Vostro V13 does not detect hard drive on start up

you have to restart it and if it got a battery den tke it out

Hi Kain00,

Can you post the link or send me the link on where to order this?

my email is
<ADMIN NOTE:Email id removed per privacy policy>

Thanks!

One last item -- the part number for the audio board, which generally comes with an attached ribbon cable, is DDWP3.

I've had this happen 3 times over about 18 months.  The first occurred under warranty and the Dell service tech said it was either the motherboard or the audio board and then replaced both with little explanation (hey, it worked so what did I care?).  The second time occurred in April 2011, less than a month after my warranty expired.  The Dell technical rep I spoke with denied there was any systematic flaw with the V13 and then tried to sell me a new motherboard for $900 (significantly more than I paid for the laptop originally).  He never mentioned the possibility that it might be the audio board or ribbon cable.  That I had to discovery myself by searching through various web forums where the problem is apparently well known to Dell service techs and IT professionals who work for companies that purchased V13s in bulk.  Based on that research, I purchased a new audio board (with connected ribbon cable) from ebay, but I had to pay $40 (including shipping) to get it from England since all the U.S. based parts were used/pulled and "tested" as working.  I just didn't trust the used parts (they were still about $25 each).  I installed the part and it lasted until October 2011 when I again saw the blue screen of death.  This time I found this thread and saw conurus' reference to digikey part number HFF-30U-04-ND.  I used that part number and ordered two ribbon cables from Digikey's website for about $11 including shipping.  I installed one in less than 5 minutes and my laptop is functioning again.  It's been working for at least two weeks now.  I'm not sure if the shielding is as good as the OEM, but for that price I can afford to replace it on multiple occasions. My best guess is that the ribbon cable is degrading due to heat buildup because the laptop is so compact.  

I was very unhappy with Dell's failure to even acknowledge this problem.

BTW - thanks, conurus. 

I would like to clarify again that replacing the faulty flex cable with the Dell OEM part is the preferred solution and the Digikey part should be used only as a last resort. Your hard drive's SATA runs at 3Gbps and the Dell OEM part took special precautions with EMI shielding and transmission line design to ensure SATA signal integrity. The Digikey part is just a generic jumper which is not designed to carry high speed signals. I have used the Digikey cable for a couple of months and have not experienced any data loss, but do the same at your own risk.

Understood, conurus.  Thanks for the cautionary advice.  Does anyone have any indication that Dell has updated the OEM ribbon cable to address the original problem?  If not, then the only OEM option is to keep purchasing audio boards just to obtain replacement ribbon cables.  That's neither cheap nor convenient.  If, however, they've fixed the problem then I don't mind spending the extra time and money on OEM replacement.  

I suggest you to show your laptop to the shopping center you bought from. Its very annoying error and it should be solved and i think your problem is not solved here yet. So call Dell support team in your location. Its just my suggestion.

I purchased it through work (law firm) and, while my firm gets all of its equipment through Dell, we're not big enough to have any kind of meaningful leverage with Dell.  I agree that Dell should solve it but the way they handled it last spring made it clear that they had no interest in resolving the problem.  Like I said before, they wouldn't even acknowledge there was a problem.  If you google this issue you quickly come to the conclusion that Dell must know about the issue.  Sadly, once they found out I hadn't purchased the extended warranty they stopped engaging in any sort of meaningful discussion and just tried to seel me a part I didn't need at an inflated price. I eventually wrote a factually accurate reveiw of the V13 on the product page that outlined my problems but Dell refused to publish it.  

It is cable error. Got if for $3.50 on ebay at cgi.ebay.co.uk/.../eBayISAPI.dll

It's cable error and you can fine the replacement part on cmyhub.com

website Link:www.cmyhub.com/.../Dell-Vostro-V13-Hard-Drive-Data-Cable-LT13TL-6035B0061001-FPC-A01_1776.aspx

Just make sure you get a brand new part.

I got a recycled cable from eBay and that broke again in almost no time. Since we are discussing a failure-prone part to begin with, obtaining a used part is a very bad idea. Just make sure wherever you buy, you buy a brand new part.

hello, I have more or less the same problem. I do not read the hard disk, the hard disk is good, I went to a service and have it checked out but no one can figure out what's going on. help me please

Thank you very much! I spent last three days and finally found this.
I have been following the same steps as other great guys here. It was not HDD. HDD diagnosed fine and also connects to other computers fine. Laptop was fine since I can boot from larger USB storage. I came across this article about an hour ago and when I checked the printed data cable, it sure looked like burnt/damaged. I am ordering a cable from ebay around $7.00. I think it will work. I will come back and write again otherwise.

Thanks again for your posts. Jerry

Glad you found this thread and I hope the fix works.  My replacement cable from Digikey has worked fine now for over a year.