I am troubleshooting issues on a Compaq Presario 2100 series/90us. The notebook pc was brought to me after others unsuccessfully attempted repair. I've spent an obscene amount of time learning and unlearning with some progress,however,the hd is repeatedly,"none" in bios,moreso,not recognized, by Win os,boot,install, etc.HP recommended restore disks,which I tried... I've explored Win opts,Linux,Seagate,Virtual,PXE,image creation,suggested medias,blahblahblah.Lights up as it should,but no luck otherwise.I'm feeling a bit more challenged than I am comfortable with. Any advice would be appreciated.

i am not familiar with all forms of notebooks and their inner workings, but if the bios will not recognize the drive, there are only 2 real options here assuming it does not boot:
1) faulty cable, the connector to the drive somehow has been severed inside enough to improperly connect the drive and needs to be replaced if possible.
2) the drive has failed and cannot be read from.

When you boot the machine what happens? How far into the boot does it go?
Are there any indications of the hardrive spinning?
Do you have a 3.5 to 2.5 converter? You could test the drive as a slave drive inside a working desktop to ensure the drive is not damaged.

Also when you say you tried linux, i'm assuming you used a live cd?
*Eg, this laptop has both a cd drive and floppy?

__________________

</Dream In Code>
-William. § (marvin_gohan)

In my thread similiar to this one, I have the same problem as you.

I dont know as if these notebooks are real picky or not(I gave the laptop back to the person cause of the problem)

The tech support team at compaq told me to use this.

Below is the partnumber:
319414-001
40.0GB ATA-100 EIDE hard disk drive - 4,200 RPM, 2.5-inch form factor, 9.5mm height


I never got to try it, cause I didnt want to buy it, and neither did she hah.

but theres maybe a path to try..?

Hope it helps, lemme know, cause if it does I might salvage it