Upgrading & Fixing Laptops DUMmIES

Your programs can be replaced with new ones. Your laptop and its various

components can be repaired or replaced. But if you have only one copy of

your Great American Novel, your company’s business plan, or your family

photos, you’re just one step away from a major loss. Make backups.

Here is the number one deadly signpost in the life cycle of a hard disk drive:

General failure reading drive C:.

Just like the sign says, this is a message from your laptop from deep down

below — from the system BIOS — that the computer is unable to read infor-

mation from the hard disk. You might receive this message when booting up,

before the operating system gets a chance to load; you may see the message

while the machine is up and running.

If you’re lucky, you’ve run into a momentary fault with the hard drive or its

controller, a sort of a once-in-a-couple-dozen-million-nanosecond hiccup.

The read-write heads might have ended up in an unusual location, or the

hard drive motor may be stuck because of humidity, a tiny speck of dirt,

or warping.

Try restarting the machine by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del. If that doesn’t work, turn

off the power, wait a few seconds, and then turn the machine back on. You can

even try a very gentleshock to the system. With the power turned off, carefully

bang the bottom of the laptop case on a desktop. (If you’re able to determine

where the hard disk is on your laptop, concentrate your physical attention

there.) I’m talking about a rap with about the force of a wrap of your knuckles

on the table — hard enough to make a noise but not enough to cause pain.

Then turn on your machine and hope for the best.

If you’re lucky, the hard drive comes back to life and your system merrily

proceeds as if nothing happened. You, however, are smart enough to imme-

diately update your backups of all essential data to an external hard drive or

a recordable CD or DVD. And you remember at all times that your hard drive

is going to fail sooner or later; be prepared to replace it when it dies.

Checking electrical connections ........................................................

If the hard drive is installed in a plug-in bay on the bottom side of your

laptop, check to make sure it’s properly connected to the system:

1. Place the laptop on a sturdy, well-lit surface.


2. Disconnect the power adapter and remove the battery.

38 Part II: Explaining What Could Possibly Go Wrong