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January 7th, 2011 08:00

No boot device detected, insert system disk on Dell Optiplex 740

We had a hard drive die in a Dell Optiplex 740.  I bought a new Western Digital 250GB Caviar Blue from Newegg and stuck it in.  Now when I try and boot, right after the screen to hit f2 for setup or f12 for boot options I get this message:

Boot from CD:

NO BOOT DEVICE DETECTED, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS F1 TO CONTINUE OR PRESS F2 TO SETUP MENU

I have a Windows XP install disk in the DVD drive.  I have verified that the hard drive is recognized in the BIOS.  I unplugged and replugged in the sata and power cables.  What else could be causing this?

Thanks

Mike

14.4K Posts

January 7th, 2011 10:00

what version of the  740 do you have?  Boot into the bios and go to the SATA operation setting. Set your option to either: RAID Autodetect/ATA (RAID if signed drives, otherwise ATA) or if you have a small form factor ATA

Save and exit.

At the Dell splash screen tap the F12 key to get to the boot menu. At the boot menu select the option to boot from the onboard CDROM

3 Posts

January 7th, 2011 10:00

Thanks for the reply.  The only RAID option in the BIOS  is under SATA Operation I can turn Raid On or Off.  I tried turning it on and got the same error message.  It is not a small form factor PC.  It is a full desktop tower.

Edit: I just noticed something.  When I go under Boot Sequence in the BIOS, the CD/DVD drive is listed first.  Then the hard drive is second, however it says next to hard drive "(not present)".  But when I go into Drives and click on Drive 0, the drive is correctly identified.  Maybe a bad SATA cable?  I had bought two identical hard drives from Newegg.  So I even swapped the one out for the second new drive that I bought and got the same error message.

Thanks

Mike

1 Message

November 19th, 2012 04:00

My friend lend me her computer and the same thing is happening to her computer im afraid to return it to her in that condition, shes going to think I did something to it... If you solve this problem please share! Thank you! :)

1 Message

June 7th, 2013 08:00

You have to go into the BIOS and then into the drive settings and turn on the devices connected to the Sata ports.  When you remove the CMOS battery or otherwise clear the CMOS, it turns these SATA connections off by default.

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