I recently found my old Compaq Presario 1620 laptop that had not been booted up in about two, three years. It ran Windows 95 (when it worked). Anyway, I booted it up last night to see if it would boot, and it did, a little slow and buggy, but I managed to get to the desktop and printed out some (fairly insignificant) documents I had neglected to migrate to my newer computer.
In the midst of doing so, the printer I had hooked up to the laptop ran out of ink and I went to get a new toner cartridge. When I came back a few hours later, the laptop hadn’t gone into sleep mode as it typically would have in its golden years. It was frozen, and I started hearing clicking noises from what I assume is the hard drive. Semi-reflexively I ctrl-alt-deleted it and it rebooted and I got an error saying “Disk I/O error. Replace the disk and hit any key.” There isn’t a CD or a floppy disk in the drives.
I know very little about the guts of computers or troubleshooting. I don’t have any of the Windows 95 disks or anything like that.
There’s nothing important on there, so I don’t much care if it’s now a doorstop, but if there’s anything simple to try before I trash it I’d like to give it a shot. Is it hopeless?
How old is it. The old IBM ‘click of death’ disks was not that many years ago. 2 years before they sold out to Hitachi. The check is fairly simple: if it’s an IBM drive and made in Hungary, it’s suspect. But it’s unlikely to be that. There are two usual ways of coaxing a drive into life: warm it over a radiator for a while, and stick it in a freezer (wrapped up, with a silica gel dessicant bag if possible) overnight.
The hard drive may actually only need reseating (taking out and plugging back in again) - it might just be that the terminals have become a bit tarnished during storage.
For many new-ish laptops (possibly including yours), hard drive removal is fairly simple - sometimes as simple as sliding a locking switch underneath the base, and sliding out the hard drive in its caddy - but it varies a lot from model to model - some do require partial disassembly of the case.
As I mentioned before, I got it to work last night, then when I initially heard clicking, rebooted, and got the I/O error, I turned it off completely. Tonight I let the laptop sit plugged in and on for a while, as some information I found online suggested letting it warm up might help. It actually went to “sleep” while it sat there, but when I woke it, it made the usually reading-the-hard-drive noise, then clicked 8-10 times, I/O error, rinse and repeat.
Looking at the bottom of the laptop, I see a sliding panel that says “Memory Expansion” on it, with an arrow. This panel is locked into place with a phillips head screw. I can’t find any user’s manual online or anywhere that tells me what’s in there. (Obviously I’m pretty unschooled in hardware issues!) Is it worth a try to open it up?
Whatever happens, don’t trash the machine. There’s a thriving market for second hand laptops on eBay - regardless of their age or usability (although paradoxically, you might not want to sell it with the hard drive still in there, if it contains any sensitive personal data or settings).
There are potential fraud pitfalls in selling laptops on eBay though, so if you do decide to go this route (and assuming you don’t already know more about it than me), let me know and I’ll give you a few tips - on avoiding the scammers, and getting the best price for your item.
Alternatively, do you know anyone who might be able to replace the hard drive for you and reinstall the operating system? Where do you live?
Off the top of my head, I don’t know anyone who might be able to help, so I’ll just hang on to it for a while to see if I come across anyone who is knowledgeable about these things and enjoys a challenge As I said before, there’s nothing even remotely crucial on there, but I would be hesitant about selling it for the several reasons you mentioned. Thanks to everyone for the suggestions.
