Do you think my laptop is seriously damaged?

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Zah1

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It fell onto the carpet earlier. When I switch it on, it starts up. I see the Sony Vaio sign on the screen etc, but then that's about it. Doesn't move on to the desktop. Tried pressing every button but its just stuck.

Any idea what could be the problem? I'm really hoping its nothing too serious, can't afford to pay high repair costs right now.
 
Zah1 said:
It fell onto the carpet earlier. When I switch it on, it starts up. I see the Sony Vaio sign on the screen etc, but then that's about it. Doesn't move on to the desktop. Tried pressing every button but its just stuck.

Any idea what could be the problem? I'm really hoping its nothing too serious, can't afford to pay high repair costs right now.
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Hard drive has probably been damaged.

The data is most likely recoverable - at quite a cost though. Minimum R2,000 AFAIK, sometimes even as much as R5,000 and more depending on who does it, how much data there is, etc.

It probably would have survived if the laptop was turned off. But a powered on laptop with a spinning HDD is very, very prone to damage with even the slightest of drops.
 
PostmanPot said:
The data is most likely recoverable - at quite a cost though. Minimum R2,000 AFAIK, sometimes even as much as R5,000 and more depending on who does it, how much data there is, etc.
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Would be worth trying to remove the drive from the laptop, hook it up to a desktop and image it with GNU ddrescue.
 
Do you have valuable data on the computer or are you just interested in getting it up and running again? If the latter, buy a new HDD and install Windows. But first make sure that it is the HDD that's broken by plugging it into another PC.
 
Couldn't he just put in a new HDD - put the old 1 in an enclosure & give "get data back" a try?
 
well not sure about laptop HDDs but standard desktop HDDs are suppose to Handel 20G impacts, I dropped an old 80GB HDD from 3 storries onto concrete, though slightly dented still worked.

So I think it would be best to get the laptop connections checked, something could have come loose. Unfortunatly laptops are fragile but I would not be surprised if something else besides HDD got damaged.

Definatly try coonecting the HDD to another laptop or desktop to check it.
 
ShadowRider said:
well not sure about laptop HDDs but standard desktop HDDs are suppose to Handel 20G impacts
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It most probably can't even withstand 20G's of acceleration or deceleration, nevermind impact. HDD's are very fragile.
 
ShadowRider said:
well not sure about laptop HDDs but standard desktop HDDs are suppose to Handel 20G impacts, I dropped an old 80GB HDD from 3 storries onto concrete, though slightly dented still worked.

So I think it would be best to get the laptop connections checked, something could have come loose. Unfortunatly laptops are fragile but I would not be surprised if something else besides HDD got damaged.

Definatly try coonecting the HDD to another laptop or desktop to check it.
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In your case the HDD wasnt powered and was "parked". In the case of laptop me thinks it was still running and even a small bump could crash and damage the disk.
 
ShadowRider said:
well not sure about laptop HDDs but standard desktop HDDs are suppose to Handel 20G impacts, I dropped an old 80GB HDD from 3 storries onto concrete, though slightly dented still worked.
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20G really isn't a lot, when you do the math. 1G = 9.8m.s^-2, so an acceleration of 9.8m/s every second. Drop a hard drive and let's say it falls for 0.5s. That's 0.5 x 9.8 = 4.9m/s.
Now, acceleration is difference in velocity/time, thus 4.9/time. Only a hard drive tends to bounce on the ground (Let's say tiles), and in order to keep things simple, it pops back up at 4.9m/s as well, thus the total change in velocity is 9.8m/s, so 9.8/t.
Now, how long do you think it took for the drive to make that change? anything less than ~0.5 seconds, and you'd be over the 20G mark. Dropping something on tiles results in a change of direction as above in a fraction of a second. So, let's just assume this change in direction takes 0.001s (Very possible), that means that the drive experienced 9800G.
 
Messugga said:
20G really isn't a lot, when you do the math. 1G = 9.8m.s^-2, so an acceleration of 9.8m/s every second. Drop a hard drive and let's say it falls for 0.5s. That's 0.5 x 9.8 = 4.9m/s.
Now, acceleration is difference in velocity/time, thus 4.9/time. Only a hard drive tends to bounce on the ground (Let's say tiles), and in order to keep things simple, it pops back up at 4.9m/s as well, thus the total change in velocity is 9.8m/s, so 9.8/t.
Now, how long do you think it took for the drive to make that change? anything less than ~0.5 seconds, and you'd be over the 20G mark. Dropping something on tiles results in a change of direction as above in a fraction of a second. So, let's just assume this change in direction takes 0.001s (Very possible), that means that the drive experienced 9800G.
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Hectic **** man....too much for my brain
 
I'm not too clued up on the Vaio BIOS but surely it would give an error like "Boot device not detected" or something similar if the HDD has failed. If you look in the BIOS is the HDD detected?

Many factors come into play when a HDD is dropped. I had someone a few weeks ago who dropped their, also Vaio, from a chair onto the carpet. It was powered off, and completely secured it a really soft, spongy laptop bag. The drop wasn't more than about 50cm and yet it killed the HDD heads. It was a Toshiba 320GB. In other cases you can drop a laptop off a desk (powered off) onto a concrete floor and you might be lucky enough that the HDD comes out without any damage. Luck plays a big part.

You should take the previous advice: Take the HDD out and confirm if it's working in an external case or by plugging it into another PC. Once you know whether it's the HDD or laptop itself, you can take things further.
 
South_Bit said:
I'm not too clued up on the Vaio BIOS but surely it would give an error like "Boot device not detected" or something similar if the HDD has failed. If you look in the BIOS is the HDD detected?

Many factors come into play when a HDD is dropped. I had someone a few weeks ago who dropped their, also Vaio, from a chair onto the carpet. It was powered off, and completely secured it a really soft, spongy laptop bag. The drop wasn't more than about 50cm and yet it killed the HDD heads. It was a Toshiba 320GB. In other cases you can drop a laptop off a desk (powered off) onto a concrete floor and you might be lucky enough that the HDD comes out without any damage. Luck plays a big part.

You should take the previous advice: Take the HDD out and confirm if it's working in an external case or by plugging it into another PC. Once you know whether it's the HDD or laptop itself, you can take things further.
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The point of impact & the angle it falls at has a lot to do with how well a laptop & it's content survives a fall.
 
Messugga said:
20G really isn't a lot, when you do the math. 1G = 9.8m.s^-2, so an acceleration of 9.8m/s every second. Drop a hard drive and let's say it falls for 0.5s. That's 0.5 x 9.8 = 4.9m/s.
Now, acceleration is difference in velocity/time, thus 4.9/time. Only a hard drive tends to bounce on the ground (Let's say tiles), and in order to keep things simple, it pops back up at 4.9m/s as well, thus the total change in velocity is 9.8m/s, so 9.8/t.
Now, how long do you think it took for the drive to make that change? anything less than ~0.5 seconds, and you'd be over the 20G mark.
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That is 2G, not 20G.

v = u + at
4.9 = -4.9 + 0.5a
9.8 = 0.5a
a = 19.6 = 2G

I don't know where the extra order of magnitude came in.

Also, the use of Gs here just confuses the issue. Take an object weighing about 150g, and drop it from about 1m. If it hits the ground and doesn't bounce or move, then congratulations, you've just subjected that object to about 100 000G of shock. Here is a nice little article about the actual physics involved in dropping a hard drive, if anyone is interested, lol: http://www.scribd.com/doc/12453483/Impact-Analysis-of-a-Falling-Object-Michael-de-Silva

Anyway, back to the op. Can you not even get into the BIOS or recovery utils (I assume there are some on a Vaio) when you start up your laptop?
 
Rudimental said:
That is 2G, not 20G.

v = u + at
4.9 = -4.9 + 0.5a
9.8 = 0.5a
a = 19.6 = 2G

I don't know where the extra order of magnitude came in.

Also, the use of Gs here just confuses the issue. Take an object weighing about 150g, and drop it from about 1m. If it hits the ground and doesn't bounce or move, then congratulations, you've just subjected that object to about 100 000G of shock. Here is a nice little article about the actual physics involved in dropping a hard drive, if anyone is interested, lol: http://www.scribd.com/doc/12453483/Impact-Analysis-of-a-Falling-Object-Michael-de-Silva

Anyway, back to the op. Can you not even get into the BIOS or recovery utils (I assume there are some on a Vaio) when you start up your laptop?
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Whoops, I stand corrected. I wrote it pretty quickly this morning, before I even had coffee... :p
 
One thing worth trying, that doesn't require too much effort, is to make yourself a bootable USB disk with Ubuntu on it. - Destructions here

Boot into the usb drive and this way you can verify that the computer itself is ok, normally it boots with all the necessary drivers to get you onto a wireless network even!

When you're in Ubuntu, you can browse the hard drives attached to the computer, and can thereby check on whether the HDD is stuffed or not. If its readable, chances are it mis-wrote some important data upon impact. If this is the case, a chkdsk from the installation CD may just resurrect it.
 
Sorry guys, didn't get a chance to come back and reply. The laptop was switched off when dropped. Thing is I have no idea how to even take out a laptop, lol! And neither does my hubby. Could someone guide me through the process? Please? I really am suffering without it!
 
Zah1 said:
Sorry guys, didn't get a chance to come back and reply. The laptop was switched off when dropped. Thing is I have no idea how to even take out a laptop, lol! And neither does my hubby. Could someone guide me through the process? Please? I really am suffering without it!
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You could try do it yourself or it might be better to get it done by someone. What area are you in?

.............

If you turn the laptop over there should be a panel that covers the HDD. This needs to be opened, the old HDD removed - bacareful!!! the connectors tough fairly durable can be damaged easily if handled wrong. (assuming you can't recover the old data, it will be lost).
The new HDD needs to be inserted & then you need windows (?x?) reinstalled on the laptop followed by the drivers & other software such as office.

The windows license - there is a sticker under the laptop with the windows KEY & it also states what version you have a license for.

Did you receive any disks with the laptop containing the OS and drivers?


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the information, photos etc on the old HDD. You can try look & see if you can recover them alternatively you will have to have a specialist do it at a high price. or you need to start over.
 
Zah1 said:
Sorry guys, didn't get a chance to come back and reply. The laptop was switched off when dropped. Thing is I have no idea how to even take out a laptop, lol! And neither does my hubby. Could someone guide me through the process? Please? I really am suffering without it!
Click to expand...

The HDD should be located in a slot underneath the laptop, hidden by a relatively small removable/unscrew-able piece of plastic. There might even be a little diagram depicting a HDD, or the letters "HDD". When you turn the laptop on and listen to the bottom of it near said HDD slot, do you hear a ticking/scratching sort of sound?
 
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