R31 won't go past the IBM logo screen

[Bev]

Hi guys and gals- Please help! I've just bought a second hand R31. I loaded a word processer and spreadsheet by using my USB memory stick and it seemed to run fine for a while. It was running Windows XP. It has the seral number sticker on the bottom of the laptop but I don't have any discs. After a couple of hours the computer froze so I turned it off and tried to start up again. Now it won't go past the screen With the IBM logo and the F1 and F12 options. I have tried the F1 option and it does allow me to make changes there. It doesn't have a + next to the hard drive in the list of boot devices, which the IBM website said it should if the hard drive is being recognised. After trying some things, it has come up with "operating system not found". I don't have any recovery discs- Is there a programme I can download that will reboot the computer? I am very grateful for any suggestions. Many thanks

[T23FUN]

That's a bummer.
Seems like a HDD issue. Do you have a boot up disk or a 3.5 in drive? There is a download on the Lenovo site for PC Doctor that will run diagnostics on your computer. I downloaded the 3.5 inch diskette version. You might also try the hard drive manufacturer for diagnostics.
If you have a boot up floppy from win98 might also troubleshoot the problem. I hope this wasn't caused by a virus.
rich

[andyP]

Bev, welcome to the forum,

the first thing I would do is re-seat the hard drive, it maybe that it doesn't have a good connection. Instructions on how to remove / replace the drive can be found here.