Dead hard drive, or what?

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.hp.hardware (More info?)

Hi all...I've searched for this but haven't found quite the right
topic, so I apologize if this is a green/newbie question.

I have a slightly more than 1 year old Pavilion ze4500. The power
supply has already been replaced once under warranty, but the warranty
is now expired.

The hard dive, a Toshiba 40G unit, started whining and then just out
and out died. When you start the computer, the blue HD access light
flashes once but the drive does not spin. The computer instead goes to
a setup menu, and eventually says, "No Operating System". When I look
at the self diagnostic screen, for hard disk it says no media present.

I assumed it was a dead hard drive and went and picked up a replacement
Toshiba 40G unit at Fry's.

When I swapped out the unit, same result.

Is it possible that I have a bad controller or connection of some sort?
I tried to remove the lower case to look at the connections where the
hard drive plugs in, but there is one set of screws or something right
in the center of the unit, invisible to me, holding it together.

Any suggestions?

One more question--I assumed that if the HD would spin, I could use the
Windows XP install disks to format and then install Windows XP on the
bare hard drive. Am I barking up the wrong tree?

HP has been a nightmare to work with...the power supply replacement was
a fiasco, they lost this PC twice, coming and going, and their customer
support people were highly unprofessional and quite hard to work with.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions...

Kevin

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.hp.hardware (More info?)

"fallenstarseven" <kevin.a.simpson@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1109124252.211426.144630@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com...
> Hi all...I've searched for this but haven't found quite the right
> topic, so I apologize if this is a green/newbie question.
>
> I have a slightly more than 1 year old Pavilion ze4500. The power
> supply has already been replaced once under warranty, but the warranty
> is now expired.
>
> The hard dive, a Toshiba 40G unit, started whining and then just out
> and out died. When you start the computer, the blue HD access light
> flashes once but the drive does not spin. The computer instead goes to
> a setup menu, and eventually says, "No Operating System". When I look
> at the self diagnostic screen, for hard disk it says no media present.
>
> I assumed it was a dead hard drive and went and picked up a replacement
> Toshiba 40G unit at Fry's.
>
> When I swapped out the unit, same result.
>
> Is it possible that I have a bad controller or connection of some sort?
> I tried to remove the lower case to look at the connections where the
> hard drive plugs in, but there is one set of screws or something right
> in the center of the unit, invisible to me, holding it together.
>
> Any suggestions?
>
> One more question--I assumed that if the HD would spin, I could use the
> Windows XP install disks to format and then install Windows XP on the
> bare hard drive. Am I barking up the wrong tree?
>
> HP has been a nightmare to work with...the power supply replacement was
> a fiasco, they lost this PC twice, coming and going, and their customer
> support people were highly unprofessional and quite hard to work with.
>
> Thanks in advance for any suggestions...
>
> Kevin
>

Kevin;

Sounds like the BIOS can't find the drive, so it's the main board/controller
or the power supply again. I've had power supplies light up the lights but
not proceed. pretty hard to diagnose over the internet. Take it somewhere
if you are new to this.

Doug