Hello all,

I have an HP Mini running Windows XP, and I accidentally dropped it. It still boots, but it runs excruciatingly slowly, up to the point where I no longer even use it. It frequently freezes as well.

I've been troubleshooting, trying to figure out whether it's the hard drive, the processor, the motherboard or the RAM that's damaged/displaced. I went into the BIOS, which worked fine without any problems, and I ran a primary hard disk self test. The test status was: "7 (Completed with the read element of the test failed)." I figured, well then it must be the hard drive that's damaged, and I tried to boot from the Windows XP CD. However, when it prompts me with "Press any key to continue," no matter which keys I press or how many times I press them, it won't go anywhere. It doesn't boot.

What could the problem most likely be? Any ideas or insight? Thanks!What are the temperatures like? - You may have knocked the cpu cooler loose causing the cpu to RUN at a lower speed to stop overheating.  It may also be your hard drive, is it making a different noise to usual when it reads/writesSo you're saying I might have knocked the fan loose? The temperatures are fine as far as I know. I think there's one part of the computer that's a bit hotter than the other parts, but that might just be me.

Also, I can't tell with the hard drive. I haven't tried opening my computer while it's running, seeing as the HP mini manual instructs the user to remove the battery before opening up the laptop.You should never open a laptop with POWER to it...battery or otherwise.What harm will it do if I remove the battery beforehand?None.
But i think you should consider taking it to a shop...
Laptop/netbooks are not DESIGNED to be User serviceable...Well what do you think the problem might be?
Also, I work in IT, so I don't know if I should bother taking it to a shop...UNLESS you mean employees that deal specifically with HP products?Been working on PC's for 20 + years....i don't do laptops THOUGH...i learned the hard way that it's not easy.
However if you are comfortable with your skill level then go for it.I have opened up a few laptops. A couple were very simple, but most were a nightmare. And the only ones I opened up were the ones that were trash if I didn't fix them. I made up my mind to throw them unless I could fix them, which I didn't    

I would try to re-seat  everything that is easily accessible.  The ram usually only has a cover on it, and possible the cd/dvd drive and the hard drive. Not likely to work but it is somewhere to start that won't take to long.  This is a suggestion out of left field but it is based on a few assumptions.
1.You know what was in the hardware of your computer BEFORE you dropped it.
2.You have done your HDD test diagnostic.
3.You have done your temperature test.
4.You have done the limited determinations (as suggested by others) to see if anything is loose from the fall.
If you can get the computer to run long enough to do an "Everest" scan on it then assuming something is no longer functioning it should be absent from what was known to be in the computer before the fall. Hope this will help.truenorthAs Patio said, take it to a shop. Even if you know what you are doing, laptops are tricky. If you don't, they are impossible. If the laptop was on when the drop happened, the hard disk could have had a head crash. (That means it is terminally damaged) Even if it was off, jarring could have done a lot of damage. Face it. Whatever you find out from scans, you are going to have to take it to a repair shop. If you think it is worth spending the money.

Definately sounds like a damaged hard drive to me. The Xp CD is only of use to either repair a damaged installation or to make a fresh install - It won't help if you have a physically damaged hard drive. If it were me, I would get hold of a working second-hand hard-drive and then make a fresh install of XP onto that. Replacing a hard drive is about the only simple thing to replace on a laptop (besides ram). If you do this and get it working again, you may still be able to salvage some of the information from your old drive by using an external hard drive case. But again, that's just what I would do.

Good Luck.The HDD is the problem as previously mentioned. To install xp, you must enable in bios USB Keyboard support, or plug in an external one. Good luck.