Laptop will not boot after replacing HDD

[Westpalmdan]

I cannot get my laptop to come back to life. I have a Gateway LT41P06u that was not starting up and then would go to a blue screen error......INACCESABLE_BOOT_DEVICE. I followed the recommendations described here http/www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-3081645/booting-gateway-lt41p06u.html.

I decided to go out and get a new HDD. Once installed all I get is the motherboard fan spinning for a few seconds, stopping and then repeating the cycle with nothing at all on the screen. I even put the old HDD back in and get the same results. In the process of installing the HDD I did pull out the connector to the motherboard, but I am sure it is in good and secure.

 

[mbarnes86]

Hi

I fear your new drive may have been dropped with a read / write head jammed or broken. Especially if posted in a jiffy (padded) bag.

Test it in a desktop pc or externally in usb to sata tray or esata to ensure it works correctly or not

I was asked to fix a laptop which had been dropped onto carpet, with no external damage but It had the same symptoms .

On removeing the hard drive it booted up and the bios said no boot device

I am not sure you mean by pulled out the connector to the motherboard.

In most modern laptops a sata data and sata power connector is soldered to the motherboard and you pull or push the hard drive into the connector.

I replaced the hard drive with a SSD as it would be more robust than a hdd

Regards
Mike Barnes

 

[Westpalmdan]

Hi

I fear your new drive may have been dropped with a read / write head jammed or broken. Especially if posted in a jiffy (padded) bag.

Test it in a desktop pc or externally in usb to sata tray or esata to ensure it works correctly or not

I was asked to fix a laptop which had been dropped onto carpet, with no external damage but It had the same symptoms .
This Laptop has connectors to the motherboard that are removable not soldered. Nothing wrong with the HDD, works on other PC, it is a new problem that I might have created


On removeing the hard drive it booted up and the bios said no boot device

I am not sure you mean by pulled out the connector to the motherboard.

In most modern laptops a sata data and sata power connector is soldered to the motherboard and you pull or push the hard drive into the connector.

I replaced the hard drive with a SSD as it would be more robust than a hdd

Regards
Mike Barnes

 

[Westpalmdan]

Nothing wrong with the HD it is an SSD (guess I should have been more clear on that). On this laptop the the connection to the motherboard is tape into a plug not solder.

 

[mbarnes86]

Hi

All I can suggest is check out if the CMOS can be cleared.
This is more difficult with laptops than desktop PC motherboards

Sometimes it requires removing the main battery and then the cmos battery.
In other cases there is a location where a bridging wire is required between two solder points

It requires access to a technical manual or some one with detailed knowledge of Gateway laptops

regards
Mike Barnes

 

[mbarnes86]

Hi


Have you confirmed that the laptop can boot up (to No boot device or No PXE server found) without a HDD /SSD connected ?
(rule out corrupted cmos or BIOS)

The only other problem I can think of is that some older BIOS & PC do not work with some advanced format drives which are unable to emulate 512byte sectors.

See if your laptop will boot with a old hard drive which is either 512 byte sector or can emulate 512 byte sectors.

wiki on advanced format disks
https/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Format

Regards

Mike Barnes