Is my HD Dead?

Hey /g/, I think my laptop just died.

It's a Gateway Solo 9550, so it may be past it's prime anyway. However, it's the hard drive I'm worried about, and I think that's what's dead.

It had a bad pin in the first place, but I got it to work. The last time I restarted the computer, the "hardware disconnected" warning light lit up. Now, although the computer isn't running anymore, the "power" and "battery charging" lights are stuck on, even without a battery.

I put the hard drive in a different laptop, although the same model. Hitting the power button actually turns this one on, and the cooling fan starts spinning (neither of which happened on the other.) but I'm not sure about the HD. I don't get the battery charging, or "hardware disconnected" lights, either.

The last thing I did on my computer before restarting was download a model from a co-worker for a project we're working on. I highly doubt it's a virus, but it's the last thing I did, and I never checked it out.

Any idea? ...pic unrelated.

HD is badly connected, that's why it won't even turn on.

1) follow >>2
2) buy an HP, IBM, Lenovo, Dell(eww), etc.
3) FUN=HAMMER+GATEWAY, or try to get a refund for the Piece of shit gateway

take out your hdd and place it into an external 2.5" caddy to properly determine what the problem is. also for a benchmarking tool to test overall read/write/burst speeds and errors of course get HD Tune.

good luck

OP Here- Update.

I went into the basement, and found the same model laptop, but without a screen.  However, the hard drive was spinning for sure this time, and the laptop actually turned on and off when I told it to. Now I have reason to believe it still works, and that it's just the rest of my laptop that's dead.

So, instead of hitting it with a hammer, I've put the HD into a staticproof bag until I find/rig up another laptop.  I know I need a new one sometime soon, probably within the "Two or Three Months" timeframe, but I might just take apart these two laptops and see if I can make one working one in the meantime.

As for a new laptop, what are your suggestions?  I know I want this over a desktop because of my work, and because I'm always going to LAN parties. That fancy new Dell gaming laptop comes to mind, but only because it's the only new laptop I've heard of.