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Eight year old XPS 400 having boot problems.
Lately my XPS 400 has been having trouble booting. When I push the power button, the boot screen loads and the load bar hangs up, the hard drive makes some clicking noises then I get a message saying no boot device found. I do hard shut down and restart a couple of times. Then the computer will boot up normally after the third or fourth try. I am running Windows XP SP 3. I have 4 GB of RAM, a 3.0 gHz processor, and two 250 GB hard drives. If I replace the failing hard drive will I loose my data and programs? I believe both drives are set up as RAID drives. Is one the master and the other a slave? Also, I recently vacuumed out the inside because of a racing processor fan. (Note: the booting problems happened before I opened it up). It is a lot quieter now anyway. I really don't want to she'll out another $2K for a new desktop. Plus I have some software on it which would need to be upgraded at a considerable cost, if I get another computer. (About $ 5k). I use the computer for some business applications. Can help me with my dilemma.
DELL-Rajath N
1.8K Posts
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July 27th, 2013 02:00
Hi wla57,
I appreciate the time taken to provide a detailed description of the issue. It seems that one of the hard drives in the RAID is about to fail. You will loose data and programs if the system is configured with RAID 0 which is the default configuration. You will able to boot from the hard drive if the system is configured with RAID 1 and replacing the defective hard drive will fix the issue.
I suggest you to backup all the data immediately.You will need to rebuild the RAID array, if the system is configured with RAID after replacing the hard drive and re-install Windows. Disks are recognized by their ports and not as Master or Slave. You may disable the RAID array and use a single hard drive that is working properly. Please follow the steps provided below to disable RAID:
1. Restart the system and press when you are prompted to enter the Intel® RAID Option ROM utility.
2. Use the up- and down-arrow keys to highlight Delete RAID Volume and press .
3. Use the up- and down-arrow keys to highlight the RAID volume you want to delete and press .
4. Press to confirm the deletion of the RAID volume.
5. Press to exit the Intel Option ROM utility.
Re-install Windows and all the programs on the single hard drive.
Please let me know about your findings.
wla57
22 Posts
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July 27th, 2013 09:00
Well, it looks like either way, I need to reinstall OS and programs. I do back up my files to an external hard drive on a scheduled basis, so I'm not concerned about loosing data. I guess I need to decide whether to replace the head drive or buy a new computer..
wla57
22 Posts
0
July 31st, 2013 10:00
Another question, once I install the new disk, do I need to reinstall the BIOS or is that separate from the hard drive? Also how do I identify the failed disks serial number so I pull out the correct one?
shesagordie
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August 4th, 2013 09:00
wla57
No, the BIOS are not stored in the hard drive.
Bev.