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September 17th, 2017 06:00

Laptop suddenly won't boot Windows anymor

Hi,

I have a Dell Inspiron 15-3521 running Windows 8.1

All of a sudden (after using it after ca. 1 year) it won't boot the Windows anymore. It says: "Media test failure, check cable" and "No boot device found. Press any key etc"

I actually had a software for checking my hard disk and it once said there was a problem with cables, but I really didn't pay attention to it.

Then I googled the problem and found out there can be something done with Legacy/UEFI booting. So I changed it to the UEFI. First of all "Windows boot manager" doesn't appear in the list and when I turn on the laptop it says twice "checking media [failed]" and tells me to restart the computer.

Can you help me to solve this problem? I have some important data on this hard disk.

P.S I had an unactivated version of Windows. Can this be the reason?

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September 17th, 2017 14:00

9 Posts

September 17th, 2017 14:00

+ some weeks ago it just wouldn't turn on. It would make kind of clicking sounds 4 times without turning on the display and it would turn off.  This happened 3-4 times.

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September 17th, 2017 14:00

If there isn't any error code:

In the BIOS, check under the main tab to see if hard drive is detected. Also check under the boot tab to see if secure boot is enable.

Dell Inspiron 3543;

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September 17th, 2017 14:00

:emotion-2:

Please run the diagnostic test to check the hard drive on the system by following steps below:

1. Power off system

2. Power on system, quickly tap the F12 key continuously until you see Preparing one time boot menu in the top right corner of the screen. In the boot menu, stroll down to Diagnostic and then click it. After quick tests, click on hard drive and then Thorough Test Mode. Report back any error code.

cli

9 Posts

September 17th, 2017 14:00

Oh I forgot to mentoon these things. I already did them.

The diagnostic test said yesterday that no hard drive was detected but then I removed the hard drive and inserted it one again. Then it said there were no probs and it was detected in the bios menu as well. The safe boot is not enabled.

I reset the settings do default. Nothing changed

9 Posts

September 17th, 2017 14:00

Secure boot*

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September 17th, 2017 19:00

One symptom of a failing hard drive is a clicking noise. When you reseated the hard drive and saw that the Hard drive was detected in the BIOS, you were able to boot back into windows? By the way, how old is the computer and have you ever change out the hard drive for a new drive?

5 Signs and Symptoms of a Failing Hard Drive - Techverse.net

EDIT:

4: Clicking , Grinding and rattling noises from hard drive

9 Posts

September 18th, 2017 09:00

It's actually not a clicking sound. It was something like a sound you hear in countdowns (so weird).

9 Posts

September 18th, 2017 09:00

+ I tried to change the order under the UEFI Boot and "Windows Boot manager" won't show up. Even though I trued changing SATA Operation (which can be either AHCI or ATA, no such thing as "Rapid Storage Technology") I just can't see it. + I enabled Secure Boot.

9 Posts

September 18th, 2017 09:00

The laptop would make it four times and then turn off. And I don't know if it was a problem of the hard drive.

The laptop doesn't make clicking sounds in general. When I listen to it while turned on and with the text: "check media and cables stuff" it does this sound only 1 time.

Can this really be a problem of a cable?

9 Posts

September 18th, 2017 09:00

With the hard drive listed in the BIOS I still couldn't run the Windows.

I've never changed the hard disk and have been using it for about 3 years without an antivirus. But I reinstalled Windows several times.

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September 19th, 2017 09:00

" Even though I trued changing SATA Operation (which can be either AHCI or ATA "

I suggest you change SATA Operation to AHCI. I believe you tap the F10 key to save settings.

Dell Inspiron 3543, Advanced tab:

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September 19th, 2017 10:00

" I've never changed the hard disk and have been using it for about 3 years without an antivirus. But I reinstalled Windows several times ".

Hard drive lasting for 3 years is a long time now days. You know there are some very good free antivirus software you can run on the system. Whenever you fix the system, I suggest installing either the free version of AVG, Avast or Malwarebytes Anti- malware.

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September 19th, 2017 10:00

If changing SATA Operation doesn't fix the problem, I suggest you Reset the BIOS to Default Values to see if that will make any difference.

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September 19th, 2017 10:00

By the way, you check out getro possible solution in the Dell Inspiron 13 No bootable device found thread?  

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