Another Computer possibly dying?

Hello Again,
Well, because everything always has to happen in three’s, here we go with another computer issue. This time it is on our Acer Aspire laptop. Occasionally during a reboot I get an error message as follows:

Check Cable Connection
PXE-MOD: Exiting Intel PXE ROM
No Bootable Device Insert Boot Disc

Of course the PC won’t boot, but if I do a hard power down and re-start everything comes up fine. So, my thinking is the hard drive is dying, but I am not sure if that is it? Does anyone have an idea if it is a dying hd or possible cable? I am up to date on HD maintenance, ie: Have run check disc and defragged. If it is the hd, how difficult is it to replace on a laptop? Looks as though you un-screw a cover on the bottom to remove the old one and drop a new one in. Could it be that simple?

Thanks!

all that means is it’s trying to boot from the network connection. I have no idea why boot from network is enabled by default on so many PCs, I doubt very many people make use of it. try going into the BIOS setup and disabling that, then see what happens.

It is possible – I don’t know how likely – that the HD is experiencing intermittent issues. If the laptop can’t detect the hard drive, it might try other boot methods (including the network card and/or CD drive). Strange (but not inconceivable) that a simple reboot would fix a problem like this.

As for replacing it, if there’s a labeled slot for it on the laptop case, it’s probably designed to be easy to remove. Most likely a few screws, then you either pull out the HD itself or a caddy that it sits in, and maybe a plastic adapter piece at most. None of the above should be too hard.

Thanks for the advice