Its been a very long time since my hard drive died on my laptop, so when my dell decided to give up the ghost it could be said that I was not best pleased…
Having stripped the machine down and done a whole load of diagnostics I have narrowed it down to 1 thing. Well after research on the net and confirmation there appears to be a common fault with these devices. The Hard drive cable between the mother board and the daughter board connecting to the hard drive appears to be faulty.
its a fairly cheep fix (about £10 off ebay for a new cable) but its a whole pain in the lower back getting the device to bits in the first place.
Its a matter of the screws on the underside, the 2 on the rear and then the usual man handling to slide the cover off the bottom. Just a tip here, BE VERY CAREFUL when you clip up the connectors to the ribbon cable. They are fragile and a nightmare to replace.
