Hi,

I have a Dell Inspiron 545MT running Windows Vista 32 bit.

Last weekend, a minute after the Dell boot up screen appeared, the message "no boot device available" appeared.

On pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del, the PC re-booted up and I was able to use it without a problem.

If I do a "re-start" whilst in Windows then the PC re-boots OK.

This weekend, I've started to get the message "HDD drive failure".

I keep on pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del until the PC boots up OK. This can take many attempts.

I've done a system restore (a date well before the problem started). Still no joy.

I've run CHKDSK. No problems.

I've run MEMTEST. No problems.

I've changed the boot-up device sequence to a number of different combinations. Still no joy.

So I've come to the conclusion that my HDD (under 2 yrs old) is on it's last legs.

Could there be another reason?

It seems strange that once I boot up successfully, the PC works fine (at least I think it does!!).

I've been recommended to contatct Dell but I'm not sure which is the best UK number to ring. I don't need a yearly contract.

I would really appreciate some help with this problem before I go out & buy a new HDD.

Thanks,

Steve.