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if your laptop suddenly sends a message hard disk not found?

 

Customer Question

if your laptop suddenly sends a message hard disk not found? help

 

Optional Information:
Make: compaq
Model: presario CG56

Already Tried:
shut down and reboot, f9 f10

Submitted: 358 days and 9 hours ago.
Category: Laptop
Value: $28
Status: CLOSED
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Expert:  Bernie replied 358 days and 8 hours ago.

Hello and welcome to JustAnswer. I look forward to assisting you today with your question and providing the best answer possible.

Can you turn off the laptop by pressing and holding the power button. Then:


Press and hold the F10 key while you press the Power button to turn on the PC. Release the F10 key after text is displayed on the screen of the PC.

After the BIOS Setup Utility is displayed, and look for a disk controller setting, and make sure it is set to IDE and not anything else.



Remember, if for any reason you are unsatisfied with my answer, we can continue the conversation until you’re satisfied and Accept my answer. I can address follow up questions at no extra charge and I’m always here to help. Thank you for using JustAnswer!Bernie K.41039.0198217245

Customer replied 358 days and 8 hours ago.

when I pressed f10 it does show IDE where does it show that?

 

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Expert:  Bernie replied 358 days and 8 hours ago.

Do you mean it does show IDE, or you can't find it?

What tabs do you see at the top of your bios

Customer replied 358 days and 8 hours ago.

security dianostics system configuration & exit It does not show IDE

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Expert:  Bernie replied 358 days and 8 hours ago.

Pick system configuration and see if you can find the option to set the SATA configuration to IDE:



If not, restart, and go back into the BIOS, and this time pick diagnostics, do you see Hard Drive Self Test anywhere in there?


Customer replied 358 days and 8 hours ago.

yes but when you press hard disk self test it comes up with an reply hard disk not exist.

does that mean the hard disk is totally shot?

 

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Expert:  Bernie replied 358 days and 8 hours ago.

Yes unforutnately this can mean your hard drive has failed, but we can try a few things to completely rule this out:

Turn off the computer, and disconnect the battery and AC adapter from it. Wait a few minutes, then press and hold the power button for 60 seconds and release it. Proceed to connect the ac adapter with the battery, and turn the laptop back on.

Restart, go back into the BIOS, look to change the boot priority of the Hard drive to first, and the DVD/CDrom drive to second. Then save your BIOS changes, exit the BIOS, and restart the laptop.

If it still won't boot, re-enter the BIOS, and look for the option at the bottom of the screen to "reset the BIOS to defaults" or "optimal defaults" option.

This option is usually shown along the bottom of the screen where all the navigational directions are listed. Then save and exit. Now see if windows will boot up correctly.

Next, if you still face the same issue, we can try taking the hard drive out, and then reseating it, let me know once you've gotten to this point and I'll give the exact directions to do so. That is the last thing we'll want to try.Bernie K.41039.0420613426

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Expert:  Bernie replied 358 days and 8 hours ago.

Actually here are the exact steps needed to change your Boot order:

Go into the BIOS again
Select the Advanced tab using the right and left arrow keys.
Use the up and down arrow keys to select Boot Order.
Follow the onscreen instructions to change the Boot Order.

Then if it still won't boot, proceed to reset the BIOS to the default options. Look for the option at the bottom of the screen to "reset the BIOS to defaults" or "optimal defaults" option.

Once that's been done, please let me know, I'll continue to stand by.

Customer replied 358 days and 8 hours ago.

 

yeah it didn't reboot after i changed the order.

 

That didn't help. how do you take the hard drive out?

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Expert:  Bernie replied 358 days and 7 hours ago.

Absolutely, it is very possible the hard drive just needs to be reseated, this is done by taking out the largest panel on the bottom rigth side of the laptop, take out the battery and unplug the AC, then please click the pictures below to see how:

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If still no joy, please let me know and I'll give the exact directions you need to take to get the correct hard drive replacement, and/or copy off any data from the old hard drive if you need to.

Remember, if for any reason you are unsatisfied with my answer, we can continue the conversation until you’re satisfied and Accept my answer. I can address follow up questions at no extra charge and I’m always here to help. Thank you for using JustAnswer!

Customer replied 358 days and 7 hours ago.

I reseated the hard drive but to no avail. so could you give me the infomation to buy a new hard disk please numbers etc. thanks. I am doing this for my 15 year nephew to help him out. It was easy to take the drive out even for me an 69 year grandma. so just tell me the numbers & i will get the one and put it in my self. thank you for your help.

Accepted Answer

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Expert:  Bernie replied 358 days and 7 hours ago.

Absolutely, you can call(NNN) NNN-NNNNto order a new hard drive for your laptop model. Make sure to let them know you also need the recovery disks that come with the laptop so you can reinstall windows on the new hard drive.

If the recovery of the data from the old drive is important to you, you can buy an external hard drive enclosure that will let you copy your hard drive contents to another computer via usb, you can get one from your nearest computer store, or buy one online for $12, click here: http://tinyurl.com/3on5vn5

You'll want to plug this enclosure into a working computer, and then you will be able to copy over all your files to it. User files are located under C:\Users\[your profile name]\ or C:\Documents and Settings\[your profile name]

You can also take your old and new hard drive to a PC repair shop and they can image the old hard drive to the new hard drive. Please let me know if you have any further questions on this at all.

Remember, if for any reason you are unsatisfied with my answer, we can continue the conversation until you’re satisfied and Accept my answer. I can address follow up questions at no extra charge and I’m always here to help. Thank you for using JustAnswer!Bernie K.41039.0899420486

Expert TypeLaptop Technician
Category: Laptop
Pos. Feedback: 100.0 %
Accepts: 71
Answered: 5/10/2012

Experience: 6+ years experience, Microsoft MCDST/CompTia A+ Certified

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