What model is it? Depending on the model the boot menu could be esc, F9, F11, F12 or something else.

If the data is critical then just send it out for recovery. Otherwise, you can try to fix it yourself. Start by acquiring the exact same make and model hard drive in good working condition. You will then need to open the bad drive and determine what is broken. You can harvest parts from the new drive to repair the broken one. You may need to swap the platters from the old drive to a new drive. There is a lot of information on how to do this but below is an example of the sort of work you are looking at. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZx-tU1_gOw

See steps 1 and 2 of Envizen V100M Battery Replacement

Does it shut down if you remove the battery? IS there any info in the event log? The only thing that comes to mind is that there could be an unexpected voltage drop when the battery starts charging and that the PC is shutting down to protect itself. If that’s the case (and it’s a big IF) the issue is likely one of the following. 1) The charger is damaged 2) The charging circuit is damaged 3) The battery is damaged. If it runs without the battery in place I would buy a replacement charger since it’s the cheapest to replace. If that didn’t fix it I would replace the battery. If that didn’t fix it I would return both and treat my laptop as a desktop.

Is the laptop not getting power or is it getting power but not charging the battery?

If your computer is only slow at startup it is likely that there are a lot of applications and/or services set to run on windows start up. This is likely the result of installing applications on your PC/laptop. When my PC is slow to start, I check the following. 1) Under “Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Programs and Features” were there any new programs installed around the time the slowdown started? If so I uninstall them and see if that cleared it up. 2) Verify that the Startup folder only contains apps I want to start when I boot windows. 3) Use regedit.exe to verify the following registry keys only contain applications I want to start when windows starts. (Exercise caution here, remove the wrong things and your PC may not work as expected) HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run 4) If I still have a problem I sort through my windows...

I just replaced the connector with a set of standard PCB USB A female ports. The only hitch was that I bent two side posts over, soldered them together ad anchored them to the middle post hole for strength. Works great, it even lines up with the existing holes.