Dimension 5150 boot error-not finding hard drive

Question

My aunt has a Dimension 5150 that is not recognizing the hard drive. When I boot it up, I get an error saying 'Drive 0 not found: Serial ATA, SATA-0, Strike the F1 key to continue, F2 to run setup.   If I hit F1, I get 'No boot device available Strike the F1 key to continue, F2 to run setup   When I go into the BIOS and look at the boot sequence it is this 1) On board or USB Floppy drive 2) On board SATA Hard Drive (Not present) 3) On board IDE Hard Drive (Not present) 4) On board or USB CD-ROM Drive   Is it a matter of a loose cable or is the hard drive fried? My aunt hasn't done anything different/moved the computer. It just did that one morning. Do I need to put in the system disk and reinstall everything? Help please! My aunt really does not want to buy a new computer!Thanks!

shesagordie · Answer

kcguru

First, open the case and check the drives, data and power cables, by removing and reconnecting them.

If this fails to correct the problem, then you may have a failed hard drive.

Run Dell diagnostic's extended test, read, write, verify, on the hard drives, not the express test.

How to run the Dell Diagnostics Utility

Bev.

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Please don't send me questions about your system by DCF Messenger.
Post the issue in the appropriate Board, where they will be answered.

kcguru · Answer

I tried to run the diagnotics but I can't bring it up. It says it can't find it. Is it possible this could be a virus? I don't know whether or not it's the computer, the hard drive, or a virus. I don't have another computer handy to check the hard drive on, not that I want to if it's a virus. I'm thinking about taking it in to Best Buy or something for the Geek Squad to look at. Any way I can check and see if the problem really is with the hard drive?

Storage, Drives & Media

Dimension 5150 boot error-not finding hard drive

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