laptop says no OS detected, help

[vipercrazed]

my friends acer just went and i tryed pretty much anything, safemode, no fix
last good config, nope
bios settings reset, nope
reset battery, nope

when u turn it on it takes a unusally long time to load windows and stops in the process and says a little bit of sutff i have no clue about, and says no OS detected at the end

then everytime u hard reset after that it tells u windows did not start normally and ive tried all options there,
i told my firend the hardrive is messed up, what do ya think?

 

[bmxfreakrider]

harddrive/bios/cables to hdd. try to update bios, then get a dos bootdisk and try to scandisk the drive(or use the xp disk, use recovery consle and use chkdisk or whatever it is, and if it finds that the hdd is goin, then yea. also, check in the bios, if it got a smart section, read that

 

[Jorsoft]

I'd say either the connection from the hd to the laptop's mobo is band or the hd is bad itself. Try reinstalling it and then running any hd diagnostic software on it. There are several on the Ultimate Boot CD (google it), they will look for mechanical errors. If you hear any pops, clicks, or loud grinding or anything you'll know it's bad.
May also try using chkdsk from dos mode (if possible) and see what that can fix. Usually when it's this bad a new hd is needed.

 

[vipercrazed]

k, where do u get a dos boot disk, why do u need dos??
i think my friend is takin it to get it checked, i aint no A+ geek so i just said take it to someone.

 

[macdude425]

http://bootdisk.com

I think they are wanting you to format and reinstall Windows, and if that doesn't pan out, then it's likely to be a hard drive problem.

 

[vipercrazed]

ok, thats easy enough will do

 

[Giigler]

Try teh repair mode from the OS installation disk. Then do a FIXBOOT to fix the boot.ini. If nothing work maybe a clean format and reinstall will help.

 

[vipercrazed]

well the guy said i can have it for $350, he says it has 512 ram and he doesnt know how much space the hdd was.

he says its a acer aspire 3620, but i googled it and there are like 5 different sub models.

so i cant find out exact specs, it can have anywhere from a 40-120 gb hdd
256 or 512 ram ddr2, 2gb maximum on the mobo, 200 pin(i think)

should i take it off his hands?, he only paid $420 for it and i dont know if i have to get a new hdd........
hes totally computer illiterate and has no clue about anything i ask him

but if i needed one, the one i would get would be a 7200 rpm 60gb for $90