Is my laptop worth repairing?!

[amywy88]

Hi, I have an Advent laptop which isnt particularly great, but last time I tried to use it, it said that the operating system couldnt be found, if I had to guess I would say that possibly it would need a new hard drive but I dont know if im right or how much that would cost and was hoping somebody might?!

Thanks

[Postdog]

I can't answer for that model, and I suppose it depends on how much you paid, but I know if mine goes wrong (and it plays up a lot anyway) when it comes to it, I'll get new rather than repair. They are cheap enough, and depending on what is wrong it could be more cost effective in the long run.

[LeMarchand]

It could be that either your drive has become disconnected (5 min job to unscrew plate and check) or that you/a virus has managed to format the drive. If you have a Windows or recovery disc, I'd give that a try rather than fork out for a new one just yet. How old is it/what operating system does it have?

[amywy88]

It was windows XP, I dont have any recovery disk or anything to reinstall the operating system I dont think, I think it might have been reconditioned when I bought it!

[LeMarchand]

Hmmm... I'd still try a few things before junking it, but you'd probably need to pay someone to take a look. No idea what people charge, as I tend to fix my own laptops/computers. You might get lucky and find someone who would take a look first and then give you an estimate.

If it was a completely new hard drive, they're not too expensive but you'd need to get an operating system loaded on + software, so I'd tend to lean towards a new laptop!

If you feel up to it, you could download some sort of free operating system on a "live" disc (e.g. Ubuntu or Knoppix) to investigate what (if anything) is on your disc; but I suspect that this is more than most users are willing to try!