Laptop wont start up

My laptop (an acer aspire 7520) seemed fine until today it loaded to the password screen and froze, I wait for a few minutes and then closed it over.
When I re-started it went to acer start up screen then to a black screen with the message:

NVIDIA BOOT Agent 249.0542
Copyright (C) 2001-2005 NVIDIA Corporation
Copyright(C) 1997-200 Intel Cororation
PXe-E61: Media test failure, check cable
PXE-MOF: Exiting NVIDIA Boot Agent

and keeps repeating this over and over, i can enter BIOS but i can't do anything else.

 

Is the computer connected to a network, as the message you posted above appears to be saying that the computer is attempting to and failing to boot from a network. If you have the motherboard manual for your computer (if not, have a look online) then check it to see how to change devices the computer boots from.

Also, if you can get into the bios then check to see if your hard drive is still recognised there. This problem may run deeper than just a simple bios change.

 

Thanks for the reply,

Yes I have been in the bios and on the information page it says;

HDD model name.......none

Does this mean my hard drive is useless? or can it be fixed?

 

This may just mean that your hard drive has lost connection to the laptop, maybe due to a jolt or similar.

If you feel confident enough, have a look for some screws on the underside of the laptop that may have a picture of a hard drive on the cover next to it, similar to the picture on the hard drive indicator light.

Open the cover up, and check if the hard drive is seated correctly.

If it is, then I would recommend either purchasing an inexpensive converter to connect the hard drive to a desktop computer, or to take the laptop to a qualified professional to have it checked over more thoroughly.

 

Had a look inside and the drive appears to be seated and connected fine.
I read somewhere that the hard drives on the Acer's aren't very reliable, so I think I will just replace it. Had a google around and found I can get a new one for £40..ish.
Do you think I will be able to salvage any data from the old one with the convertor you mentioned.?

 

If the drive works, then yes. If not, then a data recovery company may be able to help, but they are very expensive.