[HP] Help me with my Elitebook 8540w -boot problem :)

[shu8i]

Infos:
Model: HP elitebook 8540w
What happened: a vase felt on the laptop with the lid opened. keyboard is kinda bend inside, although it's fully functional.
Problem: The laptop wont boot into Windows7. I can change everything in bios, boot into the HP made fast web or whatever it's called; but ANYTHING related to windows is taboo.

I opened the laptop and saw that beneath the impact place 2x 2gb rams are installed and on the left side theres the heatsink & graphic card. I was thinking the rams couldn't be defective since the laptop shouldn't even be able to boot into bios & fast web? so what is it?

I can post pictures if needed!

Thanks!

PS. I already tried to install Windows from the CD, but the _ sign will just blink for ever. So it shouldn't be anything windows related.

here are the pics:

Keyboard:

Without Keyboard:

Left (Impact) Side:

Right Side:

 

[Limbfilter]

When you are in the bios, does it see the hdd? And the hdd, is it an ssd or an old school mechanical? When you are trying to boot from a cd did you make sure to set it as boot first?
Just wondering why you don't seem to suspect the hdd at all...

 

[shu8i]

you were right... didn't think of it because it isn't exactly under the keyboard....

did a bios system diagnostics and it tells me that the hdd didn't pass the test + it always hangs on other tests on the memory part...

Now I removed the hard drive, but didn' t find any visible damage to it and reinstalled it. How do I know that only the HDD is corrupt? I could buy a new one, but I just don't want to get a new one just to see that there are other parts non functioning as well...

 

[arson94]

Was the laptop running when the vase hit it? If so, the jolt from the impact could have mechanically broken the drive. Hopefully it's just the drive it broke and not the sata connectors on the board. Can you boot into a Windows DVD or was it hanging on the _ sign trying to boot into the DVD? If it was hanging trying to boot into the disc, then remove the HDD and change your boot priority so the DVD drive is before your HDD drive to make sure you can at least boot into a disc. Like you said, we need to rule out other components being affected as well. On the bright side, being able to get into BIOS and and fast web is definitely a good sign.

 

[Limbfilter]

Yeah...it wouldn't even need to be running to be damaged by an impact....but it does increase the odds.

If you'd like to test the computer without a hdd I'd suggest running a Linux live cd. That's probably what I'd do. That way you could verify the DVD drive as working as well as the memory.

 

[shu8i]

Unfortunately I was not able to boot into a Linux Live HDD. And regarding your questions: Yes the system was running when the vase hit.

 

[arson94]

The reason I asked is because you said you couldn't see any phsyical damage to the HDD and the vase didn't fall over the HDD. The internal components of a mechanical HDD can survive impacts like that much better if they're not moving at the time of impact. Your's was though. What happened when you tried to boot into a Linux Live CD? You get the same _ sign?

 

[shu8i]

exactly, getting _ sign. but I wonder... why can I boot into fastweb? I thought it's on the HDD too?

another thing to note is that I tried to do a HDD diagnosis with UBCD but it wasn't able to find my HDD!

 

[arson94]

Actually, did you make sure that your DVD drive was ahead of your HDD in the boot order when you tried to boot into the CD? Or was the drive still removed when you tried that?

 

[shu8i]

I dont use CD's but external HDDs, and yes the internal HDD was removed and it was trying to boot from the external one, which I was able to on another computer.