Yeah, part of me thinks it's the hard drive, but that doesn't quite explain why it works fine after the system has been on for 10-15 minutes. That characteristic is a bit odd.
Anyway, this morning I get to work, and turn it on, and immediately try to do the CTRL-ALT-D to run their test again. This time, it failed ...
Drive 0: IC25N030ATDA04-0 FAIL 17
So, I rebooted, and tried to let it go to Windows XP. I got the animated Windows Boot Logo (yay.) Then after about 5 seconds, a Blue Screen of Death flashed on the screen for a nanosecond, and the system then reboots.
I sent the results to DELL Email Support. Maybe this will convince them that it's not a Windows or Linux issue (They wouldn't even talk to me about Linux, since I only bought XP Pro with the laptop. I mentioned the ReadSeekErrors I had in Linux, and their response was, "We don't support Linux on that particular machine because you did not purchase it with the system." Even though it was telling me a whole lot more about what was going on, then Windows XP was.)
Now, hopefully, nobody there thinks that running msconfig.exe, to clear startup programs, can take care of this issue (That, along with Disk Cleanup and Defrag, has got to be the most insane suggestion I've received in this entire experience.)
One other thing to try is to pull the fixed optical drive out and see if that cures it - the drive shares the Primary IDE channel with the hdd and if it fails will lock up the bus. It the hdd then works, reseat the fixed optical drive and try again. Also if either drive (fixed optical or hdd) is loose in its connector to the motherboard you will get those error messages.
When I had previously reseated the hard drive, I had replaced the DVD drive with a brand new one. The system continued to display the problem as I have described above.
However, now that I have completely removed the secondary optical drive (DVD drive,) the system boots fine. I didn't bother to reseat the hard drive right away, as I don't like to do two operations between tests, because if the behaviour changes, I can't be sure which operation caused the change. Even though it seemed as though (at the time,) I would not have to reseat the hard drive, I did anyway, and the system still boots ok.
It's nice to have a system I can use, but right now, I consider this system to be operating in a crippled state. (The DVD drive that is new, works fine in another system. I haven't tried the original DVD drive in another system.)
Like I said above, I did try the hard drive reseat suggestion before. Which was before I even contacted Email Support. I'll reply to them again, and let them know my results. However, I fear that they'll only focus on the fact that the system is running now, and will (for some reason) not notice that the optical drive has been completely removed.
EDIT: Removed my complaining. Please accept my apologies.
If the DVD works in another notebook, then it has to be an alignment problem in your 8100 - take great care to line up the carrier in the slot and fully push it back into the opening to firmly seat it. If you also have another fixed optical drive, compare the dimensions of the two as to side to side measurements and also the distance from the front to the connector. You might also consider opening both carriers and swapping the drives to get a carrier that fits better.
Primary hard disk drive not found
Fixed optical drive not found
No bootable devices -- strike F1 to retry boot, F2 for setup utility.
... After turning the system on when it's been off for the last 15-16 hours, sitting on an IT workbench about 2 feet from my desk."
I have this exact same problem on my Inspiron 4150. It started 3 days ago, and every morning there is h*** to pay before the machine finally boots. After this it runs without problems, and I can even shut it down and restart it without any glitches. I am still at a loss of what to do, and seeing as I only have about 4 months left on my warranty I am contemplating some sort of maintainance/repair from dell, if there is anything they can do... What did you settle for?
-FredPed
I'm still going through their latest list of things for me to try.
I'm going through each item twice, and letting it go two days before I try the next thing.
They gave me a list of about 6 or 7 things to try, ranging from resetting BIOS to defaults again, to removing all IDE devices, and re-seating them (again.)
I tried re-seating the DVD drive second, after re-seating hard drive and leaving it for a day or two. So far, it's been working since then. (NOTE: This is NOT the original DVD drive that was shipped with the laptop either. It's a half-height DVD drive taken from an extra PowerEdge 2600 that we had laying around.) I sent them the results after I did that, and they still want me to finish going through the rest of the steps, even though it seems to be working now.
John and Chad,
Thank you for your help and swift replys! I think you are right about the bearings John, there is no problem when the drive heats up. Anyway, after two phonecalls to DELL support, they offered to send me a replacement drive. I found a cheap CDRW to back up my most important data, so now I am just waiting for the new drive to arrive. Again: thank's for your help!
-FredPed
draco,
Yeah, I installed the new harddisk, and - problem solved. I should specify that the error message I received was not the one I quoted... my bad... My error message was something like "hard disk drive 0 failure, no bootable devices" i.e. the computer found my harddrive, it just couldn't get it going until it was heated up... weird thing. Anyway, hope this answers your question:)
-FredPed
Well, after upgrading the firmware on the original DVD-ROM drive and putting it back into the system (after reseating the hard drive for the I-Lost-Count time,) the system was working fine ... until this morning.
Same issue, again. Sent an email to Dell Support, again. Still waiting for a response.
I got a response after 2 days, which was the standard cookie-cutter response of "Please follow the directions outlined below to run the onboard hard drive diagnostics." etc., etc.
So, I've sold this piece of junk. May God have mercy on the soul who bought it.
But, I have one more outstanding issue, of a Customer Care nature, to take care of, before I'm washed completely clean of my "Dell Experience." I ordered a new hard drive about a month ago, during the beginning of this fiasco, when my faith in Dell was still around. For that purchase, I cashed in 5,000 AMEX Membership Rewards Points to get a $50.00 Certificate good towards any Dell Software & Peripherals purchase. Well, I emailed Customer Care, to see if I can get that $50.00 credit put towards a different item that I can use, because I have no use for a 60GB laptop hard drive anymore.
I guess I shouldn't be surprised from the response I just received, but I was. It seems my experiences with Dell are not limited to Technical Support. The infection looks to have spread to Customer Care as well. To coin a Godfather quote, just when I think I'm finally out, they pull me right back in. Anyway, this is what I received:
Thank you for contacting Dell Online Customer Care.
After reviewing your records I show that your order is for a Hard Disk Drive (Order Number 497780594). Please be advised, AMEX gift certificates can ONLY be used toward a new system purchase and not with part purchases. You can use this Gift Certificate with your next Dell system purchase.
If you have any further questions or concerns, please visit the following website to contact us:
[URL for DellCustomerCare here]
Thank you for contacting Dell and have a nice day.
We value you as a Dell customer and your satisfaction is important to us. In our efforts to improve the services we provide, you may receive a survey requesting your feedback pertaining to the level of customer service you received via e-mail. Please take a moment of your time to let us know how we are doing as we also value your feedback.
As XP no longer supports booting from Floppy ( ok so you can find floppy sets out there that will allow it but that is a work around ) the boot sequence normally starts with CD then Floppy then HDD, but you can change the order and the bootable devices, read the speel down the side of the Bios screen.
SO when the computer boots it looks for system files first on the CD , not finding a bootable CD ( like the restore CD ) it then looks to the Floppy ( the diagnostics program if loaded on a floppy set will have the boot files of win 95 on it to allow access without referal to the HDD operating system but only enough to run the Diag's) , if it still cannot find a bootable source, it then looks to the HDD boot sector. This gives you a way in if say your HDD fails, but in saying that you can get into the Bios on boot up by pressing F2 and then change order.
As a foot note be wary of making any changes to you bios screen unless you have too, write down first what the original settings where if you are going to play, but if it isn't broke don't tinker
Whymewhynot
Message Edited by whymewhynot on 11-16-2003 02:01 PM
Falcar
11 Posts
0
September 26th, 2003 05:00
greetar
6 Posts
0
September 26th, 2003 15:00
Yeah, part of me thinks it's the hard drive, but that doesn't quite explain why it works fine after the system has been on for 10-15 minutes. That characteristic is a bit odd.
Anyway, this morning I get to work, and turn it on, and immediately try to do the CTRL-ALT-D to run their test again. This time, it failed ...
Drive 0: IC25N030ATDA04-0 FAIL 17
So, I rebooted, and tried to let it go to Windows XP. I got the animated Windows Boot Logo (yay.) Then after about 5 seconds, a Blue Screen of Death flashed on the screen for a nanosecond, and the system then reboots.
I sent the results to DELL Email Support. Maybe this will convince them that it's not a Windows or Linux issue (They wouldn't even talk to me about Linux, since I only bought XP Pro with the laptop. I mentioned the ReadSeekErrors I had in Linux, and their response was, "We don't support Linux on that particular machine because you did not purchase it with the system." Even though it was telling me a whole lot more about what was going on, then Windows XP was.)
Now, hopefully, nobody there thinks that running msconfig.exe, to clear startup programs, can take care of this issue (That, along with Disk Cleanup and Defrag, has got to be the most insane suggestion I've received in this entire experience.)
Message Edited by greetar on 09-26-2003 11:20 AM
johnallg
2 Intern
•
7.3K Posts
0
September 28th, 2003 02:00
greetar
6 Posts
0
September 29th, 2003 13:00
When I had previously reseated the hard drive, I had replaced the DVD drive with a brand new one. The system continued to display the problem as I have described above.
However, now that I have completely removed the secondary optical drive (DVD drive,) the system boots fine. I didn't bother to reseat the hard drive right away, as I don't like to do two operations between tests, because if the behaviour changes, I can't be sure which operation caused the change. Even though it seemed as though (at the time,) I would not have to reseat the hard drive, I did anyway, and the system still boots ok.
It's nice to have a system I can use, but right now, I consider this system to be operating in a crippled state. (The DVD drive that is new, works fine in another system. I haven't tried the original DVD drive in another system.)
Like I said above, I did try the hard drive reseat suggestion before. Which was before I even contacted Email Support. I'll reply to them again, and let them know my results. However, I fear that they'll only focus on the fact that the system is running now, and will (for some reason) not notice that the optical drive has been completely removed.
EDIT: Removed my complaining. Please accept my apologies.
Anyway, thank you for the help.
Message Edited by greetar on 09-29-2003 09:26 AM
Message Edited by greetar on 09-29-2003 09:37 AM
johnallg
2 Intern
•
7.3K Posts
0
September 30th, 2003 03:00
FredPed
3 Posts
0
October 4th, 2003 19:00
Primary hard disk drive not found
Fixed optical drive not found
No bootable devices -- strike F1 to retry boot, F2 for setup utility.
... After turning the system on when it's been off for the last 15-16 hours, sitting on an IT workbench about 2 feet from my desk."
I have this exact same problem on my Inspiron 4150. It started 3 days ago, and every morning there is h*** to pay before the machine finally boots. After this it runs without problems, and I can even shut it down and restart it without any glitches. I am still at a loss of what to do, and seeing as I only have about 4 months left on my warranty I am contemplating some sort of maintainance/repair from dell, if there is anything they can do... What did you settle for?
-FredPed
johnallg
2 Intern
•
7.3K Posts
0
October 4th, 2003 20:00
greetar
6 Posts
0
October 7th, 2003 19:00
I'm still going through their latest list of things for me to try.
I'm going through each item twice, and letting it go two days before I try the next thing.
They gave me a list of about 6 or 7 things to try, ranging from resetting BIOS to defaults again, to removing all IDE devices, and re-seating them (again.)
I tried re-seating the DVD drive second, after re-seating hard drive and leaving it for a day or two. So far, it's been working since then. (NOTE: This is NOT the original DVD drive that was shipped with the laptop either. It's a half-height DVD drive taken from an extra PowerEdge 2600 that we had laying around.) I sent them the results after I did that, and they still want me to finish going through the rest of the steps, even though it seems to be working now.
FredPed
3 Posts
0
October 10th, 2003 21:00
Thank you for your help and swift replys! I think you are right about the bearings John, there is no problem when the drive heats up. Anyway, after two phonecalls to DELL support, they offered to send me a replacement drive. I found a cheap CDRW to back up my most important data, so now I am just waiting for the new drive to arrive. Again: thank's for your help!
-FredPed
draco1950
2 Posts
0
October 15th, 2003 00:00
FredPed
3 Posts
0
October 17th, 2003 21:00
Yeah, I installed the new harddisk, and - problem solved. I should specify that the error message I received was not the one I quoted... my bad... My error message was something like "hard disk drive 0 failure, no bootable devices" i.e. the computer found my harddrive, it just couldn't get it going until it was heated up... weird thing. Anyway, hope this answers your question:)
-FredPed
greetar
6 Posts
0
October 27th, 2003 13:00
Well, after upgrading the firmware on the original DVD-ROM drive and putting it back into the system (after reseating the hard drive for the I-Lost-Count time,) the system was working fine ... until this morning.
Same issue, again. Sent an email to Dell Support, again. Still waiting for a response.
greetar
6 Posts
0
November 6th, 2003 14:00
Time for closure...
I got a response after 2 days, which was the standard cookie-cutter response of "Please follow the directions outlined below to run the onboard hard drive diagnostics." etc., etc.
So, I've sold this piece of junk. May God have mercy on the soul who bought it.
But, I have one more outstanding issue, of a Customer Care nature, to take care of, before I'm washed completely clean of my "Dell Experience." I ordered a new hard drive about a month ago, during the beginning of this fiasco, when my faith in Dell was still around. For that purchase, I cashed in 5,000 AMEX Membership Rewards Points to get a $50.00 Certificate good towards any Dell Software & Peripherals purchase. Well, I emailed Customer Care, to see if I can get that $50.00 credit put towards a different item that I can use, because I have no use for a 60GB laptop hard drive anymore.
I guess I shouldn't be surprised from the response I just received, but I was. It seems my experiences with Dell are not limited to Technical Support. The infection looks to have spread to Customer Care as well. To coin a Godfather quote, just when I think I'm finally out, they pull me right back in. Anyway, this is what I received:
Thank you for contacting Dell Online Customer Care.
After reviewing your records I show that your order is for a
Hard Disk Drive (Order Number 497780594). Please be advised,
AMEX gift certificates can ONLY be used toward a new system purchase
and not with part purchases. You can use this Gift Certificate
with your next Dell system purchase.
If you have any further questions or concerns, please visit the
following website to contact us:
[URL for DellCustomerCare here]
Thank you for contacting Dell and have a nice day.
We value you as a Dell customer and your satisfaction is important
to us. In our efforts to improve the services we provide, you
may receive a survey requesting your feedback pertaining to the
level of customer service you received via e-mail. Please take
a moment of your time to let us know how we are doing as we also
value your feedback.
oldjim
6 Posts
0
November 16th, 2003 11:00
Greetings...
Reading through this has given me renewed hope, that
" I am not alone...!"...I learned a lot on this thread...We are having the exact same issue...The DELL Spprt experience also...
I took the battery out...so far--so ...
Query: I have become friends with the seven page F-2 World...
BUT...on one page, there is THE BOOT ORDER...
starts with CD/DVD...then...Diskette...thirdly Internal Harddrive...
Would you know WHY it [re]boots in this particular order/sequence...?
All which you have endured, seems completely conguent/identical...
Dell had my wife take out the harddrive yesterday--in my absence...MY!
She is brave...Since then, I have taken it out twice...and BY GOLLY...it IS still there...seriously, this is as Dell coached...
We had the ATI thing--they sent us the Radeon 7500 thingamajig
via net, and was installed...
When we were delting files the whole issue started...feeze-up...
Dell-Support-E-Mail-Ping-Pong...with four tech-persons...
with regard to a "diagnosed" need for a BIOS FLASH...three different
strategies/procedures were provided--all too complicated...
Finally, we went to the phone...He coached me through the flash...We checked out the ATI...supposedly no problem...
enough from me...THANK YOU for taking YOUR time to chronicle what you experienced for others...
oldjim
whymewhynot
2 Intern
•
174 Posts
0
November 16th, 2003 17:00
As XP no longer supports booting from Floppy ( ok so you can find floppy sets out there that will allow it but that is a work around ) the boot sequence normally starts with CD then Floppy then HDD, but you can change the order and the bootable devices, read the speel down the side of the Bios screen.
SO when the computer boots it looks for system files first on the CD , not finding a bootable CD ( like the restore CD ) it then looks to the Floppy ( the diagnostics program if loaded on a floppy set will have the boot files of win 95 on it to allow access without referal to the HDD operating system but only enough to run the Diag's) , if it still cannot find a bootable source, it then looks to the HDD boot sector. This gives you a way in if say your HDD fails, but in saying that you can get into the Bios on boot up by pressing F2 and then change order.
As a foot note be wary of making any changes to you bios screen unless you have too, write down first what the original settings where if you are going to play, but if it isn't broke don't tinker
Whymewhynot
Message Edited by whymewhynot on 11-16-2003 02:01 PM