No boot device available

Hi Hans,

If Windows 8 is installed in the computer, please follow the below mentioned steps:

1. Restart / Power on the computer.
2. At the first text on the screen or when the Dell logo appears, tap <F2> until the message Entering Setup appears.
3. Boot Mode will be listed under Boot.
4. Select UEFI using the arrow keys to navigate and press enter.
5. Save and Exit the System Setup.
6. Check if the system is booting normally.

Please post the results.

Thanks Nikhil, but this setting has allways been UEFI and the restart now worked allright as usual.

However the boot problem only occurs when I try to start the computer the first time in the morning after being shut off during the night. This morning as usual I had to start and shut down the computer two times. The third try was lucky. That's what happens nearly every morning the last month.

I don't suspect a hard disk problem since restarts usually works allright and I allways get the report "SATA 0: Installled" and "SATA 1: Installed".

Hans

Hi Hans,

Please load BIOS to defaults by following the below mentioned steps:

1. Switch on the computer and tap F2 key to enter the BIOS.
2. Once in BIOS, press F9 to load BIOS defaults.
3. Press F10 to save and exit the BIOS.

Restart the system and post the results.

Hi Nikhil,

I've already tried resetting the BIOS to default values with no luck but tried it again on your advise.

The computer started as expected quite OK but as I mentioned the big problem only shows itself after a night's sleep with the computer shut down.

Therefor I don't know until tomorrow morning if the computer is willing to start after this new restting of the BIOS.

I'll report back then if this forum isn't off line.

Hi Hans,

This is a follow-up to check the status of the issue.

Please write back to us if you need any further assistance.

Hi Nikhil,

I hope that I managed to find the solution myself.

When I searched for uptdates to my computer I wasn't aware of the filtering option and somehow missed the BIOS updates. So I was still using the A09 version that came with the delivery and never suspected that version since my computer is only half a year old.

I now have found the A11 version and after installing it my computer seems to work properly.

Thanks for your efforts to help!

Dambo

No luck stays forever :-(

This morning "No boot device available..." was back again in spite of the new setup A11. I have not made any Changes at all, all settings are the downloaded ones.

After restarting the computer it started quite properly. I don't understand what is the problem.

As the error message tells that all hard disks are installed and the first boot device is the C hard disk I think the computer indeed should boot OK the first time - espacially as it boots OK after a restart.

Dambo

Hi Hans,

Please try the below steps to isolate the problem:

1. Remove all the external peripherals, the power cable from the computer. Press and hold the power button for 20 seconds. This process will drain all the static energy from the computer. Reconnect the power cable back in the computer.
2. Now connect only the power cable, display cable to the monitor and restart the system.
3. Try running diagnostics by switching on the desktop computer and tapping F12 at Dell logo to enter “One-time boot menu”. Select Diagnostic and hit Enter.
4. If the diagnostics displays an error, please reply with the right error message.
5. If no errors are found, I suggest you to reseat the primary hard drive cables in the system.
6. Please follow the steps mentioned in this link to reseat the hard drive cables: http://bit.ly/YLvdIh
7. Restart the computer and check if the message occurs.

Please post the results.

Hi Nikhil,

Now I've run the extensive Diagnostics and the remaining memory tests that took several hours. No troubles at all were found so I let the computer rest with the power cable removed overnight. This morning I connected the computer and started it with my fingers crossed but the same old "No boot device available" was shown on the screen. Pressing F1 made a restart with the same error report. Then I made a hard reset pressing the power button until the computer got out of power and went down.

After waiting half a minute I tried to start the computer again and this time It started quite all right with no error report.
My conclusion now was "Cold computer will not start but if it get warmed up it will start on the third retry".

As there obviously are no structural faults in my computer I wonder if the problem could be that the computer that has been working a whole day is warm when I shut it down for the night and when it is cooled down during the night a thin layer of some kind is built on some connectors that need to be warmed up by 2-3 restarts Before the can connect ???

I believe that most people have met a similar problem with old batteries that won't connect until you do some scraping on the connectors.
Another similar problem I have experienced with credit cards that sometimes dont connect with the shop's card reader until you rub the card on some clothing.

To make a long story short, I followed your advise and stopped the computer, disconnected the Power Cable and all external devices from the computer, then opened the computer, pulled out the Power and data contacts from the primary hard disk and put them back again.

I then connected all external devices to the now quite cold computer again and made a restart that succeeded this time.

I'm still not convinced that the problem is solved but hope that I have an obedient computer that will start properly tomorrow morning.

Dambo

Still no luck :-(

The same error message once more this morning:

"No boot device available
Strrike the F1 Key to retry boot, F2 to run the setup utility.
Sata 0: Installed
Sata 1: Installed
Sata 2: None
Sata 3: None
MSata 1: Installed"

You asked me to reseat the Primary Hard drive, which I did.
But according to the Owners Manual the Primary Hard drive is the 2 Tb SATA drive D on my Computer which I use for data libraries.
The boot process by default runs from the SSD drive C which would be the MSATA drive if I got it right.
Shouldn't I do the reseat of Cables on the MSATA drive instead of the Primary hard drive?

Dambo

Hi Hans,

Yes, please try reseating the mSATA drive and check. You may also change the Boot Mode in the System Setup from UEFI Mode to Legacy. And check if that helps.

Please post the results.

I hadn't read your latest post when I tried to start my computer this morning. I had to try 5 times to get it running.
The F1 key couldn't start the computer but th F2 worked allright and I found that the MSATA1 was installed but not present.

After Reading your post I tried to change the Boot mode but I got no reaction to pressing Enter on Boot mode. However I changed the boot procedure from Windows Boot Manager to listing the devices with MSATA1 on the top. Still I couldn't change the Boot Mode from UEFI to Legacy so now I'm going to open the computer again and reseat the MSATA drive.

I discovered that it will be som troubl as the view of the motherboard in the owners manuel isn't the same as the real World. The Graphics card is 24 cm long and seems to cover the MSATA card as I can't see it. Therefor I have to remove the Graphics card Before I can reach the MSATA card.

Hi Hans,

Before you reseat the mSATA drive, I would like to know the capacity of the mSATA installed in the computer is it 32 GB or 256 GB?

The SSD drive is 256 GB.