HELLPPP!! No boot sector. No bootable devices...(read on)

Question

Okay, so my boss gave me his laptop as a small project for myself to fix up and keep because he didn't have the time or money to do so. He informed me that the 'Dell Inspiron 2200' laptop was not finding the hard drive, and also needed a power supply adapter. Geek Squad had taken a look at it, and they recognized that he just needed a new hard drive. So I get the laptop and find out there's a little bit more to it than just a bad hard drive.   I ordered a brand new Dell power supply and 100gb compatible drive and received them yesterday in the mail. I installed the drive hoping it was going to work because the old drive jiggled around when installed and this new one is a nicer fit and does not move around when installed. I boot up the laptop and after the Dell BIOS screen loads up, I get a black screen with 'No boot sector found on internal hard drive.' and under that message it says 'No bootable devices found.' I did not intend o give up, so I popped in my Resources CD and ran the 32-bit diagnostics, and of course got a couple failure messages when it would get around to checking the hard drive. So then just for kicks, I installed my Windows XP CD and it began to load up the setup files. It took me to the partitioning screen and there were no partitions on the new drive of course so I created one and had it formatted. I don't know at what percent it stopped because I fell asleep, but when I woke up it said the hard drive could not be formatted because it was corrupt or damaged or whatever!! Yeaahhh right!! It's a brand new hard drive, so I started it all over again. This time I chose the 'Quick Format' instead and I assume it successfully formatted because it proceeded to copying the Windows files from the CD over to the laptop, then the Windows OS installation screens booted up and I installed Windows. A couple of times after the installation, the computer needed to be restarted because of new settings or what have you, and the computer acted as if there was no problem at all. Finally, I had installed Windows, everything was fine, mission accomplished... ...wrong!! I took the Windows CD out of the disc drive, closed the tray, proceeded to give the machine a restart without the CD just to make sure and clear my mind that something terrible was going to happen, and what do you know...'No bootable devices found.' again. I closed the laptop, and now have no clue what to do. Also, I will inform that when I received the laptop, I opened it up and found a silver cylinder-shaped capacitor free-floating around inside that I am still trying to determine its purpose. It goes in the back left side, in the corner next to the power supply port and has the code '5 bY 100 25v' printed on the top of it.   I have done an extensive amount of research on this while waiting for the parts in the mail, and even visited Geek Squad at Best Buy myself. They told me that it could be the hard drive or the motherboard could be shot. I don't believe it to be the motherboard or nothing else would be working successfully, in my opinion. So I really appreciate any and all replies to my post in hopes of resolving the issue at hand. Thanks again. =)

realtvater · Answer

Might I also add that when I close the laptop the screen turns off like it's suppose to, but when I open it nothing happens. The screen does not turn back on. The system is still running, but just a black screen with nothing to view.

TheRealFireblad · Answer

Welcome to the forums :emotion-21:

So then just for kicks, I installed my Windows XP CD and it began to load up the setup files.

You installed the OS on the new hard drive "just for kicks"?

It's rather obvious, that a brand new hard drive won't boot, if you haven't installed an OS on it :emotion-55:

Anyways... I'd suggest going into the BIOS, and checking the boot order? It should be CD/DVD, hard drive, then floppy drive?

If the boot order is right, I can only suggest you boot from the XP disc, (quick-) reformat the hard drive, and reinstall the OS again?

Leave the CD in the drive, until it's completed the installation - i.e. it boots you to the desktop.

Only then should you remove it.

Re closing/opening the lid: You need to set various options in 'Power Settings'.

But you'll likely have to press the power button (briefly) after you've opened the lid, to bring it out of 'sleep' mode? The manual should advise you on that?

If you didn't get one with the laptop, you'll find a link to the manuals in the left side menu on the support page for Inspiron 2200.

You want the 'User' manual.

Good luck :emotion-21:

realtvater · Answer

When I say 'just for kicks' I am implying that I had no other option with a non-responding hard drive, so I basically tried installing the Windows OS without high hopes of anything happening. But in fact, something did happen. As for the lid, you're right. Duh. I should have known about the power settings and sleep mode, etc. I've dealt with that a few years ago and I guess I just didn't remember to try that, but thank you for reminding me. If I get the chance (a successful installation) I will check into that solution. I thank you for taking the time to respond to my issues, but your step by step recommendation is in fact what I explained above. I had already checked the BIOS boot order, then booted from the OS disc, did the quick reformat, and installed the OS. I was at the desktop, everything had been completed, and so before heading off to work I removed the disc and restarted the computer without the disc and received the 'No bootable devices found.' error once again. I will try this all again tonight, but I am still looking for an explaination and/or possible solution if tonight's attempt is not a success.

realtvater · Answer

UPDATE: Tonight's attempt...I turned on the computer with the Windows disc in the disc drive and Windows booted up and took me to the desktop. I removed the disc and the same thing happened...'No bootable devices found.' I left the disc out and during startup I pressed F12 to get the boot menu. Nothing was listed except the Cardbus NIC and the Onboard NIC. I repeated this again with the disc in the disc drive and this time I got a boot menu that included the Internal Hard Drive and the CD drive. They only seemed to appear when the disc was in the drive AND Windows seemed to only boot up when the disc was in the drive. So I proceeded on to trying to install Windows yet again. I began formatting the hard drive (not Quick Format) to see if I would get that error message again telling me my brand new hard drive is corrupt or damaged and could not continue/finish formatting the rest of the drive. Well, I got that message. I really just don't know what else to do...please help?!

jmartiny80 · Answer

Have the same problem!!! Inspirion 1200 laptop, was getting the "no bottable devices" and the hard drive failed the test. So, common sense replace the hard drive. New one installed, loaded windows everything looked ok... Went to boot the next day, same message~! Although I don't notice a difference weather the disc is in or not.

So I'm thinking the BIOS s/w needs update, well I can't do that because I get an error that both the battery and the AC adapter need to be in for BIOS upgrade, which they are both installed and working ???

So maybe the mother board is shot?

HELP ME ALSO!

Darkschneidr · Answer

You are welcome to try the following:

When that screen comes up, make sure the lights are lit for caps lock, number lock, and scroll lock (if they are not, hit the buttons to turn them on)

Once lit, press the following sequence:

Hold Alt+Tab and press E

Hold Alt+Tab and press F

Hold Alt+Tab and press B

The computer should restart on its own with a reset BIOS. See if it helps at all. If it does not, then there is something else going on that will not be a configurable variable most likely. (ie: hardware failure)

Interesting enough that with the other gentleman's computer it causes a response from the drive when the CD drive is spinning) perhaps it is a problem with the motherboard, stranger things have happened.

jmartiny80 · Answer

Fixed it! THANK YOU!!!!!!! I finally was able to flash a newer bios version too, that should help.

luebke5530 · Answer

i to am having the same problem with my latitude E6400. it was working fine and while using it the hdd became slugish to respond and then it stopped responding completely!!!! i couldnt even use ctrl alt delete so i forced a power down and rebooted. after restarting a message was displayed that said no boot devices found!!! tried reseating the hdd and no good. checked the bios and there was no hdd found, checked the boot sequence and couldnt choose hdd cause the pc didnt see it. ran the on board diags and an error occured when testing the hdd saying that no hdd present. called dell and they said it was the hdd so they are sending me a new one. i removed my old hdd and used an enclosure to plug it in my desktop and test it. it ran just fine. plugged it back into my lappy and amazingly it booted to windows!! now it seems to be working fine although its only been a day since it started working again!! PLEASE ANYONE WITH ANY IDEAS AS TO IF ITS THE HDD OR SOMETHING ELSE FAILING LET ME KNOW. its hard to believe its the hdd when all tests have passed. thanks in advance for any help. luebke5530

jmartiny80 · Answer

I had same problem, changed hdd and everything... Turned out to be the new RAM I installed, didn't think it was since it worked after I put it in. If you changed the ram, put the old back in it and try that.

lmiller467 · Answer

I received this error after stepping on my laptop tonight. I stepped on the left corner..not on the keyboard...with it opened. I checked the BIOS and it said I had no primary hard drive. Could something be disconnected or did I kill it by stepping on it?

Thanks.

ejn63 · Answer

Try reseating the drive (remove and reinstall). If it's then still not found, replace it with a new one. If that doesn't fix the problem, you've likely done more damage - probably to the system board.

kabuke04 · Answer

We bought the Inspiron 2200 from a rental place,it was working ok. Someone had loaded windows xp in it. It finally gave out,when turned on...only the background picture would come up.Decided to replace the hardrive,but like Realtvater I got the same message.

"No boot sector found on internal drive,along with no bootable device found.I tried to load windows 7,hoping my disk could fix the problem.It did try to repair my computer,,but when I rebooted it,,it gave me the same message.The computer didn't come with it's resource cd's.Need help -- anyone???

Kabuke04

ejn63 · Answer

Does the BIOS (F2 at powerup) see the hard drive?

yummyscippy · Answer

I kinda have the same problem ..so I bought a 640 gig SATA internal hard drive for my Dell Inspiron, and BIOS recognizes the Hard Drive at F2 Setup, but it gives a warning saying no hard drive detected or something with the one I think that is busted that came with the Dell that I'm replacing. So, my question to you sir, since my computer didn't come with Vista Disks, but I have the serial sticker on the inside of my battery slot, can I reinstall vista from the microsoft website or is it a lost cause? I can stand losing the hard drive and everything that was on it, but I hate the thought of shelling out another $120 for windows seven because it drives me up the wall.

BTW, I dropped my labtop and it kinda landed vertically on the hard drive side on the ground and the screen closed, so i opened it back up, and it couldn't load windows vista, so I turned it off and back on again and it failed to load vista and just said loading ....then I get the same screen no boot sector on internal disk. On the bright side, I now have a larger hard drive, but I need to know can i get windows legally from their website? TY.

ejn63 · Answer

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/dellcare/en/backupcd_form?c=us&l=en&s=gen&redirect=1

Locked Topics – Laptops General

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