[Macboatmaster]

I am signing off

1. Very unlikely that the Toshiba Tecra will have the same drive connection.
I would expect your HP to be SATA and gthe old Tecra PATA (IDE)

2. Even if it was the same, the drivers for the Toshiba will all be different, all the motherboard driver s etc and therefore EVEN if it boots and runs, you stand every chance of it simply complicating the problem, when and if you ever manage to get the HP booting.

Best advice - go back as per my link and check if the hard drive is listed not in boot priority, but in the system page.

If the MBR and BCD of Vista are corrupted it will not see it as a boot device, but it may well still see it as a hard drive.

If it is seen as a hard drive - although I suspect it unlikely as Ubuntu cannot see it and that does not require it to have any file system, that windows can read, simply recognisable files. - you need to do as I said and get your data off.

It MAYBE that you are facing a reinstall, the trouble being that if the drive file system is now totally corrupted - you may not be able to access any recovery partition.

In summary I would
1. Check BIOS as above
2. Reset BIO(S to default on the link I sent you - see if that helps IF NOT
3. Remove HDD and connect in enclosure or docking station - if you can beg or borrow
3. See it is recogised when connect to another computer.

IF all that fails and the end result is a new hard drive, although we are NOT at that stage yet see this
http://bizsupport1.a...ectID=c00882383


Back 1800 hrs now 0216

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Thank you for coming in to help both pcuser12 and myself Macboatmaster it is appreciated

pcuser12, Mac and I often work together so rest assured you will only be offered structured guidance.

I asked back in my reply #2 "Is the HDD listed/detected in the BIOS".
If I may elaborate a little, what I was looking for was an actual identification of the drive itself such as ST9160314AS which denotes that a Seagate 160GB HDD is detected or WD3200BEKT which would show that a 320GB Western Digital HDD had been detected, please see the example .jpeg below which identifies both the optical drive and the HDD themselves, the information that you were able to provide;

-Boot options
---F10 and f12 delay sec <0>
---CD-ROM boot - enabled
---floppy boot - enabled
---internal network adapter boot - disabled
---boot order
------USB floppy
------internal cd/dvd rom drive
------notebook hard drive
------usb diskette on key/usb hard disk
------! network adapter

This is a generic boot order and so unfortunately it does not tell us whether or not your HDD has been detected by the BIOS, please navigate through your BIOS and see if the HDD is identified by a similar product code to the above or as in the image below.
The software issue has been addressed by esteemed colleague Macboatmaster and for want of a better explanation there must be a basic foundation in place to allow any upgrade, example Windows 7 service pack 1 will not install without Windows 7 itself being installed.

[phillpower2]

Thank you for coming in to help both pcuser12 and myself Macboatmaster it is appreciated

pcuser12, Mac and I often work together so rest assured you will only be offered structured guidance.

I asked back in my reply #2 "Is the HDD listed/detected in the BIOS".
If I may elaborate a little, what I was looking for was an actual identification of the drive itself such as ST9160314AS which denotes that a Seagate 160GB HDD is detected or WD3200BEKT which would show that a 320GB Western Digital HDD had been detected, please see the example .jpeg below which identifies both the optical drive and the HDD themselves, the information that you were able to provide;

-Boot options
---F10 and f12 delay sec <0>
---CD-ROM boot - enabled
---floppy boot - enabled
---internal network adapter boot - disabled
---boot order
------USB floppy
------internal cd/dvd rom drive
------notebook hard drive
------usb diskette on key/usb hard disk
------! network adapter

This is a generic boot order and so unfortunately it does not tell us whether or not your HDD has been detected by the BIOS, please navigate through your BIOS and see if the HDD is identified by a similar product code to the above or as in the image below.
The software issue has been addressed by esteemed colleague Macboatmaster and for want of a better explanation there must be a basic foundation in place to allow any upgrade, example Windows 7 service pack 1 will not install without Windows 7 itself being installed.

[pcuser12]

Hi Phil, Macboat,

I would like to apologize for the 2-day absence.

To answer your questions:

Post #2:
Phil: Is the HDD listed/detected in the BIOS?

I'm not sure, but I don't think it's listed in the BIOS. I've gone in there for so many times, and all I can find and customize in there are the ones that we can see in post #3. It does not show any sign of detection for HDD...

Main
-system time
-system date
-notebook model
-product number
-system board ID
-processor type
-processor speed
-total memory --- 4096 MB
-BIOS version - F. 65
-BIOS vendor - Insyde
-Serial Number - 2CE93008QB
-UUID Number
-product configuration ID

Security
Admin password
power-on password

Diagnostics
-primary hard disk self test (returns as Hard Disk Not Exist)
-memory test (returns as Memory test passed)

System Configuration
-Language
-processor c6 states - enabled
-fan always on
-Boot options
---F10 and f12 delay sec <0>
---CD-ROM boot - enabled
---floppy boot - enabled
---internal network adapter boot - disabled
---boot order
------USB floppy
------internal cd/dvd rom drive
------notebook hard drive
------usb diskette on key/usb hard disk
------! network adapter

I have also changed the boot order putting internal cd/dvd rom drive as 1st boot, notebook hard drive as 2nd boot.

I don't know how to get to the CMOS Utility Setup though just like you showed me in the screencap. Is there any special command to do it? All I see when I press "esc" on startup are the things that pertain to BIOS or any other links other than CMOS.


Macboat,

I have booted the puppy linux in my HP laptop. Unfortunately, I couldn't see the sda0 nor the hda0 you showed me at the screen cap. Attached is a picture of what I see in the screencap.

I also went to puppyface>Filesystem>mount/unmount and all I saw was this:

TSSTcorpCDDVDW TS-L633M
sr0 iso9660 [115m/] unmount

I also clicked "file" on the desktop and all I saw were the folders:

choices, file-sharing, ftpd, my-apps, my docs, puppy-reference, spot, startup, web-server.

I opened each of the folders and none of them were familiar to me.

----------------------------

Although I still haven't found a docking for HDD, it's becoming more and more convincing that I may need a new HDD for the laptop... I just want to fix this already as it's backed me up with my deadlines for a bit of a time now. Any advice?

Attached Thumbnails

• 

Edited by pcuser12, 11 June 2012 - 11:31 AM.

[phillpower2]

Hi again pcuser12

I suggest that you follow the guidance of Macboatmaster as per his reply #16, using Puppy or similar may at least reveal if the HDD is detected or not, this based on the fact that it may be more convenient/less expensive than obtaining a HDD enclosure or fitting the HDD in another computer.

[pcuser12]

Hi Phil,

Thanks for replying.

Yes. I have attached the screencap of my desktop in puppy linux in post #18. Unfortunately, I haven't found any sign of the hard drive in there either. I have called the local computer store to have my HDD diskchecked/chkdsk-ed tomorrow for free.

If they found an error, I shall buy another HDD right there. But if not...I have no idea what to do.

[phillpower2]

This is a tricky situation to be in because if the HDD passes it suggests an issue with the MB and they are often not financially viable to replace, so all I can do is wish you good luck and hope that the fix is not too expensive.

Please keep us advised on your progress.

[pcuser12]

Hi Phil, Macboat,

I am happy to report that the laptop's finally been fixed! It turned out that the HDD's really broken and so I had to buy another HDD to replace it. My previous program CDs (i.e. Windows, Antivirus, etc) also worked so I don't really have to purchase them again. I am currently using the laptop to post this comment.

Looking back, here's what I should have done:

1. Press "Esc" in startup to enter BIOS setup (blue screen).
2. Check if the laptop's HDD is read in BIOS. Try doing a Hard disk drive check, you can see this in one of the selections in BIOS setup.
3. If not, try changing the boot-order making: Internal hard drive - 1st; CD/DVD - 2nd.
4. If still unable to boot, burn latest puppy linux and burn it to a CD/DVD through BurnCDCC. If you don't know how, follow steps here. Note: as my HDD was already broken, I was not able to access any of the HDD, nor was it read in there.
5. If none of these steps work, try asking your local computer store if they would be able to perform disk check on your HDD. I had mine done for free. You can find out how to remove HDD from your laptop by doing a quick search on youtube or google.
6. If HDD's the problem, then you might want to replace it, and then just install all the necessary Operating System (windows, ubuntu) to your laptop as well as the required drivers.

Anyways, this is just how I see what I should have done in the beginning to be able to fix the laptop faster.

Thanks again to Phil and Macboat for being patient and for all your help! I really appreciate your time in helping me with this one!

Edited by pcuser12, 14 June 2012 - 12:49 PM.

[Macboatmaster]

pcuser12

I am pleased it worked although I am a little unsure as to the the purpose of your last post

Your comment

If you don't know how, follow steps here

is of course the link to our guide and the reason we recommend the Lucid release and not the latest Slacko is that the Lucid release is easier to use in some respects than slacko.

In summary, basically what you have now put forward as the way to proceed was I thought, the way we did proceed

Indeed the first reply to your topic by my good colleague phillpower2 said

Is the HDD listed/detected in the BIOS.

although of course, we must assure ourselves as far as possible that it is a HDD failure, rather than jumping to that conclusion and making a recommendation that may involve the poster in unnecessary expense.

However the MAIN aspect of all this is that you have it FIXED and that is what is important.

If you have not already done so please install your Service pack and updates asap, as many of them provide enhanced security

[phillpower2]

Post to acknowledge and thank Macboatmaster for his invaluable assistance
Just to add, I am pleased that the issue is now resolved, well done but be sure that you do follow the guidance as post in reply #23 of Macboatmaster.