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Dell Inspiron 531 won't boot - Help please!
Hi there,
I hope you can help me!
I have a Dell Inspiron 531 about 2 years old. When I tried to switch it on tonight it wouldn't boot up and I got a black screen with the following message:
no boot device available
SATA 0: Installed
SATA 1: Installed
SATA 2: None
SATA 3: None.
I have no idea what this means or how to fix it, but if someone can explain what i need to do and how to do it, i'll give it a go. I really need my pc - it has all my college work on it, and although its backed up elsewhere it will takie me an age to sort through it all again.
To add insult to injury, when I split from my husband last year he kept (and lost) the discs that came with the PC.
Please help!
Helen x
jsktx
729 Posts
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October 1st, 2009 12:00
Unfortunately this is usually a sign of a failing hard drive. Without the disks you can't run a Dell Diagnosic to see for sure. You can request backup CDs HERE.
wogglesmum
3 Posts
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October 1st, 2009 13:00
Thanks,
i have borrowed my mums Dell discs for hers (same as mine) - will they work, and if so what do i need to do with them??
Helen x
jsktx
729 Posts
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October 1st, 2009 16:00
Are you getting to the Dell spash screen at all? If you are press F12 to change the boot sequence to the CD drive and boot with the Utilities disk. On this disk is Dell diagnostic utility. There is usually a quick and long test versions of the diagnostic utility. Run the quick first and see if any errors show up. If none show up then run the long. Once finished post your results.
wogglesmum
3 Posts
0
October 2nd, 2009 01:00
Thanks, I've done that and I get a screen offering me a memory test (which runs - and says eveything is a pass) and then there a system test which runs through until a error "SYSTEM_ERROR Unable to locate required nVidia South Bridge controller" and then it shuts down and starts again.
I've had a look inside the casing and the cable that connects the HDD to the board has a crack in the casing that *might* maake the connection a little weak i suppose but i've tried holding it in place and it makes no difference.
Also on the CD is the DOS command
"A RAMDISK drive is available for this boot cycle as C: It contains several Hard Drive setup tools. Please use these tools only inder the direction of Dell Support Staff F:\>"
Hope this makes sense!
Thanks
Helen
jsktx
729 Posts
0
October 2nd, 2009 11:00
This is a little odd so I'm going to suggest that you replace the CMOS battery. You can get this battery, which is a 2032, at Walmart or any drug store. The instructions for replacing the battery is HERE <ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed from this post by Dell>. The inability to boot can also be caused by a dead CMOS battery.
Replacing the battery is a long shot, but worth a try since it's inexpensive. The test results would indicate a bad motherboard which would require a replacement. I suspect your system is no longer under warranty so I would suggest taking it to a local computer shop to verify the problem.