Advice needed re: reviving HP Laptop G56-100SA

[Hexeta]

Specs:-
320 GB SATA Hard Disk Drive 5400 rpm
3GB RAM supplied, max 8GB (DDR3).
OEM Operating system was Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Wireless connectivity: 802.11 b/g/n

Given to me with no HDD and I fitted a 320GB one from an old YouView TV Recorder set top box a WD 320GB WD AV-25 WD320BUCT.
trying to get info from WD, seems it is/was a special product.
However the laptop worked fine for about three years and then developed a problem, on Boot, no screen and the caps lock indicator flashed once every 4/5 seconds.
Google informed me this was a known fault with HP Machines and was terminal!
That Drive went on to have another life as an external drive, loaded with Anarchy Linux just to see if I could use it and learn some more about the dreaded Terminal!

Not one to allow a piece of hardware to die with dignity, I persevered poking at it and eventually like Lazarus, it rose from the dead and ran a live session of Mint 19 which I had handy with no HDD.
On shut down of course, both the live session and (sadly) the laptop again perished!
I'm hoping that installing a drive might "cure" the reticence to Boot, anyone have any experience of that with HP Kit?

I've acquired yet another YouView box and transplanted the HDD into the laptop and booted tapping Esc until the screen lit up.
First warning was that the HDD was assessed as "likely to fail imminently", listening with a stethoscope, it sounds normal, no clicking or grinding!
I suppose this is only to be expected after years of recording TV Programmes, but since the disk is currently filled with the proprietary software and coded video files I'm wondering if their presence might have invoked the terminal prognosis.
Is it even worth attempting to install to this drive if the fulfilment of the notice of impending doom is minutes away!

[diabolicbg]

Maybe if you buy him a budget SSD it will bring him back to life. As far as I understood from your post, the problem is mainly in the disks.

[Hexeta]

@diabolicbg Thanks for that, I am sorely tempted to swap the HDD for an SSD in my Medion Erazer, it has a 128GB SSD and a conventional 750GB Hard drive. but that wouldn't make too much of an impact.
These old laptops are just for my own learning and amusement, I wouldn't invest money in them!

[diabolicbg]

@diabolicbg Thanks for that, I am sorely tempted to swap the HDD for an SSD in my Medion Erazer, it has a 128GB SSD and a conventional 750GB Hard drive. but that wouldn't make too much of an impact.
These old laptops are just for my own learning and amusement, I wouldn't invest money in them!

I've now been using 3 SSDs bought from Aliexpress for $17 a piece for 3 years.

[Hexeta]

Yeah, that's cheap, but when you get into larger capacities it become significant!
I'm a patient kinda guy, so I'm happy to wait a few nano seconds whilst counting the money I've saved!

[diabolicbg]

Yeah, that's cheap, but when you get into larger capacities it become significant!
I'm a patient kinda guy, so I'm happy to wait a few nano seconds whilst counting the money I've saved!

Suit yourself, but the Chinese sell extremely cheap and are completely honest traders. I've bought dozens of things from them.

[RollyShed]

I have installed SSDs in a number of HP laptops. If there is a problem installing Linux Mint, do it on another computer and then put the SSD into the laptop.

HP computers I've done are -

HP RT3290 (difficult to get into it)
HP EliteDesk Desktop
HP Compaq 6730b laptops
HP Pavilion g

[mikeflan]

Me too. I just install LM 21.1 xfce in a 6/2008 HP Pavillion dv9700, 4GB ram.
That computer used to run LM 19.3 Cinnamon just fine, but fairly slow on CPU intensive stuff.
Then I installed LM 20.3 and it choked up, but technically was working.
LM 21.1 xfce is working well so far. Really well.

[Hexeta]

Hi Guys, back again.
I installed Mint 19 Cinnamon from a USB stick loaded in 2020 and it immediately required an hour or more of updates applying, couldn't use local mirrors as each time I tried, after 10 minutes or so it aborted saying check your internet connection!
That was just fine, I'm on Fibre 65 and the signal is strong so it must be a problem with the mirrors here.
Resorted to the US Mirror which was slow but eventually got up to date.
HDD still reported as Failure Imminent Temp 41º C 106º F.

The presence of an HDD has not changed the Boot shenanigans, I still have to hold Esc until the screen lights up, then Enter X 3 until the OS begins to load.

It's running OK, a bit sluggish and can't cope with HD Video, not surprising considering it's using shared memory of which there is just 3GB.
Not looked at the compartment but it has the standard two slots and the stated capacity is 8GB DDR3.
I don't have any suitable SODIMs so 3GB it will remain!
At least, it is useable, which is better than "dead", so I'm claiming a result!

[RollyShed]

I installed Mint 19 Cinnamon from a USB stick loaded in 2020 and it immediately required an hour or more of updates applying, couldn't use local mirrors as each time I tried, after 10 minutes or so it aborted saying check your internet connection!

So what country? I always use my local mirror and updates after installation take maybe 5 minutes. We're at the bottom of the world, end of line some might think. And yes, most of the country is on fibre.

HDD still reported as Failure Imminent Temp 41º C 106º F.

So chuck it and install an SSD.

It's running OK, a bit sluggish and can't cope with HD Video, not surprising considering it's using shared memory of which there is just 3GB.

I'm not sure about HD movies but mp4s run OK with 2GB of memory on my ASUS TP200.
Have you blown out all the vents with high pressure air? It can make a difference from burning hot to barely noticeable warm.

[Hexeta]

@RollyShed I'm in the UK, mostly UK Mirrors are just fine for me but attempting to D/L and install updates yesterday It took for ever to download before finally asking me to check my perfectly sound connection!
Gave up in the end and used the US Mirror.

Ran the "Quick Check" on the HDD today and it reported it as OK, Mint however still tells me the grim reaper is behind me!!
I've no intention of spending money on this laptop as the dratted thing is still a pain in the Ass to coax into life!
Spent an hour today just powering on and hitting the Caps Lock button, it eventually returned "press Esc for options".
That's the only way I can use it.
The hardware has many problems, one being the "Terminal" Flashing Caps Lock, another being a lack of adequate insulation between the track pad and the frame, which means that if your hand touches the frame, the track pad reacts to touch as if you are using two fingers! Grrr
When my patience is exhausted, I'll throw throw machine in landfill and maybe reuse the screen to make an auxiliary display for some thing else.

As you say, stored MP4 files play fine but Youtube High Def streams just stutter.
You're probably right about dust!
I'm just glad this thing is scorching the varnish off my desk and not cooking my family jewels!