Dell Inspiron Can I challenge someone to help me please...

It would help us to help you if you told us the model of computer that's giving you trouble.  I presume the operating system is Windows 7, but if not, you should let us know that as well.

The cursor in the upper left indicates that the computer is waiting for a device to provide boot code.  Sometimes this is a problem with the hard drive, but it can also occur if you have a USB device plugged into the computer that is mistaken for a bootable device.  If you have any devices other than a keyboard or mouse plugged into the computer you should try unplugging them to see if the computer will start without them.

The model is 560.  With windows 7 home premium.  Of course I have already unplugged (everything, actually) and reconnected.  There was nothing extra hooked up.  Just the keyboard and mouse.

Is there any other information I could provide that could help?

When you access the one time boot menu by pressing F12, is your hard drive one of the boot options?  If so, what happens if you select it?

If you have already tried the Diagnostics (F12), your hard drive may have already died.

You will need to contact Dell Support to have your hard drive replaced under the standard 1-year warranty.

There is no need to spend anything on a 5 month old computer. Your hardware is warrantied for 1 year at least. When you contact Support mention that your hard drive has failed. No boot device is the first thing to mention.

don't toss the computer. It really does seem like it is just a hard drive failure. Buy any cheap hard drive that you can find right now. You can find something for around 40-50 dollars and just try that.

Your dell machine should already have a Windows 7 certificate of authenticity on the case itself. I would suggest having someone let you borrow a copy of Windows 7 home premium and just enter that serial number when you install it.

This problem can easily be fixed for less than you think

Well, I really appreciate the folks who took the time to respond, thank you.

My daughter waited months after her last computer finally was put to rest.  I truly believed with dell we were upgrading her.  Five-six months after she got it, this happened.  No one believed it could be anything serious, how could it be, it was still so new!

Then I was going through some health problems.  My son, who has put together gaming computers had promised to take a look, also thinking it could not be anything big.

By the time I called dell, they offered me a extended warranty to have it looked at and fixed, probably fixed, they said.

So now I had a new computer and the option of putting 200.00 more into it, still not knowing if and would it be fixed.

I had a million things going on at the time and was afraid to make any decisions!

Now, i can't imagine if it worth buying a new hard drive.  If the brand new one was good for such a short time, how smart is it to put more money into this!

I tried to tell dell all this when I could still talk to a live person, but unless I wanted to pay the almost 200.00 and extend the warranty, they didn't want to talk to me.

They were aware of all the events, they even looked up when the computer had been purchased and the first time I had called trying to get help.  While both the male and later the female dell  reps, agreed none of this seemed right, I failed to get any help, unless, they informed me, I wanted to pay for the extended warranty.

So again, I do nothing.  But now I have to.....so I guess we toss the 5-6 month old Dell and try something else this time!

Maybe we'll get lucky this time.

Hi mariannalee,

Any electronics store will replace your drive for less than $100. You're not going to get a new computer for that much.

Hard drives fail. So do washing machines, TVs and cars. Happens to all of us.

Well, I really appreciate the folks who took the time to respond, thank you. My daughter waited months after her last computer finally was put to rest.  I truly believed with dell we were upgrading her.  Five-six months after she got it, this happened.  No one believed it could be anything serious, how could it be, it was still so new! Then I was going through some health problems.  My son, who has put together gaming computers had promised to take a look, also thinking it could not be anything big. By the time I called dell, they offered me a extended warranty to have it looked at and fixed, probably fixed, they said. So now I had a new computer and the option of putting 200.00 more into it, still not knowing if and would it be fixed. I had a million things going on at the time and was afraid to make any decisions! Now, i can't imagine if it worth buying a new hard drive.  If the brand new one was good for such a short time, how smart is it to put more money into this! I tried to tell dell all this when I could still talk to a live person, but unless I wanted to pay the almost 200.00 and extend the warranty, they didn't want to talk to me. They were aware of all the events, they even looked up when the computer had been purchased and the first time I had called trying to get help.  While both the male and later the female dell  reps, agreed none of this seemed right, I failed to get any help, unless, they informed me, I wanted to pay for the extended warranty. So again, I do nothing.  But now I have to.....so I guess we toss the 5-6 month old Dell and try something else this time! Maybe we'll get lucky this time.

mariannalee

If you don't have the Dell windows 7 restallation DVD's available to reinstall Win 7 on a new hard drive and if you reside in the US and are the registered owner of the computer, a disc containing the factory-installed operating system specific to your system, can be requested from HERE.

Note: Dell may make a charge for the disc.

If you don't reside in the US, contact Dell's Technical Support that's located in your country. 

Regards to buying the hard drive, I don't know the size of the hard drive that's presently installed in your computer, but as an example, in the US a 500gb 3.5" internal SATA hard drive can be purchased for around $90.

As a point of interest, every time I've a hard drive replaced under Dell's warranty, a full set of reinstallation discs were sent with the hard drive.

Bev.