What to do with my 7 yr old laptop that fails to boot?

EvilHorace · Post by **EvilHorace** » Sat Sep 13, 2008 6:59 pm

Months ago it was at work, made a screeching noise and stopped running. Ever since it won't boot: Windows 2000 starts but then blue screen says inaccessible boot device (try this and that......yeah, done but no changes). I think its HDD is DOA. Won't do safe mode, nothing.

The laptop's been replaced so I don't care about it but before trashing it, is there anything else I could try?

On its bottom is a cover that I can't open, held on by two small tamper proof torx screws. I assume that's where the HDD resides? Worth buying the tool and looking or ?

nexus_7 · Post by **nexus_7** » Sat Sep 13, 2008 7:49 pm

you can get the tools cheap at either harbor freight or walmart.

Qui Gon-Jinn · Post by **Qui Gon-Jinn** » Sun Sep 14, 2008 11:21 am

Tamper Proof Torx.. LOLZ

I find those bits at harbor freight like Nexus said..or I get them at the local swapmeet for $5. I think Fry's may still carry them..

http://blujay.com/?page=ad&adid=1962097&cat=11200200

That will cover most "Security" type applications..

I carry this in my laptop/triage bag.

EvilHorace · Post by **EvilHorace** » Sun Sep 14, 2008 12:14 pm

Turns out that what's under that cover wasn't the HDD. I did find the HDD and ordered a replacement online for $55.

normalicy · Post by **normalicy** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 2:03 am

For a laptop that old, I'm not sure $55 is worth it. You can get 20gb drives all day long for about $20 shipped. Anyhow, I'm sure with a windows install, it'll be good.

Torx aren't really security bits. They are pretty much necessary if you work on anything these days. Heck, my Jeep used them almost exclusively on body panels. However, cell phones & laptops are also very popular places to find them.

EvilHorace · Post by **EvilHorace** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 6:29 am

"You can get 20gb drives all day long for about $20 shipped"

Google'd it, plugged in the PN (several places) and $55 was the lowest for my Toshiba.

normalicy · Post by **normalicy** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 9:46 am

It actually doesn't need to be a specific drive for the laptop. Any 2.5" IDE drive will work for you. You can just use the caddy from your old drive to hold the new one. So, you could get anything from a couple GB to probably a couple hundred GB (depending on if the BIOS supports it).

This would work for you:
http://cgi.ebay.com/20GB-HITACH-HARD-DR ... 0294824690

But hey, at least you didn't get really ripped off. $55 is reasonable, especially if it's a new drive. I'm just the kind of guy that would buy one from the forums for cheap since it's an older laptop.

Brianm77 · Post by **Brianm77** » Sat Feb 07, 2009 4:39 pm

here is a link that may help

http://www.richardsequipment.net/defaul ... RU-1199400

canton_kid · Post by **canton_kid** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 9:59 pm

normalicy wrote:For a laptop that old, I'm not sure $55 is worth it. You can get 20gb drives all day long for about $20 shipped. Anyhow, I'm sure with a windows install, it'll be good.

Torx aren't really security bits. They are pretty much necessary if you work on anything these days. Heck, my Jeep used them almost exclusively on body panels. However, cell phones & laptops are also very popular places to find them.

Not a plain Torx but a Security Torx. They got the bright Idea that a pin in the center of a Torx was security since a normal Torx bit won't work. So you just go out and buy a cheap set of Security Torx bits, they have a hole in the center that fits over the pin in the Torx Security screw LOL
OR just drill a hole in a normal Torx bit with a drill press yourself, thats what I did when they first came out!

Also the security straight blade screws like in the bottom of some coffee pots, the screw has a lump in the center so a straight blade screw driver won't work. I needed to take apart a coffee pot to fix it, I took a cheap $1 screw driver and my rotory tool and in 30 seconds had a spanner screwdriver to take out the screws LOL

normalicy · Post by **normalicy** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 10:23 pm

I haven't run into one of the security torx bits on a laptop yet. I just assumed that it was a plain torx. You can get a full set of cheapie security bits of all kinds from Harbor Freight for like $6. I've done the spanner thing too.

canton_kid wrote:Not a plain Torx but a Security Torx. They got the bright Idea that a pin in the center of a Torx was security since a normal Torx bit won't work. So you just go out and buy a cheap set of Security Torx bits, they have a hole in the center that fits over the pin in the Torx Security screw LOL
OR just drill a hole in a normal Torx bit with a drill press yourself, thats what I did when they first came out!

Also the security straight blade screws like in the bottom of some coffee pots, the screw has a lump in the center so a straight blade screw driver won't work. I needed to take apart a coffee pot to fix it, I took a cheap $1 screw driver and my rotory tool and in 30 seconds had a spanner screwdriver to take out the screws LOL