Getting "No Bootable device" Error Message

Question

I bought my daughter a new Satellite Laptop earlier in the spring (April 10th) and am having an issue trying to get it to start. Its a C55D-A5120 (S/N XXXXXXXXX P/N PSCFWU-03H02X) and I'm having truble just trying to get help from Toshiba. I originally had registered the laptop when I set it up for her out of the box. I followed every step during the initial start up process but appraently the registration didn't take with Toshiba. The last 3 laptops I've purchased have been Toshiba due to boycotting Dell for their shady business practices with product support. I'll be buying another laptop in the spring and this could very well determine what brand I buy. I live and die by customer service in my line of work and expect "reasonable" service.
Today I called technical support and got the run around from a young lady who said it hadn't been registered but she could help me with that. Okay, good. Umm, no. She said she couldn't register it for some error widow that was popping up on her screen. She said she'd have to transfer me to the warranty department, Okay, good. Umm, no. Warranty was having some technical issue and it hung upon me. 
When I originally set up the machine, I had made a full recovery disc but put it on a flash drive. Leave it to a teenage girrl to not be able to find something I said we hopefully wont need but remeber where you put it. That didn't work. Okay, get on Toshiba's website and followed the directions for accessing the recovery section on the HD. Pushing the zero button (either one- also the F2 key does the same thing) and the power button makes it start powering up for about 1 second nad then goes completely dead. Nothing. Without holding any keys, the Toshiba flash sreen comes up and before the Windows boot screen comes up, I get the "No bootable device" error message. It absolutely will not go past that using any method shown anywhere. This is with the a/c adapter plugged in.
The lady I spoke with couldn't tell me if the machine was under warranty or not. I was under the impression the hardware was covered for 1 year. Seems I have a completely dead HD but I'm not the expert. I did remove the battery, the RAM to ispect and clean the conductr strip, same with the HD. That's about where my comfort level ends for the hardware. I hate to spend $40 on a recovery CD if the HD is dead, I can't get into the BIOS to swap what it boots off of. That tells me I have a hardware issue, not a software issue. Is there not a Toshiba warranty service center that can honestly tell me what is going on with this machine? 
Any suggestions? I've tried to include pertinent info here. I don't have hours to spend trying to get this fixed. What are my choices? I've been very happy with my virtually identical machine. 
Mark
[Moderator edit to remove serial number.]

Answer 1

Hi Peter,
Thanks for the reply.
No, I had already ran across that page and tried that. It won't let me submit it unless a attach a file with a copy of the original receipt, and I had given that to my daughter along with the back up flash drive. I'm not 100% certain of the purchase date. The woman I spoke with wouldn't even tell me what the warranty coverage would be on that laptop. I was under the impression it was a 90 day software, 1 year hardware (for defects in materials or workmanship) warranty. She was so nice as to transfer me to a warranty department that was experiencing technical difficulty.
Thanks again for your reply!
Mark