jumpers correctly, right? if its IDE u need to set it as a slave and the other HD as the master. then check in your bios and see if the bios recongizes it. if so, there should be a way in windows xp though im having a brain fart right now and cant recall how to see if theres a drive or not, you may just need to assign it a drive letter. worse comes to worse, download and burn an ubuntu live CD, boot up off the CD (dont install) and see if ubuntu will recognize the hard drive.