OT: computer help

secretsam

Anyone know why my HP laptop isn't booting up? It says it can find the boot stuff and is making an ominous clicking noise when I fire it up - just suddenly packed up the other day, been super otherwise

dhope

Ominous clicking noise is ominous, especially if it coincides with the machine suddenly not recognising it. I assume it's not an SSD (wouldn't click, has no moving parts).

Use something like this
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sabrent-2-5-In ... 011M8YACM/

To get anything useful off the disk, assuming it's not completely dead.

craker

If you can find some other way of booting that would be a start. USB dongle with a Linux distro on it, if you've got the means to sort that out.

There was a PDF doing the rounds a decade or so ago called '200 ways to revive a dead hard drive'

https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=200%20ways%20to%20revive%20a%20dead%20hard%20drive

I remember it mostly involved putting the disk in the freezer.

secretsam

Thanks - sounds like time for Mr Computer-Man