Latitude E6420 won't recognize hard drive

Question

Hello all!  I bought three Latitude E6420 laptops at a thrift store, and all had little 128 gig SSDs.  I tried swapping in a 500 gig WD standard SATA hard drive, but the machines won't seem to recognize any hard drives but the original ones.  I've tried every option I can find in the BIOS, including resetting to factory defaults.  When I boot up, the laptop doesn't know it has a hard drive at all.  I've confirmed that the HD is okay.  Is this a compatibility issue?  Could some kind of security setting be causing this?  Any advice is much appreciated!

ejn63 · Answer

These systems were designed for 9.5 mm drives -- newer hard drives are usually 7 mm or slimmer. I suspect you're seeing the result of the drive not connecting to the system board.

You may need a drive spacer (example below).

https://www.cdw.com/product/edge-7mm-to-9.5mm-ssd-spacer-adapter-for-2.5-drives-notebook-hard-drive/3817225

CarltonDoorman · Answer

Well, the drive I'm trying is at least a few years old, but it's worth a try.  I'm going to order one of those spacers and see if it helps.  Thanks!

Magdy7753 · Answer

Same problem with me Latitude 5580, kindly if you found a solution please let me know.

CarltonDoorman · Answer

Thank you for sharing the details. As per your product details, we see that you are a Federal customer. Unfortunately, due to Federal contractual requirements Social team will be unable to assist you. Please contact the Federal Support team on 1-800-822-8965.

U2CAMEB4ME · Answer

Welcome to the Dell Community @CarltonDoorman

Go into your BIOS and set "SATA Operation" to AHCI.

Does the systems see the HDD now???

Best regards,

U2

NOTE:

Unless you are installing the HDD with the laptop upside down a spacer is unnecessary.

Katie12 · Answer

@U2CAMEB4ME wrote:

Welcome to the Dell Community @CarltonDoorman

Go into your BIOS and set "SATA Operation" to AHCI.

Does the systems see the HDD now???

Best regards,

U2

NOTE:

Unless you are installing the HDD with the laptop upside down a spacer is unnecessary.

Unfortunately, due to Federal contractual requirements Social team will be unable to assist you. Please contact the Federal Support team on 1-800-822-8965.

U2CAMEB4ME · Answer

@Katie12

What are you trying to say???

Do you hold the Federal Contract???

If you bought them from a "Thrift Store" I do not think you have it but the previous owner did.

The laptop is 10 years old I do not think there is any Warranty and anyone should be able to help.

Regards,

U2

babna1 · Answer

My hard drive was working fine before the time stopped keeping time. I needed to replace the CMOS battery. I checked all the BIOS settings before installing the battery and seemed to replace the battery without any issues. Imagine my surprise when the HDD was not recognized.

Without going into all the other solutions that didn't work, the problem turned out to be that the pins on the HDD were not making contact with the pins to the motherboard. When I put the Latitude 6420 back together, i did not tightened the screws that held the HDD in place tight enough.

Basically, I tightened the 4 screws that hold the HDD very tight; started the computer and everything was working normally. Hope this helps.

Latitude

Latitude E6420 won't recognize hard drive

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