Somewhat annoyed

[karen2205]

My laptop fell off my lap no more that two feet to the ground. I picked it up and it was fine, then a couple of minutes later it blue screened and restarted. On restarting it was unable to find the boot device and consequently unable to find either of the Operating Systems.

I restarted it a couple of times (including after going into the BIOS and telling it to do a diagnostic start up) and I get the same error each time.

I'm attempting to contact the guy who does our IT at work who ought to be able to have a look at it for me, but in the meantime I'm internet-less at home. I need to do the pay run early next week.

I believe this is something fixable, I can't believe a drop of less than 2' would be enough to break the machine entirely.

Edit

It's fine. Too much panic and too little observation. Something on the right hand side moved slightly out of place (I think this bit is supposed to move). When moved back into place the machine found the boot device it was looking for and all is now well.

Comments

[yady.livejournal.com]

If you're lucky, it'll just be that the connection of the harddisk has become dislodged, or something. In that case, taking the disk out and putting it back in place might fix it. If you're less lucky, the disk itself or the disk controller might be broken.

I don't think a computer would be completely broken from that fall, but several minor things can be wrong with it. It's probably a good idea to have it looked at by someone who can open it up and take a look inside. (If it's under warranty, go to a certified someone.) Also, take a closer look at the casing - a lot of small damage is not directly visible without closer inspection. Though especially with sturdier systems (I seem to recall yours is a Thinkpad, but I'm not certain) lack of damage on the outside doesn't always mean the inside is undamaged (but if it's a well-made system, the parts prone to breaking should be relatively easy to replace).

[yady.livejournal.com]

By the way, can you boot from a CD or floppy (if you have the appropriate drives)?

[barakta]

I second what arkady says. Hard disk connections aren't always the best, and indeed hard disks can break on impacts as small as the one you describe.

If it is the hard disk, it is often one of the easiest components to replace and doesn't have to be very expensive unlike screen damage or whatever.

[lovingboth]

Sounds like a removeable hard disk attempting to remove itself, with the help of the impact :)