What in the world is wrong with my HP laptop (or as I like to call it - "The Paperweight")?

The ide device is your hard drive since your computer isn’t starting. It’s looking for a drive with a bootable Operating System and its not finding one.

In short, your computer isn’t recognizing that there is a hard drive present. Call HP tomorrow and say “WTF? This isnt fixed yet.” Well, you’ll actually get better service if you don’t say WTF but in any event, they need to fix it. Their job isnt done yet/

…a good mechanic, a good friend, and sure sometimes a good tech person can be hard to find… not one has an easy job- a little patience more…

The_Compassionate_Heretic is correct. Sounds like the cable for the hard drive slipped out or they forgot to install one.

You could always try a Linux LiveCD to so if the problem is the motherboard. But my money is on a problem with the hard drive.

Did you make a boot disk when you first got your computer?

@The_Compassionate_Heretic…wtf here. I can assure you I did not touch SuperMouse’s paperweight. Hell, my fancy HP is in the same junk pile as my fancy Dell. Nearly went the Mac route but opted instead for a plain-wrapped yet kick-ass ZT that I’m very pleased with (so far). See you around…wtf

Hard drive AND motherboard replaced? I hope it was under warranty…It sounds like its not recognizing the HD (duh). You could undo the panel on the bottom or the edge wherever the drive bay is and verify there is a drive, and remove and reseat it. Booting from a cd is also a good idea. I use UBCD to boot and run various tests, etc…Download it, burn the ISO to a cd, and Bob’s yer uncle.

Sorry, here’s the link.

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

Before I sent the computer for repair I removed the hard drive. I kept it because they assumed the problem was the motherboard. When the repair center called, they told me they put a new hard drive in and replaced the motherboard. When I got the computer I figured they did what they said they did, but after I read these responses I checked and they had not put in a hard drive. I pulled out my old hard drive and put it in, went to boot it up, and alas I got the same error message I was getting before I sent the piece of junk for repair! My patience with HP has been waning for quite a while, now it is officially gone.

@whatthefluther oops, I meant a different “WTF”. Great name!

@The_Compassionate_Heretic…No problem! Imagine my confusion when someone curses at me! I mean wtf…wtf

So, the original HD is or is not seen by the BIOS? Does it try to boot from vista, or does it is say ’ no bootable device’ or insert media, etc..’? can you tell if the hd is spinning up when you power up? What is the error message?

It’s an HP!