Toshiba Satellite not recognizing any hard drive

[Leslied]

Hello. My Toshiba Satellite C55-A5300 was dropped. Shortly thereafter the laptop shut down. Upon restart, I got the message checking media-failed -no bootable device found, etc. etc. I have tried 3 different hard drives and none were recognized. I have tried every remedy I could find; power/f12 and disabled secure boot, power/0 (zero), f8/shift/power, disconnected from power source, removed battery and hard drive and CMOS battery then reconnected-still same message. Made sure all the connections were secure. What else can I do? I am beginning to think it is a Motherboard problem and if so, is it worth the time and expense? I might add that I am using Windows 8 OS and I do not have recovery media.

 

[Pentium4User]

Hello. My Toshiba Satellite C55-A5300 was dropped. Shortly thereafter the laptop shut down. Upon restart, I got the message checking media-failed -no bootable device found, etc. etc. I have tried 3 different hard drives and none were recognized. I have tried every remedy I could find; power/f12 and disabled secure boot, power/0 (zero), f8/shift/power, disconnected from power source, removed battery and hard drive and CMOS battery then reconnected-still same message. Made sure all the connections were secure. What else can I do? I am beginning to think it is a Motherboard problem and if so, is it worth the time and expense? I might add that I am using Windows 8 OS and I do not have recovery media.

If it does not say in the bios that a hdd is installed and you already reset the cmos but it still doesn't show it up in the bios and you done everything like safe boot and etc, then I'm pretty sure the hdd connector is damaged either the solder joins or the pcb. Now board replacement is up to you https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=C55-A5300+motherboard&_sacat=0 here some but they are around $76 also notice there are apparently 2 different kinds of boards one with cpu socket and one that has the pga cpu make sure you know what type of board you have right now is the same but, before buying a new board I would say what is the condition of the computer good? In my opinion when I do board replacements I do not care hold old it is, I always see the board price first and compare it to the condition of the laptop.

 

[Leslied]

Thank you. So, if a person happened to be handy with a solder gun, is this something that could be repaired?

 

[Pentium4User]

Thank you. So, if a person happened to be handy with a solder gun, is this something that could be repaired?

While possible it may be very difficult or impossible, it depends what kind of way it soldered on the board, because if it's soldered the way most surface chips and it ripped the pad off the pcb it gonna be more difficult or unable to be fixed, if it's soldered the way where the pins go through the board like a capacitor then I would inspect the solder joints to see if they are maybe cracked and check the connector. And you also need to find a new connector that will work.
If you do decided to try and fix it good luck.

 

[Leslied]

Thank you. So, if a person happened to be handy with a solder gun, is this something that could be repaired?

While possible it may be very difficult or impossible, it depends what kind of way it soldered on the board, because if it's soldered the way most surface chips and it ripped the pad off the pcb it gonna be more difficult or unable to be fixed, if it's soldered the way where the pins go through the board like a capacitor then I would inspect the solder joints to see if they are maybe cracked and check the connector. And you also need to find a new connector that will work.
If you do decided to try and fix it good luck.

 

[Leslied]

Thank you. I haven't had time to check the mobo yet, but you have been very helpful. If I can fix it, I will let you know.