No Bootable devices - Inspiron 8100 Help

Question

Can someone help me with this? I have an Inspiron 8100 Laptop that worked about 6 months ago. I finally turned it back on and it has this message right after booting starts, 'Primary hard disk drive not found Fixed optical drive not found No bootable devices -- strike F1 to retry boot, F2 for setup utility' It worked 6 months ago. I haven't done anything to this laptop other than moving it. I wonder if I did something during the move. If I press F1 to retry, the same message comes up. When I press F2, I just get the utility and I get nowhere. Can someone give me advice on this? This happens right after I turn on the computer. Thanks Message Edited by emergent_sea on 11-05-2006 11:42 PM

bacillus · Answer

first try removing the fixed optical drive and see if it boots.

PETER345 · Answer

It sounds like you have a HD problem. Press F12 at boot and run the diagnostics. Peter

bacillus · Answer

lol, that model doesn't come with the diagnostics on the hdd.

PETER345 · Answer

@bacillus wrote:
LOL, that model doesn't come with the diagnostics on the hdd.

Well, gee, I guess he'll just have to try to boot from the resource CD or download the diagnostics from Dell and make a floppy or CD to boot from. Not that difficult.

emergent_sea · Answer

I have tried all of this.  I have taken out the optical drive, reboot from the original windows disc, i have removed the HD and replaced it with a new one.    If I put the diagnostic CD in, it won't read it b/c it doesn't read the Windows OS CD.    Do you guys think that it is the Motherboard?   I think that is my next step to replace.

PETER345 · Answer

Does the BIOS setup work (i.e. can you change the settings and do they look reasonable)? Did you check to make sure the drives or controller didn't get disabled somehow? Do you think the CMOS battery has died?

If none of those are the problem, then it sounds like your controller went bad or the connections between the controller and the drives went bad, as you have surmised.

Peter

emergent_sea · Answer

I don't know where is CMOS battery is.    I did the rest.  All of the drives are enabled.  I have searched this site, and I have done all of the recommedations.  I might just open it up and make sure all of the connections are set.

PETER345 · Answer

The online docs should show where the battery is. If you open it up, I imagine it would be pretty obvious. Peter

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