A little bit of everything is wrong with this

[SpywareDr]

Doesn't really matter what's on the hard drive, or even if it was missing.

If the laptop cannot boot an Operating System from something, it's junk.

[cmj1981]

Originally Posted by SpywareDr

Doesn't really matter what's on the hard drive, or even if it was missing.

If the laptop cannot boot an Operating System from something, it's junk.

So it's fried no chance of resuscitation, ,just trash it.

[SpywareDr]

The motherboard could be replaced.

[cmj1981]

Originally Posted by SpywareDr

The motherboard could be replaced.

Thank you for all your help SpywareDr,since it's my Lil bros laptop I have to tell him just to buy a new one.

[SpywareDr]

You're welcome.

FWIW - Someone has that same model, without a hard drive, on eBay for $69.99.

[cmj1981]

Originally Posted by cmj1981

Sorry I'm using my phone to reply and it auto corrects but yes I've tried all my install disc on my laptop and they boot fine, ,the only thing I could think of is since he was running ubuntu the file system has something to do with it? Maybe

OK so i was ready to give up when i just started trying different cds to try and boot. One of them which has windows ME on it was able to get to prompt menu what can i do from here?

[cmj1981]

i guess it was a windows xp cd because it gave me the option to restore windows xp , some drivers boot up then i see symantec ghost open but it give the cannot open error R:/C1904.GHO? Is there anything I can do from this point?

[SpywareDr]

Symantec Ghost -- which is part of the Ghost Solution Suite -- is sometimes used by manufacturers and OEMs to create system recovery image files. These files have a file extension of .GHO. So, in order to restore the backup to the hard drive, Symantec Ghost is trying to tell you it needs the .GHO file. If you don't have the .GHO file, there is no way to proceed with that course of action.

If the laptop has a Windows Product ID sticker on it, (with a readable Windows Product Key), boot the computer from a CD/DVD with that exact same version of Windows on it. When the installation routine prompts you for where to install, you can use it to delete all the current partitions on the hard drive, recreate a single new partition, format it and then let the installation routine continue on installing Windows.

[Jintan]

Might I suggest that either your CD drive is bad, or the disks you are using. Since you mention using multiple disks with different OS's, looks like the CD drive. You can pick one up cheap on Ebay or Amazon etc.

[liondad]

note
use a hard drive program to boot to and zero laptop hard drive,
as windows 8 setup reparations hard drive in to two partisans one hidden with hard wear and Hal layers information etc. [about 10gig]
and one were os is loaded , [rest of system files and main os],
both need removing to get a clean install of OS [any OS. ] after win 8 part load /failed ,
you need to zero byte whole hard drive and then partisan hard drive back to single partsion and make active drive,
then your find you can load os,

default for pxe lan is on, when trying an os boot up
in some ver of this laptop bios,
if you did bios reset
make sure its off ,
this can block new os load up,

[Murf]

Where are you on this problem. From reading appears your bro just about destroyed the hard drive and Master Boot Record (MBR) with it. Not booting from various O/S dvd/cd go be the dvd/cd itself being a bad copy.

Option to restore XP, means the recovery partition is still in tack somewhat.