I have had this laptop for years but it was just sitting on the shelf all this time.  One time I tried to do recovery to the OS but it didn't work out.  Not sure if I did it correctly.  There was an error message that showed on the screen.  Not sure if it has anything to do with the hard drive but it was spinning fine.  Worst case you can swap another hard drive since it's cheap now.  I have the Sony recovery disc for it.  I lost the receipt so I couldn't return it.  I never used this laptop.  Everything is like brand new. You can try to fix it, otherwise you can scrap it for parts.  It comes with Sony charger, Sony battery, original box and cushion.

I will upload some pix when I have time hopefully soon.