X51-R2, no bootable device found error

Question

This just started last week. Sometimes when I would boot it would say no boot device found (says it may not be seated properly etc, although the computer has never moved or been bumped). But then on second attempt it would always start up.

I have a 250Gb SDD which is my boot device and 2TB internal secondary drive.

Then today, I got this message again. It took about 12 attempts to boot it before it finally found the boot drive. I checked the BIOS and everything in there looks correct. My old XPS 420 also won't boot so I can't really risk shutting this off since I'm guessing it won't reboot the next time at all.

Any ideas what this could be? I suspect the SSD, but not really sure. Do SSD's really only last a few years (or do they wait until the extended warranty expires by a few months then die ;p )?

Not sure if it's the SSD, motherboard, or what the issue could be.

Thanks in advance,

John

imabzb · Answer

So I've decided just to toss the SSD drive and order a new HDD drive. It's too small to serve any real purpose, and I have to store all my videos, music, documents, and games on the D: HDD drive anyway.

Now the question becomes, how do I go about getting factory settings onto a new drive (as if the computer was just delivered, hardware drivers, included software, and all) AND the factory restore partition onto a NEW hard drive?

I've googled it, but couldn't seem to find all the answers. There are many links on restoring to factory defaults, but not to a new hard drive which also recreates the factory restore partition as delivered (in case I have to restore from that partition again).

I just want to be able to boot up the NEW hard drive and have everything like the day I purchased it.

Thanks,

John

imabzb · Answer

My SSD drive seems to have bit the dust (keep getting error that computer can't find bootable disk), but it also came with a HDD as a secondary internal drive. I want to remove the SSD and just use the HDD as the primary drive.

How do I go about restoring factory settings onto a new drive (as if the computer was just delivered, hardware drivers, included software, and all) AND the factory restore partition onto a NEW hard drive?

I've installed Alien Respawn, but after an hour of creating the base image it just crashes when it gets to "preparing hard disk."

I just want to be able to boot up the NEW hard drive and have everything like the day I purchased it.

This is why I hate that computers no longer come with a installation DVD. Now I'm in a pickle because I can't seem to access the recovery partition with Respawn :(

Am I going to have to purchase Windows 10 again and start from scratch? We have 6 Dell computers, so this is now a real concern on all of them.

Thanks,

imabzb · Answer

What a disappointment. We've been buying Dell computers for many many years. After adding up what our family has spent on Dell computers and what my company has spent, it works out close to $50,000.00 during that time. I'm shocked Dell would want to lose this kind of business through lack of support.

You can't even tell me how to restore the computer to it's original factory settings? My warranty runs out a few months ago, and that's it... I'm on my own. You can't get a disc at the time of purchase to install the OS from scratch, and no way to extract it from the hidden partition.

After years of recommending Dell not only to friends and family, but on my YouTube & Steam channels, I feel embarrassed that I will now have to relate this to my friends and subscribers, and for them to avoid Dell in the future.

Alienware Desktops

X51-R2, no bootable device found error

Was this post helpful?