Question:
Hi,
My baby swiped my laptop off the table yesterday and now it is knackered ( It is only 3 months old aswell! I know they won't fix it under the warranty as it was dropped but how much is it likely to cost to fix?
I have also lost all of the pictures I have taken over the last fortnight (hundreds!) I'm guessing there is no way these can be recovered since the hard drive cant be found.
I have checked on the BIOS and the hard drive is not being picked up at all, it just says IDE: 0. I tried booting the laptop using the default factory disc that I made but it didnt help. It said that it was copying the image then it just went to a grey screen with an arrow that just hung there until I switched it off.
Its an Acer Aspire 3680 series, does anyone know if I opened up where the harddrive is to check that it is not just a case if a loose connection, would this invalidate the warranty for any other problems that might occur at a later date? If it is okay to do this, any hints on were the harddrive is on an Acer aspire?
Sorry for all of the questions!
MBM x
Answers:
You could give the warranty repair a go, they can only say no. When the HD on my fiance's iBook died, I managed to mount it on my desktop with a firewire cable in target mode to get it backed up before it ground to a halt. Not sure if that's do-able with windows however, and of course your drive might be past that stage. It could just be a cable of course, I'd imagine that any repairs or upgrades other than the likes of RAM might invalidate the warranty however.
Answers:
the hard disk cover is underneath to the right (if the battery is at the bottom)
it's worth opening this just to check the hd is connected properly (it's no different to opening the cover to fit ram so I cannot see this invalidating the warranty)
look here
under views then look underneath and it shows you where, only a couple of screws
Answers:
the hard disk cover is underneath to the right (if the battery is at the bottom)
it's worth opening this just to check the hd is connected properly (it's no different to opening the cover to fit ram so I cannot see this invalidating the warranty)
look here
under views then look underneath and it shows you where, only a couple of screws
How strange!! When I quote your message, I can see more text that isnt in the main window!
I was just going to ask if opening it would invalidate the warranty but now I can see you answered that q aswell )
MBM x
Answers:
Sounds like the hard drive has bitten the dust.
you have a few options.
contact the shop you bought it from sales of goods act holds them responsible not the manufacturer. they should replace, repair whatever don't tell them it has been dropped they wont know. as far as you know the hard drive has failed.
you could just replace the drive, laptop drives are not expensive any more about £60 gets you 100GB reinstall and away you go.
the data its more than likley gone you could send it away for data recovery but that can be expensive nd sometimes you dont get anything back.
If you are local to me I will hav a look at it for you, I have some data recovery tools and have had 100% sucess if I can get the drive to detect. in some way.
I doubt it will be a loose connection, space is so tight in laptops and there are very few cables that can move hard drives are usually in a caddy that is screwed in to place to hold it secure.
opening up the laptop will proberbly not invalidate the warrenty but removing the drive proberbly will. its up to you.
Answers:
Sounds like the hard drive has bitten the dust.
you have a few options.
contact the shop you bought it from sales of goods act holds them responsible not the manufacturer. they should replace, repair whatever don't tell them it has been dropped they wont know. as far as you know the hard drive has failed.
you could just replace the drive, laptop drives are not expensive any more about £60 gets you 100GB reinstall and away you go.
the data its more than likley gone you could send it away for data recovery but that can be expensive nd sometimes you dont get anything back.
If you are local to me I will hav a look at it for you, I have some data recovery tools and have had 100% sucess if I can get the drive to detect. in some way.
I doubt it will be a loose connection, space is so tight in laptops and there are very few cables that can move hard drives are usually in a caddy that is screwed in to place to hold it secure.
opening up the laptop will proberbly not invalidate the warrenty but removing the drive proberbly will. its up to you.
The laptop is not damaged in any other way by the fall but I thought they could tell a mile off if a laptop had been dropped? I would be too chicken to try and swing it anyway, I just know that my face would be glowing red as soon as they ask me what is wrong with it!
Thanks for the offer to look at it but I am in London and I can see from your profile thing that you are in Bolton (
Do you have any idea how much a manufacturer would charge to put a new hard drive in?
Thanks
MBM x
Answers:
I updated it , probably after you first read my post
I'd open the cover, make sure it's seated ok by pushing it back then turn it on again
I'm with Little John on the not mentioning the fall it had
which shop did you buy it from ??
same offer here for the data recovery if you are near
Answers:
On some Acers that I have seen, the hard disk is visible after the battery has been removed. You may be able to simply pull it out and re-seat it to see if that helps.
Answers:
On some Acers that I have seen, the hard disk is visible after the battery has been removed. You may be able to simply pull it out and re-seat it to see if that helps.
Thanks for the tip, I had a look and nothing is visible
It was worth a look though!
MBMx
Answers:
Thanks for the tip, I had a look and nothing is visible
Would you know a hard disk if you saw one though? There is usually a flexible tab that you can get hold of to pull it out.
Answers:
Would you know a hard disk if you saw one though? There is usually a flexible tab that you can get hold of to pull it out.
Your right, I didnt know that. I've just looked again and it is definitely just black plastic with some gold pins for the battery connection.
MBM x
Answers:
problem is it may be the motherboard thats damaged....
i'd just say it's stopped working
Answers:
problem is it may be the motherboard thats damaged....
i'd just say it's stopped working
Thanks for your kind offer to help recover my data You are bit closer but still quite far away.
If I was to forget to mention the 'little fall' how likely are they to take one look at the inside and rumble me? I would feel terrible doing it, but I may be able to put my morals away for a bit to get my laptop back, I am going crazy without it already!
edited to say it was bought from comet
MBM x
Answers:
OK, it's just that I have seen a notebook spring back to life after the hard drive was re-seated. I always try the easy things first. Hard disks have been known to sometimes fail prematurely, so you may get it sorted under warranty.
Answers:
I have to agree with the others.
If there is no visable damage that hints it was dropped I would take it back and say that it stopped working and try getting it fixed under warranty.
It might be something simple like a loose connection but it may be some parts are damaged.
If you cant do it yourself get a friend who likes an argument to do it. thats what i would do.
Answers:
I wouldn't mention the fall (if there are no visible signs of damage).
I'd just say "it's stopped working". I mean, this isn't a lie... it's just a smaller fragment of a slightly larger statement ("it's stopped working... because it took a swandive off a table"). But they dont need to know the small details!
Answers:
Before you take it back, remove the HDD (it's under a little flap on the underside of the laptop, which simply unscrews). You don't have to mess with anything else inside the laptop when taking the HDD - it's realllllly easy to do. You'll need to buy a 2.5 hdd external enclosure. Pop the HDD into the external enclosure and plug it into another pc (desktop or laptop) via the usb port (the external enclosure connects via a usb cable). The drive will show up as a second drive on the machine it is connected to. From there, you can save your data. You won't need the operating system to run when viewing the files on the HDD, as the OS from the pc its plugged into is running. You are merely looking at the HDD as a mass storage device when it's connected up to another machine.
To be honest, I don't think the drive's had it. I'm wondering if the mobo is damaged, or something's been knocked and disconnected. If the connector between the mobo and HDD is damaged or has come loose, that could well be your answer. It's also far more likely to get damaged if a laptop is dropped. A HDD is quite sturdy and less likely to sustain damage due to a fall. Hell, I've dropped a HDD which was not even in a caddy - and it still worked.
Would you do me a favour and describe exactly what happens when you try to turn the machine on? Does BIOS start up? If so, can you get into the BIOS set up menu, which will show you the HDD, RAM, etc?
As for removing the drive invalidating your warranty, there's no way they'd know about it unless you made it obvious. It really is a simple case of undoing the screws, disconnect the drive, stick it in a caddy, swipe the data off, put it back into the laptop, reconnect, screw the flap back down.
Answers:
Before you take it back, remove the HDD (it's under a little flap on the underside of the laptop, which simply unscrews). You don't have to mess with anything else inside the laptop when taking the HDD - it's realllllly easy to do. You'll need to buy a 2.5 hdd external enclosure. Pop the HDD into the external enclosure and plug it into another pc (desktop or laptop) via the usb port (the external enclosure connects via a usb cable). The drive will show up as a second drive on the machine it is connected to. From there, you can save your data. You won't need the operating system to run when viewing the files on the HDD, as the OS from the pc its plugged into is running. You are merely looking at the HDD as a mass storage device when it's connected up to another machine.
To be honest, I don't think the drive's had it. I'm wondering if the mobo is damaged, or something's been knocked and disconnected. If the connector between the mobo and HDD is damaged or has come loose, that could well be your answer. It's also far more likely to get damaged if a laptop is dropped. A HDD is quite sturdy and less likely to sustain damage due to a fall. Hell, I've dropped a HDD which was not even in a caddy - and it still worked.
Would you do me a favour and describe exactly what happens when you try to turn the machine on? Does BIOS start up? If so, can you get into the BIOS set up menu, which will show you the HDD, RAM, etc?
As for removing the drive invalidating your warranty, there's no way they'd know about it unless you made it obvious. It really is a simple case of undoing the screws, disconnect the drive, stick it in a caddy, swipe the data off, put it back into the laptop, reconnect, screw the flap back down.
Hi,
I can get into the BIOS but there is no sign of the hard drive at all It just says IDE: 0 where the hard drive used to be.
I'm not sure about undoing the back to take out the hard drive. I think they will notice I have been fiddling about with it as the screws are the black ones that get all scratched when you try and unscrew them. I guess they are like that on purpose so they can see if the back has been off?
Anyway, I'm trying to pluck up the courage to go down to the shop with it, I just hope they dont ask too many questions, I have always been a dreadful liar!
MBM x
Answers:
in your mind think "it's a laptop, it ought to be able to take a tumble as it's portable !!! "
the design of a laptop should really take account of that fact , not your problem that it has not, I'm sure if you had it in the boot of your car and slammed the brakes on it would take just as hard a knock and LOADS of salesman must drive around with theirs in the boot !!
Answers:
I'm with Browntoa on this, take it back!!
Zahc