Toshiba Satellite A45-S120 laptop HDD fd?

Toshiba Satellite A45-S120 laptop

Got it to fix from a friend. Not even charging him. Although he stated if it needs a new HDD or other hardware. He'll buy a new cheap one any brand $400-$700. And let me have it depending on what it needs for $50-$100 if I want. But I'm doing the right thing by him. Not screwing him.

Won't boot in Windows XP home. Last known good config, safe mode with & without etc. no go either. So no reinstall disk. But it has a driver & 3rd party software disk. So wtf clean install with XP corp right? Wiped HDD with Darik's Boot Nuke, so forget any software repair. WinXP corp stops at format. Error message says can't complete format, possible HDD failure. So I figure I'll check to see if the HDD is connected snugly. I can't find where the HDD panel/cover is on the bottom. So I'm looking on the net. Can't find HDD removal/install instructions with pictures. For anything that looks close to this. Saw some instructions from easy 1 screw removal to a dozen screws & taking the whole thing apart. Also tried the Toshiba site. Right on the site it says, Toshiba doesn't aid in this because you can mess up the hardware.

Any ideas?

check under the keyboard

weird.. man

I don't want to disassemble the laptop. Guess I'll try more format utilities. I've had this happen before. But only with desktops. Fn weird put aside a HDD cause it won't format. A few days, weeks or months later. Wtf I'll try that HDD again, then it works. Computers...ughhh.

Fixed it. Here's how.

!. Darik's Boot Nuke - nuked the HDD
2. Acronis Disk Director Suite - formatted ntfs active partition
3. Installed XP corp SP2
4. TOSHIBA recovery & applications/drivers dvd

Back to original purchase state.

Weird part was after TOSHIBA recovery & applications/drivers dvd. That restored it to XP home SP1 needing validation. Also brought the NAV trialware upon 1st reboot.
So I'm done. Unless paid. This was a freebie.