HP dv4000 problems, newbie help.

[Englishmastiff]

Hi all, new to this and not great with problems on computers.
I have a HP dv 4000 laptop. All was fine untill I started it up as normal. The HP and Intel logo appeared on the front screen with
Press esc to change boot order
press f10 to enter set up
f12 to boot from LAN.

The above means nothing to me. I went for option 2 and got a screen (PhoenixBIOS Setup Uyility)that is low definition writing with the ability to scroll through certain options.
I called a computer shop and was told that the hard drve had gone. Because of this the computer is trying to connect to the next available thing.
I put the laptop to one side and was going to get rid of it.

I took the hard drive out and got the model number. These can be had for a low price so it seems that it may be woth trying to fix.
My question(s) is this,
Can I buy a hard drive and just plug it in or is it (as I suspect) not as simple as that? The speed I have is 4200. I can't seem to find this speed but can find 5200's will this be compatable?
Thanks in advance for any help offered.

[carl97]

Hi there,
Its really Simple to change your Hard drive.
Take note of this:

Do you have a SATA or ATA (the Pin configuration on the back)
A SATA will have two flat connectors (the short one is Power and the long one Data) they also have a few Jumper Pins to set as Master, Slave, Cable Select. A diagram will be on top of drive.

An ATA will have a load of pins (44).
Be sure to take any adapters of the hard drive, By adapter i mean any pin converter that is plugged into the back of a drive for example on a Toshiba there is an adapter that turns a ATA pins into a Slot connector.

Enougth about ATA and SATA...
Your drive will probably be 4200 rpm or 5200 rpm or 7200 rpm
Obviously the faster the better so i would sugest 7200 rpm if you can find one otherwise a 5200 rpm will do. So the speed wont be a compatible issue. If anyone needs help on replacing a Hard drive or opening a laptop then a Video DVD can be found at Home
hope this helps
Carl

[carl97]

Forgot to mention,
When your looking for hard drives for your laptop
be sure not to make the classic mistake and order a 3.5"
Those are for desktops. what you need is 2.5"
I recomend Maxtor, Seagate, IBM (Not Toshiba or un branded)