Dell Laditude E6430 will not boot Windows 10

Question

After I had gotten my Hard Drive out, I hooked it up to a SATA to USB adapter that was inside of a portable Hard Drive. I had moved a few files that didn't touch the system files, and it wouldn't boot. It would sit on the black screen with the white dots swirling in a circle forever, and wouldn't get anywhere.

Recently I did the same thing, and hooked it back up to the same adapter so I could get some data off, and I realized I could reset the Windows 10 to get it to run as new.

I put it back in to find an error instead of a boot:

A disk read error occurred
Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart

If I do press those buttons, nothing happens.
I can't get anywhere with this, and I am stuck.
The Hard Drive still works, and I can still get data off of it, it just will not boot any more.
I don't even need any of the data on the Hard Drive anyway, I just need a way to reset it without a new copy of Windows for this computer didn't come with a Windows 10 key when we bought it.

U2CAMEB4ME · Accepted Answer

Welcome to the Dell Community @Tres_Tigers

Windows 10 COA number is electronically signed:

As long as it had W10 installed before:

It will automatically Activate when you go online.

For a clean Windows 10 install:

You can make a W10 USB flash drive installer with the Microsoft Media Creation Tool.

Use a blank 8GB or 16GB flash drive.

If your Laptop/Desktop is not working then use another Windows Laptop/Desktop

https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/software-download/windows10

Here are the steps to create the W10 USB flash drive installer:

Plug in the blank USB flash drive:

CAUTION: Any content on the flash drive will be deleted.

Select “Download Tool Now” and select Run.

If you agree to the license terms, select Accept.

On the “What do you want to do?” “Page”

Select “Create installation media for another PC” then click next.

Select the language, edition, and architecture (64-bit or 32-bit) for Windows 10.

Uncheck the “Use the recommended options for this PC” box then click next.

Select which media you want to use: “USB flash drive”

After creating the USB plug it into the Laptop/Desktop that you want to install it on.

Boot from the USB and follow the directions/instructions.

If asked to enter a product key during the installation process, select "I don't have a product key" option.

After W10 installs, you can install the drivers and available software from your Laptop/Desktop support page.

To activate W10.

WXP and WVista COA's cannot be used to activate W10.

W7 COA'S can still be used to activate W10. "xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx"

W10 embedded COA's will activate automatically when you go online.

Best regards,

U2

nyc10036 · Answer

Tres_Tigers,   You are basically being told to do a clean installation of Windows 10 on your hard drive. The question is why you felt the need to remove it in the first place????

Tres_Tigers · Answer

I had to get the data off another hard drive and used that PC and a Ubuntu disk to send the pictures to the internet.

nyc10036 · Answer

Invest in a USB-to-SATA docking station. I have one, and it works with 2.5' and 3.5' SATA hard drives. Connect up via USB to working PC. Works very well.   .

Latitude

Dell Laditude E6430 will not boot Windows 10

Was this post helpful?