My laptop seems to have a bad HD, windows will not boot, it tries to repair and at some point the drive activity stops. Tried alt f10 - recovery, get the please wait recovery screen, HD activity stops, Tried to boot from the recovery disk, DVD is 1st on boot option, F10 to boot from HD, machine keeps trying to boot from HD. Any clues? I'd replace the HD but if I can't boot from the DVD, why bother.
If it were me I would remove the hard drive and then try to boot from the DVD.
If that didn't work I would then try a bootable USB stick.
If it boots from DVD then you can replace the hard drive.
If the DVD is NG, but the USB stick works, then there could be a SATA controller failure.
I removed the HD, f12 - boot from dvd, failed could not find boot device. Sounds like the your right. Looks like I have a door stop, not a laptop.
You think both have gone down nearly the same time? That's rare, and extremely bad luck if so.
Before you give up, how about testing the hd outside of your machine?
Enlisting the help of a friends pc, go to Newegg and get the 2.5 to 3.5 hd adapter. They're inexpensive. Usually 3 day delivery. When you get it, hook up your hd and plug it in to your friends USB port to see if it's recognized.
Insten 675639 Adapter - Newegg.com
Are you out of warrantee? If not, get the dvd drive replaced.
Try other known good media in the dvd drive to make sure its not working. Perhaps borrow a W7 install disc from one of your friends? Vista or XP will also do.
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