Hard drive fell out what are my options?

[PinkElephant]

I noticed there was a screwloose on my IBM think pad. Before I could get one, the harddrive fell completely out and it's not recognizing the operating system. I bought this used from a computer tech who is pretty far away.

Is all hope gone, or are there any options I may be able to try? I don't have any money to invest. I'm financially busted.

Thanks very much.

[Neil]

Welcome to the forum, PinkElephant!

Option #1 would be to put the hard drive back in...

Since you didn't tell us what model ThinkPad you have, I'm going to guess that the drive was not in a drive caddy. Just stuck in the drive bay with the cover over it, right? Without a caddy and the four screws that guide it into the bay, it is difficult, but not impossible to get the drive back in the bay correctly.

[PinkElephant]

It's a T41 and it can't find OS system. Pulled battery out, put back in will not reboot. Thanks very much!

[rkawakami]

If the hard drive was separated from the plastic cover (or there was none to being with), the drive needs to be inserted "upside down" into the HD bay. That is, the label (top side of the drive) needs to be facing the table and the printed circuit board on the drive (bottom) needs to be up against the palmrest. This is one of the common situations that occurs when the drive is not recognized.

If you are inserting the drive the correct way and all of the pins are being connected like they should, then the fall may have damaged the drive.