Qosmio HDD Failure/Replacement Problem

Hi All,

I have a Qosmio E15 with a HDD that just failed, it will no longer boot. So I thought I would buy a new one and replace it, but I am having a problem, so I seek some guidance.

I bought a WD Scorpio, 160GB EIDE HDD to replace the unit. I easily installed the new drive, popped in the recovery disk (this is all that I have) and turned on the machine.

During boot up, it appears to recognize the drive as Q: and then tries to boot off the recovery CD, it prompts me that it starting the system restore to press "C" to acknowledge that all information on the drive will be erased. When I press "C" it just shuts down the laptop and reboots to the same screen. I am then stuck in this continuous loop.

Now, I have not formatted the new drive, there are files on the drive and I was not sure if erasing them by performing a format would be the right thing to do. The WD site was not much help and the 1 paragraph instruction sheet that came with the drive didn't help either!

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

 

Does the BIOS see the HDD and report the details (ie WD Scorpio 160GB) correctly? I'm surprised that the computer is giving the new HDD the letter Q:. It should only allocate a letter after the new HDD has been partitioned. I am therefore also surprised that you say there are files on the new HDD.

We need to sort out whether the problem is with the recovery CD or the hardware. I suggest that you download the Ubuntu Linux Live CD and boot from that. You should be able to see the HDD in the list of hardware and have the option to format it.

John

 

Thanks for the reply. It does not appear to be recognizing the HDD in the BIOS. There is no name (WD Scorpio) under the heading "Built-in HDD", it just read "_______=Primary IDE(1F0H/IRQ14).

I assume a format is necessary?

 

The recovery disc normally will do any required formatting and it might have an option for the partition size. However, the BIOS should, as a minimum, report the size of the hard disk and it normally gives a model number. Is there an option to reset the BIOS? Perhaps it is not checking for the HDD type. There should be an option for a full set of tests on boot.

Also, does that recovery disc have any other options? 'C@ seems to be an unusual choice for accepting an option. 'Y' for yes would be more logical. I've had no problems with the recovery disc for my Toshiba R500. (Double-check that the recovery disc is specific to your notebook. Otherwise it will jump out of the recovery process).

John