hard disk failure

[billb]

chum of mine has a hp pc thats saying "hard disk not found" after the blue HP screen when u turn it on. any ideas bar taking things out and putting them back in again or doing fdisk and reassigning the drive?

[dontlift]

billb said:

chum of mine has a hp pc thats saying "hard disk not found" after the blue HP screen when u turn it on. any ideas bar taking things out and putting them back in again or doing fdisk and reassigning the drive?

Sounds like you already know the drill

[Mark.S]

Worth trying the drive on a different IDE controller or channel if possible. I've never had a disk fail but have had controllers fail leading me to believe the disk was at fault.

[SGirl]

My PC did this to me a couple of months ago. Before you do all the clever stuff, try switching the PC off at the socket and leaving it for 15-20 minutes, then when you switch it back on, give the casing a firm tap. It worked for me.

Disclaimer: Don't blame me if it all goes wrong!!

[rjo]

Sgirl is on the money with one of the quick fixes.
Can you hear the disc spin up?
Is it making a clicking sound?
Any sound at all?
Swapping out is another good test but don't forget that it may even be a bad connection either power or IDE cable.
Sometimes it may just be the cable has come a little adrift from the motherboard.
Lots of possabilities. I know that hdd are cheap now but it is probably worth trying to get the old one going as I bet your friend has not got everything backed up
If you want to save the data on the hd try checking the mechanical connections before using fdisk.

[FourWheelDrift]

SGirl said:

then when you switch it back on, give the casing a firm tap. It worked for me.

Aaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy my kind of fixing!

[206xsi]

Try getting in the BIOS at boot (often F12 or DEL) - check to see if that can find the drive, or indeed what it is reporting if anything...might give you some pointers