I have an old Dell laptop which runs Windows98. I last used it 2 months ago and it was fine. Now when I turn it on it reads "no hard drive". I put in the recovery CD and it says "Setup can not continuue. It does not have a hard drive, your HD is not functioning properly or your missing a special device driver.
I have no idea how to check or test a hard drive. Dell's support does not support this 8 year old PC.
Any idea's appreciated
2007-01-07 13:48:28 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Laptops & Notebooks
Sounds like you have a primary hard disk failure. You have to take the case apart to find the harddrive, then you'll need to find out what type of drive it is, and purchase a replacement.
2007-01-07 13:52:25 · answer #1 · answered by SnowXNinja 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Under uour lap Top or the bottom side you will find some screws. If you read the configurmations you may also see where your hard drive is located so you can remove the screws.
Once you have located these and found your hard drive it's a mater of now removing it. It should have a few screws holding it in as well as a plug.
You most likely have no way of trsting it but if you have a Radio Shack you can take it all into them and they could send it off for a estimate to be repaired. Cost wise, I would say it's not really worth to add to much money into it as of the age. Like a old car, fix one problem and the next weakest problem will go next.
If you are wanting to get a new computer I guess now is the time to nstart looking.
You might want to try http://www.ebay.com as you can locate some great low cost deals there.
You may also want to try these web sites as well. http://www.newegg.com , http://www.tigerdirect,com ,
What ever you end up doing, good luck
2007-01-07 22:07:25 · answer #2 · answered by TEX 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Since you didn't use it in a while, the computer might have "forgot" how to start up, something that has to be changed in the BIOS settings. You stated that you put your recovery CD in, which probably wiped the old hard drive, so BIOS access is sort of out of the picture. Another possibility is that a cable has jostled loose, in which you would have to rip the laptop apart, reattach it, put it together, then use the recovery disk. The best thing that you can possibly do now is buy a new computer.
2007-01-07 21:58:32 · answer #3 · answered by YOOOO 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You may want to look in phone book or in local newspaper to see if there is a local repair close by. It is not a hard repair, but there needs to be voltage checks and possible parts replacement.
2007-01-07 22:00:11 · answer #4 · answered by Z 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I can give you a link that deals with hard drive problems.
Some RAM/ hard drive problems can be easily fixed yourself by using easily available tools. I found the info at http://fixit.in useful
2007-01-09 07:32:54 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Dump the old computer and buy s new Dell
2007-01-07 22:02:43 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
it is certain that ur drivers are missing. Can think of any way to fix without have the acess to the HD.
2007-01-07 21:53:05 · answer #7 · answered by Best Helper 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋