Hi guys,

I have a Samsung R580 notebook running windows 7, which is now getting on for 21 months old.It had started running hot, so I decided to dust the insides. I did some research, bought a sprayduster (of decent quality, not just the cheapest one), and had a go dusting it. I took off the ram cover and removed the HDD and optical drive and partially took the casing off in order to be able to blow the air inside properly, all the while making sure I was properly earthed by regularly touching a radiator. Loads of dust came out, and I was pretty happy with it.

However when I turned the thing on, after a period to allow for any possible condensation to evaporate, what I think is the HDD made a buzzing sound pattern that it never normally does, and it wouldn't proceed any further with the boot than the initial start screen (which looks something like this">http://www.sevenforums.com/general-discussion/229988-hp-desktop-startup-screen-frozen-geek-squad-says-fried-motherboard.html&docid=NAnqiEAjBlCZ8M&imgurl=http://zapp5.staticworld.net/images/article/2011/05/hp-bios-boot-screen-5169226.jpg&w=450&h=322&ei=hDXnT-O6C6Gm0QWGpIWxBA&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=164&sig=102877301743588125580&page=1&tbnh=152&tbnw=213&start=0&ndsp=28&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0,i:76&tx=194&ty=68">this but for samsung, and with the only options being F2 for setup, F4 for recovery, neither of which do anything when selected and only make the PC wait indefinitely.

I think the problem is therefore with the HDD rather than any other part of the computer, although i have no idea how it could have been damaged. Do you guys agree? I have backed up my data to an external HDD using windows 7 image backup, but did not get round to doing the same with Samsung Recovery Solution 4, so that is not an option to use during boot. I also did not have a copy of windows 7 provided with the laptop, and can no longer read the windows product key on the back of the laptop as it has rubbed off, and I have no copy of it (dumb, I know). What do you guys suggest I do?

Thanks a lot