[niknok]

A few days ago I went through heathrow london airport security,was asked by the if I was carrying a laptop,removing it from my bag I had to place it flat down for new procedures the guy told me.Later I checked my laptop to see if it was ok,which is a regular trait of mine I found that the laptop would not activate,all that happened was the power light came on,and the hard drive access light was permanently lit but would not activate the laptop.Does anyone have or had similar probs and what course of action could be taken?
On another occasion my memory stick for the PC was copletely erased.could it be that the Xray machines are able to do this?
Any suggestions gratefully received!!!

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I would say it is more likely the result of a bump then the xray machine--xrays do not damage drives--magnets might.

If you have a windows disk, I would attempt to enter the recovery console just to see if the drive is still functioning---if so, run a chkdsk /r to check and repair the file system

[gerryf]

I would say it is more likely the result of a bump then the xray machine--xrays do not damage drives--magnets might.

If you have a windows disk, I would attempt to enter the recovery console just to see if the drive is still functioning---if so, run a chkdsk /r to check and repair the file system

[niknok]

Thanks for the quick reply,I would try what you said but I cant open the cd drive either,it is completely dead other than the hard drive access light being lit.
Thanx again.
N

[gerryf]

this sounds more like a fauly power inverter inside the laptop then anything else.

What kind of laptop?

[niknok]

gerryf, it is a Compaq presario M2000 ,barely a year old

[gerryf]

that seems way too early for an inverter to fry

I am not familir with that lattop, but let's try this

Remove all power cords

Remove the battery

Press and hold the power button for 20 seconds with no power source

Reinsert the battery, reinsert the power cord, press the power button

[niknok]

Hiya Gerryf,sorry I am late getting back tou,I did what you suggested in the post you sent,still no good,any more suggestions?
Niknok

[gerryf]

you sure it is the harddrive light, and not the power light?

[niknok]

There are three lights on at the front,hard drive,power and battery,charging signal,when the power cable is connected,also the power light to the board lights up when pressed.
KC

[gerryf]

still think its bad handling and damaged hardware...

you should be able to pop the cd-rom open with a paperclip--there should be an access hole on the cd-rom face

[niknok]

Hi again,I havent tried opening the CD rom drive,I do know that but am a little wary of doing it,owing to the fact it cost me a new drve on a laptop I had a few years ago,what difference will that make if I do open it?

[gerryf]

the difference is that you can use your windows disk to at least determine if the drive is functioning, and maybe you can get it to boot with the cd-rom

But, maybe not... I really doubt someone is going to be able to help you out on this one without seeing it. I'd probably have it laying in a hundred pieces on my desk by now and lost half the screws.

Seriously, I think you're going to have to bite the bullet on this one and take it in somewhere as it is clearly a hardware issue and does not sound like a bad drive.

Probably power inverter, maybe motherboard, maybe fired CPU, but not something you are going to be able to fix easily via a forum like this.

[niknok]

Hi gerry,thanks very much for what you have suggested this past week or so,I guess you could be right,I'll let you know the outcome anyway.
Cheers
N

[gerryf]

thanks, I would very greatly appreciate that. I'd hate to think I am missing something (and please any one chime in), but it just sounds like a pooped out piece of hardware that we're not going to be able to trouble shoot

It makes me wonder if the airports are using new scanners that can damage laptops, but I have not heard of anything