i had removed the 40gb toshiba harddisk from my ibm thinkpad t41. after putting it back again, it does not get recognized anymore by the bios (“hdd0” remains empty, cdrom and lan of course get recognized) and it sounds like the harddisk remains totally quiet. (i think one cannot really do something wrong when putting a harddisk back into a laptop, right? i did not shake my harddisk or tried to use it as a musical instrument, i swear! ;-)
it seems like there are no hdd settings that i could check or change in the bios, also resetting to the default bios settings does not change anything. anybody having an idea or having faced something similar?
i also wonder if the following workaround would be possible: i have an 80gb external samsung usb harddisk (read: laptop harddisk with a controller in a case, and the usb cable), would it be safe to put my current, non-working harddisk at that controller and to boot from usb then, or could i damage even more here?
/me prepares to say hello to some repair services, and to be far away from any workflow for a number of days…
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
work.
I assume from the size that this is still a PATA/IDE drive? If so, is there a chance you connected the IDE cable upside-down? :-)
(I only ask because a friend of mine made that very mistake a few days ago.)
unfortunately, no cables were involved at all, it’s a “plug-me-in” harddisk…
It’s broken alright if you’re sure you put it all the way in properly and it doesn’t start spinning. You can always try.. If it’s mechanical problem that the disk is having freezing it and running when cooled might help. Apart from that you’re most likely fscked and can’t do a thing yourself.
It might be possible though that the controller fried, but it’s really unlikely (healthy disks start spinning even without sane controller)
Look into the housing with a light to check for bent pins. Laptop HDDs have their power on the ribbon cable so connecting it backwards does bad things.
Well, I would try it the other way round! Better but the non-working 40 GB Harddisk into your external case and try if it works there. At least you know if the harddisk is broken then.