optiplex 755 -boot device not available

Hi Doon,

What OS? Do you have a Dell Windows disc?

Hey, no problem. We all learn by being newbies. :emotion-2:

If you boot to the BIOS, do you see both your hard drive and DVD drive?

There's no problem using a non-Dell install disc, but you'll need to enter a license. The Dell license won't work.

That's a relief. yep, both are showing in bios

Ok, that's good. In the BIOS, which you can access by tapping F2 at the blue Dell logo, there are three options for the hard drive controller operation. One of them is RAID Autodetect/ATA. That's the one you want since it makes installing the operating system much more straightforward. Let me also suggest you take a look at Natakuc's clean install guide for Windows (link below). That will take you through the process step by step.

By the way, here is a link to the manuals for your Optiplex 755 <ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed from this post by Dell>. The link might come in handy.

Let me know how you make out.

Hi thought I would revisit this after leaving alone for a while. Have tried all 4 options for the hdd controller option achi/ata/raid/legacy and nothing works.

Also tried trying to load Ubuntu via a USB but no joy.

Have run diagnostics from f12 option and no error or faults found.

I can't understand what the problem is as never had this with any previous build I've done.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated before I reach for the fixit hammer

Rgds doon

So, from F12 you get a boot menu, yes.

In there choose the boot to DVD with a disk in the drive - what happens? Does it spin up and try the boot?

And can you confirm it is a DVD drive that it has - some 755s have CD drives which have caught me out!

If the internal DVD drive is bad and not reading properly then it will show the symptoms you say - no boot from a DVD. In this case try an external USB DVD drive - connected before you reboot the PC. You will then be able to boot from it on the F12 menu.

Hi

Just to confirm, yes from f12 get the boot menu. Select boot from DVD, and then states no boot device available. Have checked and it is definitely a DVD not cd (had me worried then! Lol)

Haven't got a USB DVD but have tried to use live cd from USB stick but get the message remove media then press any key. Remove USB and then get no boot device available again.

If its a known good boot CD/DVD (tried on other system) that you are putting into the drive AND it spins up (you didnt conform this) then its a faulty drive.

Your USB stick is  probably not created properly hence it not booting and is not related to the DVD drive booting.

If you are unsure of BIOS setting then reset to factory default.

Hi thanks for all your help on this but decided now to bin the project. This was only meant to be a favour for someone in getting them a heap basic machine. Taking too much beer time to sort out!

Thank you, this was not exactly my problem but I had one similar that your advice helped me with.

I do have a question though, what exactly are the differences between these three options?

I want to install window 7 from window XP but my Dell Oplex says no boot device available, I tried to use external DVD ROM but still the same, please tell me what can I do

Can you select the boot menu at boot time (just after the Dell logo appears)? If you can, your external DVD ROM drive should be listed, and you can select it.

Hey, I need some serious help. I have a Dell Optiplex 755 and I got it off eBay but it didn't come with a hard drive. So I bought a hard drive myself and I put it in my computer but all I get is "No boot device available" all I want is to be able to start my computer and play computer games to be honest. Any help would b great and please reply fast. Thanks!

New or used hard drives do not "boot".  They must be formatted and an OS installed on them.  Advanced format drives require F6 drivers.

Advanced format drives REQUIRE F6 drivers aka INTEL RST 9.6

All new drives will be 4k advanced format drives.

"Windows Setup could not configure Windows on this computer's hardware" installation error on a Windows 7-based based computer http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2466753

Only Ancient Sata drives 120 gigs or smaller will not need INTEL RST.

http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/218571en?language=en_US

Windows 7 comes with Matrix storage manager 8.9

The INTEL MSM is not INTEL RST

Windows 7 Requires INTEL RST 9.6

Intel RST replaces Intel Matrix Storage Manager.  HOWEVER you cannot update to your hearts content from 7 to 8 to 9 to 10 to 11 to 12 to 13 etc.  As the drivers and chipsets get newer the older ICH5 6 7 8 9 etc are dropped from support.  

downloadcenter.intel.com/.../15251
Version 9.6.0.1014  may be the max for your motherboard

PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2682&CC_0104= "Intel(R) ESB2 SATA RAID"
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_27C3&CC_0104= "Intel(R) ICH7R/DH SATA RAID"
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_27C6&CC_0104= "Intel(R) ICH7MDH SATA RAID Controller"
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2822&CC_0104= "Intel(R) ICH8R/ICH9R/ICH10R/DO/5/3400 SATA RAID"
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_282A&CC_0104= "Intel(R) ICH8M-E/ICH9M-E/5 Series SATA RAID"

NEWER Versions (Not necessarily Supported on OLD chipsets)

Microsoft* .NET Framework 3.0 or newer is required to be installed on the system in order for the Intel® Rapid Storage Technology User Interface to install.  Note that  Microsoft* Operating
Systems do not have .NET 3.0 or newer installed by default.

.