HP Pavilion 15 laptop Hard Drive error and failure code, and black screen, any way to access files?

[jeff_jefferson]

My laptop has been bugging out slowly over years, as I use it for school and it gets bashed around in my schoolbag a lot, however has never stopped working. Yesterday, I went to turn it on, and only recieved a blank screen. The screen still works, it is just blank (black but still lit up). I tried restarting it multiple times, with the usual holding down power button, taking out battery tricks, and sometimes I would get an error message: "Preparing Automatic Repair", only for it to disappear soon afterwards, leaving only a black screen. 

I then pressed escape during power-up, and ran a "quick test" which outputted an apparent hard drive faliure.
The error code was: UCR33L-7P998K-MFPV7F-60RQ03
I then tried recovery, pressing f11 on startup, and the tiny message in the bottom corner came up saying that I had entered recovery, however after a short while returns to the blank screen. I feel that the laptop is not able to be saved, however I have programs and data that I have payed for and woud love to be able to salvage at least some of their installers.

Is there any way to access files in my situation, or should I try going to one of those places that takes your hard drive out and tries to recover data from it? 

[CherylG · Accepted solution]

The error code  translates to the hard drive has failed and will need to be replaced. If you are still in warranty HP will replace it. If not a retail 2.5" laptop SATA hard drive can be used-Western Digital,Seagate,Toshiba,etc .

Probably only hope of recovering any files is to remove the hdd and connect it to another machine using > SATA to USB Adapter. If you don't feel comfortable attempting that the best option is taking it to someone else.

[jeff_jefferson]

Thanks for the quick response!
I might try doing it myself, as it probably would cost a lot more to take it to someone, plus I would have to take it apart to put a new one in if I decide to keep using it anyway.

Thankyou!

[CherylG]

Yes, it is usually quite expensive to have somone else do file recovery. A  well known big box store charges $100 from what I have seen reported here on the forums. You can pick up a SATA to USB adapter pretty cheaply. Plug it into usb port of another machine or your laptop once you get it running again and browse it for files to copy over. If the drive is too damaged to recover any you will have saved a lot of money paying someone else to attempt it.

Your Maintenance and Service Guide is here and shows how to remove the drive:

https://support.hp.com/us-en/product/hp-pavilion-15-p000-notebook-pc-series/6936226/model/7132585/ma...

You can order Recovery Media by calling HP- OR- your Windows 10 license key is embedded in BIOS and you can install Windows without HP Recovery Media. Microsoft provides the free Media Creation Tool to download files and create a Windows 10 usb flash drive.You will have latest updated version of Windows 10. At least 8gb flash drive required:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

Select Download tool now, and select Run.
If you agree to the license terms, select Accept.
On the What do you want to do? page, select Create installation media for another PC, and then select Next.
Select the language, edition, and architecture (64-bit) for Windows 10.
The Guide here shows the steps.Pay attention to Step 5 since you will be using another pc:
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/2376-create-bootable-usb-flash-drive-install-windows-10-a.html

[jeff_jefferson]

Thanks, I have removed the hard drive and will look into ordering a SATA > USB adapter cable soon .

Hopefully most data on the drive is still intact enough to recover. Thankyou so much for all of your help!