Presario HDD failure?

[buddytod]

A friend has asked me to have a look at his Compaq Presario 2500 Laptop. Seems like the HDD has failed but since I am not familiar with Laptops I would appreciate experienced input please. Boots ok and then displays 2 messages... 'Media test failure..check cable' and then 'Operating system not found.' Bios reports HDD as NONE. Seems likely that it is the Drive but could it possibly be anything else?
Many thanks.

[mjc]

Since you can enter the BIOS setup, have you tried to manually detect the drive?

If it still doesn't detect it, try reseating it (especially if it is in a caddy of some sort) and try again.

If after that, it still isn't detected then you'll need to run the manufacturer's diagnostics...with most laptops, you'll have to burn them onto a CD and set the CD drive to be the first boot device.

[buddytod]

Two options for detecting hdd in the bios...Auto and User. I have no info relating to number of heads/cylinders etc so have left it set on Auto. Tried reseating the drive 3 times. It is a Seagate drive, so would I be able to use the same diagnostics software I would use on the 3.5" pc Drives?
Cheers

[mjc]

Yes, the Seagate drive tools are the ones you'd use.

[buddytod]

Just downloaded the cd iso image for seatools and used it to boot the laptop and still no joy! Message states that the system must have a recognised drive in order to diagnose! The laptop simply does not detect the hdd at all.
Any further help greatly appreciated!

[mjc]

If it is a standard 2.5" laptop drive, then maybe finding an adapter and hooking it up to a desktop would let it be recognized.

If you have another laptop drive at hand, swapping them would be a good idea. That way, if the second drive is not recognized then you'll know that it is likely the machine and not the drive.

[buddytod]

Yep, it was the HDD! Purchased a new 60Gb drive from Ebay and the machine is now perfect.
Many thanks for your help.