Laptop won't boot!

[Dok]

Hey folks

I'm attempting to help out a friend whose laptop won't boot up. It's a Compaq Presario 1200 from about 5 years ago.

Here's the symptoms:

When powered on the "Compaq" logo/splash screen is displayed. This is where the computer gets stuck - the logo remains on the screen and nothing happens.

Pressing F8 will not bring up any windows boot options

I can't access the BIOS settings either.

The fans sound like they're working fine

The floppy A drive is getting power, however inserting a bootable floppy disk does nothing when turning on the computer.

The DVD drive has power, however anything put in the drive (including a bootable CD) is not being read.

If the computer itself cannot be salvaged, can any of the data on the hard drive be (assuming the hd isnt the issue)? I've never opened up a laptop before, is the hard drive connected w/ an IDE cable? Would removing the HD and attempting to connect it to another PC via a USB to IDE adapter work?

Thanks for any suggestions, I really appreciate it.

 

[A_DOG73]

You would need to get an adaptor for that. They are relatively inexpensive. I have one. Yes the HD is just like any other HD but the cable and pins are different. The adaptor allows you to plug in the Laptop HD into a regular PC. I've done it and it works with no problems. The cable that plugs into your Laptop is smaller. That fits into the adaptor which fits into a normal PC IDE slot.

 

[Rick]

Compaq uses F10 for these 1200s to get into the BIOS. Did you try the F10 key?

I am going to assume there's a failing part, probably a bad hard drive or memory. Both are fairly easy to replace on the 1200. HP has full tear-down guides and additional documentation on their support website.