stop error: inaccessible_boot_device

I have encountered this problem many times.  It seems to occur mainly with Western Digital and Fujitsu hard drives, regardless of system make/model.

Resolution?

Pull the hard drive out.  Put it in a working system as a slave drive and backup your information.

Get the HDD replaced with another BRAND all together (Seagate, Maxtor, etc...).

Format, install O/S, and restore your files.  Do not waste your time trying to fix this, I believe it may be an HDD manufacturer issue.  I've encountered this exact problem more than 50 times.  First time with a Dell today.  I open the machine, lo and behold a Western Digital.  I check another Dell... Seagate & no problems.

I called Dell, they know nothing of the issue, their hold music is DEAFENING and distorted due to the volume.  The support rep I am speaking to is mumbling so low that I can barely understand him.  Lovely.

I've tried chkdsk'ing the drive as the slave in another machine, same error.  A low-level format with the appropriate software seems to work, but the problem always comes back in my experience.

Message Edited by Z06Driver on 10-20-2003 09:17 AM

Has any one had this boot error with WinXP?  Also, I am running a Dell Insp 8200.  I have not changed anything.  Yesterday it started giving me this boot error.  SUGGESTIONS?

THANKS!

Maybe your reply to my problem here with a customers D400 will be quicker than getting a response from the indian helpdesk.

I have replaced basicly everything in the system. You name it, its new. Problem is I am getting this error when I am installing a fresh copy of Win2K. And yes, as I stated above, new Hdd. It faults after it loads its drivers needed for the installing but blue screens before you can accept the license or anything, no interaction.

Now for the tricky bit. It still comes up with the exact same error with no hdd installed. And before I get the, "well durr" remarks, it should come up with a standard setup error stating no hdd found, not a BSOD.

Lets seee if theres some smart people out there to figure this one out.

P.S. From reading other posts, I'm thinking I may need to load an ide controller driver by pressing "F6". But I'm waiting for someone from dell to confirm this before I waste anymore of my time. Customer can wait.

Thanks

Adam

well, a d400 has usb 2.0. If you're booting a windows 2000 cd prior to service pack 3 it does not have the native drivers for windows 2000 and will blue screen on you. I believe it is the inaccessible boot device screen but I can't remember. Have you also tried running diagnostics on the hard drive?

thanks jwark, I was looking suspiciously at the usb cd drive and your theory/suggestion could well be onto something. the system was shipped with XP but failed when my customer tried installing 2K, possibly with SP1 or SP2.

Dell helpdesk STILL havn't got back to me and it has been nearly 2 days, (they said they would call back in 1 HOUR), great service!. Its especially disappointing since I'm a Dell Service Provider and looking after one of their customers. Since they don't show me respect I might as well not give them any suggestions and let them dwell on this problem for a week. I don't think they realise how many people they actually pi$$ off from being so slack. Oops, I've turned this into a slapping session.

Thanks Jwark.

Back in March 2003 we purchased and installed 70 Dell GX260s in the small form-factor.  In the last 2-3 months, we have had 26 hard drives fail in this batch of PCs.

So far, the single Dell Support option has been to replace each HDD as each fails, under our normal warranty for each machine.

They have yet to formally recognize that there was a very large, BAD batch of PCs / HDDs released to the world.

Technical Information: We have not replaced any hardware or done anything special to these PCs.  They are all running Windows 2000 with all the latest patches (well, maybe not SP4, but all the hotfixes).  The failure seems always to immediately follow the movement of these PCs.  And I mean any movement at all brings this on.  I know that jarring a hard drive can break it, but this is moving an entire case, not opened, and carefully handled.  I have even thought that maybe this is related to being completely removed from the power source, since this has happened consistently and none of these have been mishandled.

26 Hard Drive failures out of a batch of 70, Dell.  Have anything to say that can address this?

Jwark - thanks for the suggestion.  Not sure if it was sarcasm or not, but I'll answer you as if it was not.

Since these are workstations and we are a fairly large comapny, we have successfully conditioned the User Community to use network drives for their critical data.  So there is no concern about data loss here.

But with a fairly small IT department to look after the 24 site and 500 PCs and 25 servers and all the accompanying netwrok devices, it is a serious drain to have to capture, replace, and reimage PCs as often as we have been doing thanks to these failures.  Add to that and non-standard software installations for some of these users, and the overhead for Dell's failing PCs is becoming prohibitive.

keep your data backed up?

Adam,

Just a thought, but you don't mention if the machines were turned off and unplugged while they were being moved.  "Never move a desktop PC that's turned on".  This is a quote from a Seagate representative from a Maximum PC article that interviewed the big three manufacturers.  I'm sure its unlikely they were moved while on, but I hadn't heard or thought much about moving pcs while turned on until I had read this article.  Of course this doesn't explain how notebook hard drives are so readily moved while turned on, but I suspect their architecture is different from desktop drives.

Chuck

You're not the only one.

Years ago, I ordered 20+ servers from Dell.  They were so bad I ended up sending everything back and switching to IBM.  That server cluster still exists and has has only a single motherboard failure in the entire cluster in 4 years!

I recently gave Dell another chance to earn my respect, so I ordered around 10 workstations (very basic, Optiplex GX60's with 15" Dell LCDs).

Every LCD has failed.  Every unit with a Western Digital hard drive has had the HDD fail.  The seagate HDD equipped machines have not had HDD failures (YET).

I notified my supplier in writing that I do not hold him responsible, but we will never purchase another Dell machine again.  Every time I call in to technical support to arrange an RMA, I get a "refurbished" device in return, and in *every* instance, the refurbished item was worse than the defective original.  His Dell rep gave him the run around as well.

Another point I'd like to make is that I do not object to outsourcing services such as support to other countries where labour and overhead costs are much lower, but PLEASE, use companies with support staff that CAN SPEAK ENGLISH CLEARLY.  I know that Dell outsourced their support to Bangalore, and I have no objection to that as previously stated - but for God's sake, I can barely understand a word they are saying, and I am a Canadian born East Indian!  (I am referring specifically to the reps I have spoken to)

I tried to explain to one fellow that the backlight went out on one of the LCD's.  A support rep should know that without the backlight, you will not see anything on the display.  Instead, the particularily bright individual insisted that I try a series of tests, i.e. boot up, right click on the desktop, and select properties to see what display was installed.  DUH.  I ended up having to explain WHAT the backlight was and the fact that the display was blacked out.  It took me over 30 minutes to explain it to him, and I don't think he understood in the end.

It is clear to me, beyond any doubt whatsoever, that Dell as a Corporation lacks the sense to implement effective customer service and has failed as far as quality control is concerned.  6 months and I'm STILL waiting for a floppy drive filler panel they failed to ship with one of the machines.

Good luck to all that are stuck with failed Dell brand PC's.

For me, never again.