Computer/Tech gurus: I need some help with my laptop!

[andrewj]

Earlier this year, I dropped my Toshiba Satellite A215-S5818 laptop. After restarting the laptop, I received an error message saying a drive was defective. I did some tinkering around and popped the hard drive's cover off. I saw that the hard drive was not exactly attached anymore. I re-attached it but the problem still persisted after trying to restart the computer.

Fast forward to today, I finally found the original box and recovery software. I tried running the recovery software to get it back to the out-of-the-box configuration but I got an error message during the process (error:10-Fc10-0017). After some google-ing, I found the error message means that the hard drive may need to be replaced.

So before I dump some cash on a new hard drive, I want to get some input from anyone with some tech knowledge. Is replacing a hard drive as straight forward as it sounds? After installing the hard drive, should running recovery software restore my laptop to factory out-of-the-box settings?

I'd appreciate any info, criticisms, remarks, etc.


PS. I found out today that the 3 yr warranty on my laptop expired 2/29/11. I dropped my laptop before then but hadn't really taken any steps to get it fixed until now. Had I jumped on this right away, it would have been covered by warranty. My procrastinatory tendencies really kicked me in the nuts on this one

[mecam]

Earlier this year, I dropped my Toshiba Satellite A215-S5818 laptop. After restarting the laptop, I received an error message saying a drive was defective. I did some tinkering around and popped the hard drive's cover off. I saw that the hard drive was not exactly attached anymore. I re-attached it but the problem still persisted after trying to restart the computer.

Fast forward to today, I finally found the original box and recovery software. I tried running the recovery software to get it back to the out-of-the-box configuration but I got an error message during the process (error:10-Fc10-0017). After some google-ing, I found the error message means that the hard drive may need to be replaced.

So before I dump some cash on a new hard drive, I want to get some input from anyone with some tech knowledge. Is replacing a hard drive as straight forward as it sounds? After installing the hard drive, should running recovery software restore my laptop to factory out-of-the-box settings?

I'd appreciate any info, criticisms, remarks, etc.


PS. I found out today that the 3 yr warranty on my laptop expired 2/29/11. I dropped my laptop before then but hadn't really taken any steps to get it fixed until now. Had I jumped on this right away, it would have been covered by warranty. My procrastinatory tendencies really kicked me in the nuts on this one

You can learn from Youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=How+to+Replace%2FUpgrade+your+Notebook+Hard+Drive+&aq=f

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[Jeepers]

might be alot more then just the drive , if the board cracked a new drive wont save you , other words dont spend too much on a new drive just get a cheap one and cross your fingers

[NytWolf]

Your warranty wouldn't cover a dropped laptop anyway, if that makes you feel better.

Now, if your hard drive were damaged from a drop, I'd say there might be other things damaged too. When you say the drive wasn't exactly connected anymore, was there any damaged to where the drive was connected? Did it just pop loose?

But yes, if you can verify that it's just the drive, using the recovery CD is pretty straight forward.

[whatpain]

no your laptop wont be covered under factory warranty for a drop thats accidental damage. sattelite a215's use sata hard drives {the connector looks like 2 sideways l's} so you just need a new sata hard drive and pop it in. you should be able to get away with your factory restore disk from there or call toshiba and they will send what you need. you dont have mother board damage i can promise that. it would take more then a drop to damage those motherboards. i fixed one today that needed a whole new case and looked like it had been run over but it didnt need a new mobo so you should be good with just a hardrive.

[G1500]

Drives are easy to replace.

Don't use the factory disc, find the same OS you have a key for, and do a fresh install of the OS. You should NEVER use the factory disc.

[andrewj]

might be alot more then just the drive , if the board cracked a new drive wont save you , other words dont spend too much on a new drive just get a cheap one and cross your fingers

I figured as much. I'm looking for some cheap options so it won't hurt as much if a new drive doesn't fix the problem.

[G1500]

I figured as much. I'm looking for some cheap options so it won't hurt as much if a new drive doesn't fix the problem.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136197

[andrewj]

Your warranty wouldn't cover a dropped laptop anyway, if that makes you feel better.

Now, if your hard drive were damaged from a drop, I'd say there might be other things damaged too. When you say the drive wasn't exactly connected anymore, was there any damaged to where the drive was connected? Did it just pop loose?

But yes, if you can verify that it's just the drive, using the recovery CD is pretty straight forward.

yeah, I guess it makes me feel a little better

I don't see any damage to the connnection area... or any visible damage elsewhere for the matter. Yes, the drive popped loose. I wouldn't say it was completely detached (apparently there is no way it could detach when the cover is on anyway) but it certainly was working its way out. I don't know if that is a problem in and of itself.

Is a hard drive really fragile enough to be damaged from a fall? Is it at least possible that it is even the case?

[andrewj]

you dont have mother board damage i can promise that. it would take more then a drop to damage those motherboards. i fixed one today that needed a whole new case and looked like it had been run over but it didnt need a new mobo so you should be good with just a hardrive.

Thats re-assuring.

Don't use the factory disc, find the same OS you have a key for, and do a fresh install of the OS. You should NEVER use the factory disc.

Could you elaborate on this. I was planning on using the supplied recovery discs that came in the original box along with all the manuals and text. They're labeled:

Toshiba
Recovery and Application/Drivers
Satellite A210/A215 Series
Windows Vista Home Premium 32 bit" discs

Should I use something else?

[Jeepers]

Drives are easy to replace.

Don't use the factory disc, find the same OS you have a key for, and do a fresh install of the OS. You should NEVER use the factory disc.

i have to disagree, unless you are a power user ,the restore disks will have all the drivers you will need , Toshiba has been known to use proprietary hardware and drivers.. i have a toshiba 5105 (top end craptop when new) sitting next to my desk with a bad vid card (geforce 440go propitiatory,bios will not recognize any other card i have even tried to hack the bios its a nogo )that was ONLY used in the Toshiba's and proprietary drivers ... just my 2 cents ....

[nick]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136197

Yuck, that's one crappy drive. If you're going to replace your drive anyway, do yourself a favor and buy a decent drive. It's the slowest major component in your system, and the system works as fast as its slowest component. Also, get a drive with full drive encryption, you'll thank me later They're cheap now, anyway. Here's a decent drive with FDE:

http://www.provantage.com/seagate-st9500421as~7SEGS203.htm

I'm one of those people who drop their laptops a lot (I often use laptops in less than ideal conditions). Since I haven't yet seen affordable SSD drives with FDE, I have to use the platter ones (and buy sturdy laptops, of course). I've dropped my current laptop probably 20-30 times by now, and I still use the same drive, the one above. Their G-Force protection works pretty well (if you keep in mind that it's still a platter drive).

[Jeepers]

no your laptop wont be covered under factory warranty for a drop thats accidental damage. sattelite a215's use sata hard drives {the connector looks like 2 sideways l's} so you just need a new sata hard drive and pop it in. you should be able to get away with your factory restore disk from there or call toshiba and they will send what you need. you dont have mother board damage i can promise that. it would take more then a drop to damage those motherboards. i fixed one today that needed a whole new case and looked like it had been run over but it didnt need a new mobo so you should be good with just a hardrive.

I call b.s. if the controller on the board is damaged it will flag a bad hard drive, there is NO way you can "promise that" .. I repair craptops 10-15 times a year(turn away most) a dropped craptop is the worse case, but sometimes you will get lucky

[minuteman]

Just buy a drive and stick it in. If it works it works. Odds are the harddrive heads collided with the platter when your laptop took a spill. If it doesnt work, you still have a good drive you can stick in an enclosure and use as a backup drive. Your other option is to buy a new laptop, so you wont have to deal with windows vista anymore.

[Tempus]

Odds are the harddrive heads are fubar.

There could be additional damage but it sounds that the drive is toast. If you really need to prove it you could have someone pull the drive and check it for you. You can get cheap sata to usb connectors and do it yourself if you have another machine around.

If the motherboard also has issues then you are pretty much SOL and will need a new lappy. Yeah, you could get it replaced but odds are its no where near worth it.

As for using the install disks or not - it won't care about the drive capacity or type so just get a drive you like. Use the disks unless you are very comfortable finding all the drivers you need elsewhere and are prepared to find them on another machine and put them on a memory stick (in case the network drivers aren't in the windows install you are using.)

Its much easier to just use their disks unless you know what you are doing and have a reason not to.