Is it typical to lose a hard drive on a laptop after only 3 yrs?
(bios = Sept 06-- Dell)

We have never lost a hard drive (except when one blew up with a power pack failure)... We don't carry this laptop around that much.

Hubby couldn't boot it up this morning. We thought the cat had walked on it while it was doing a scan last night? But my son over the phone is looking up the error messages and says the hard drive is dead.

Jo, is it worth fixing? Luckily we backed it up a few months ago, son doesn't think he can clone it. But he said he could put in a new one. Or should we spring for a new one? Any thoughts?

It is common for things like hard drives to go out in laptops because of heat issues. Laptops arent the best at cooling because of the limited space inside.

It is a fairly easy fix as you just take a couple of screws and it pops right out. You can google your laptop to see exactly how to change this out. I would think it is worth changing it if you like the laptop, plus it is much cheaper than replacing the whole thing.

I would compare prices , cpu/speed & ram/hard drive sizes of the new laptops out there {sales .. } and decide if it is worth fixing the old one or buying a new one.

Do you have a restore disk you could try ??
or doesn't the drive make any sounds at all..

we have been very pleased with http://www.newegg.com/

prices always seem really good compared with others and often free shipping too! They have excellent phone support as well so one can ask questions bf purchasing

Hubby tried the restore disc... no go.

As soon as he cruised the website for Dell (and saw the $289 discount) that was it. (1/2 what we paid for 3 yrs ago).

A new machine with tons more stuff, 3Gig RAM and 250Gig hd, etc he was sold. I think he will order it tomorrow. And it might come before Xmas. ( I am making him "sleep" on the problem.)

We are looking at 9 hr battery. That is the only perk, + dark blue cover ($40).

I guess we have both become computer addicts!
It was really acting up on vacation....battery died, keys sticking, slow, etc.

My son can get a new HD for $60 thereabouts. So the plan is to get the new one, and then at my son's convenience, he will install a new HD. Then that old one will be a back up. Maybe I can lie in bed now with that, and come here! Wouldn't that be something! LOL

I am so glad I forced him to get the new back up... at least My Documents are saved!

It has sure been some exciting moments here today. I had no idea my husband was sooooo attached to that laptop!

And there goes my new camera...which I have wanted for 2 yrs now. Maybe that will come down in price by next year?
All the money we save with my seeds this spring should help with the cost. I hope.

This has exhausted me... I'm going to bed!

Thanks for the comments, everyone!

9 hr battery???

Awesome!

You can replace the hdd though - if I did it, anyone can, really! I bought a Western Digital when mine hit the skids, Took me a few mins to put it in plus a little while to set the machine back up (you know, files and all). And it's been just fine ever since.

I think the replacements are far superior to the stock hdds.

And yeah, if you're not using the laptop, you'll get to love that. I miss mine something fierce - dh has it.

Anyone use a laptop cooling device/stand?

Allen? Jo?

It is interesting that this happened when the room was COLD.

Hubby does leave it on overnight alot, esp when doing scans.
This died during an AdAware scan.

Today hubby is looking on the net for laptop cooling stands and reviews. For example the Belkin offered by Dell has terrible reviews on Amazon. But there are others.

The error message is :
windows\system32\config\system is missing or corrupt
My son says the system is working enough to give this, but not accept the restore disc?

Now hubby has been seduced into a new sparkling version. We were not going to do $$ for Xmas except for our son. Now that has changed. Our 3yr old one was pretty clunky compared to what there is now. And we are talking about $500! And it won't come before Xmas, since it has to be "built". The shipping is free also.

And yes, I really think the 9hr batt is necessary. It is only $40 more. Ours died on vacation, so we could only run it on electricity which is a huge challenge. We just bought an Energizer 6hr external battery thingy from Woot a month ago for vacation. It will run our cell phones, and computer etc. We did that rather than get a new computer batt...so I am glad Woot offered that one day very low price for it. We had been using an external car battery charger to recharge the phones, but it doesn't have enough juice to run a computer. (you should see the stuff we take into the laundromat to charge off their wall plugs as it is!)

We did run it off our generator a few times on vacation. I wonder if that is the reason it died? Is generator power safe for computers? My son said the power cord would protect the laptop and the generator is small, and goes thru surge protectors at the plug in.(the house is not wired)

If mine seems to be getting warm or if I am running it quite a bit.. then I just prop it up with something to get more air flow underneath - keep the fan vent opening clear.

I usually use CD cases under each corner.

I think generators should be OK, esp with the extra power bar for surge suppression.. we ran our well, water heater , big TV & fridge at the same time last year with the generator.

windows error info-
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545

Thanks, Jo. I talked to my son today, and he found the same link. Our problem appears to be that the discs that came with the laptop won't boot at all. He said he would have to look at it in person...etc. We can't do it this weekend, and so hubby is chomping at the bit to get a new one anyway...He WANTS it, and you know what that means...LOL.
We have the back up storage, which can be downloaded into the new one. All of My Documents. This new one will have Windows 7 too.

I can put Paint shop pro on it, like I did from this one..so that is all that matters. Anything else we can move from this main one with a flash drive. To me it is rather overwhelming... so I will let THEM do it all. I don't have the mind/head for all this.
The biggest problem last time with the first laptop was activating the Wifi. We'll let my son do that one!

I do not use a stand or cooler, but I put it on a hard surface, not my lap or a pillow so it vents okay.

And I shut it down when not in use - dd did not and hers was always a problem.

I use it without a surge protector, but I would use a SP in your case, with a generator. House current can be oddball enough, I would not bet on a genny keeping a steady current, or the laptop's cord being able to protect it.

I wonder if you can get it to boot from disc if you go to the boot menu and manually set it to do so - I had to to something like that with mine when it crashed. It kept setting itself to some other boot sequence.



Which is how I learned they have a boot menu, lol.

My ds got it to come around just enough to save my files. But the hdd was toast.

I think when you first turn it on, you can hit f12 or something to get to that menu.

I'm pretty sure, if I remember right, that after I put the new hdd in, I had to do this, too. Would be nice if I could remember any dang thing.