Newb Question about HDD

[scott00049]

I am working on a Dell Inspiron e1505. The boot process produces an error that reads "No bootable devices --strike F1 to retry boot, F2 for setup utility, Press F5 to run onboard diagnostics."

So I run onboard diagnostics and get an error that says "2000-0141". I looked that up in Google and got all kinds of suggestions. I have entered the setup utility and it does not see the HDD. I can boot from a cd/dvd rom drive with a diagnostic cd, but it doesn't test the HDD itself, so I am not sure what to do next. I took the laptop completely apart looking for loose anything and found nothing so I put it back together. I was grounded, just saying . Since I can boot from the cd/dvd, can I rule out the motherboard?

Since I am new at this, but serious about getting my company off the ground, (company???....lol long way to go), I want to say it is the HDD, but I don't want to miss anything and misdiagnose.

Any suggestions? Is it the hard drive?

Thanks,
Scott

 

[phaZed]

Guess you won't know until you either:

1. Take the hard drive out and try it on another system
2. Try a new hard drive

 

[scott00049]

Yeah, I was coming back to say never mind I haven't tried everything yet, but you beat me to it...lol

Told you I was new at this

Thanks,
Scott

 

[coffee]

I learned the first thing you want to do is run the drive manufacturers diagnostic program on the drive and make sure its sound. Then if it is, run a chkdsk on it.

 

[Boston Pro Comp Serv LLC]

I agree you'll want to test it, but you can take it out and use an adapter to connect it to another computer and see if it see's the drive.

 

[Larry Sabo]

I grappled with this problem a few weeks ago and concluded it was the drive. Cloned the drive to a new one and repair-installed; same problem. Offline scanned for malware and found nothing. Installed fresh to the new drive and it installed and ran fine. After setting up the new drive with customer's mail, settings, etc, cloned it to the "problematic" drive and it's been running fine ever since. Beats the hell out of me, so good luck!

 

[Slaters Kustum Machines]

You could also download a copy of Linux, everyone has their favorite. I like Ubuntu, but a lot of people use Puppy. Either way get a copy of one and burn to a disc and boot to Linux and then see if you can access the drive through Linux to see if it is the file system or the drive itself. Chkdsk /f /r might fix it as well. If you determine it is the drive HDD Regenerator might be able to repair the sectors and allow you to copy the data off the drive. I did the exact same thing on a Dell XPS laptop and was able to save all of the customers data. Good luck.

 

[CNS]

I have come across a simular issue which ended up to he an IDE connector. Best bet is to hook up the hdd on a new pc for testing.

 

[scott00049]

I was able to boot the laptop with Hirens. But nothing on there could see the drive. One program maybe saw it, but couldn't get any info from it and it kept saying "drive is corrupted"......I think I'm going to take that as confirmation. I was able to put a known good Hard Drive into the laptop and it saw this hard drive and began the boot process, so I don't think the mobo is the problem. I am going with defective hard drive/unrecoverable, at least with anything I've got..lol.

Anybody disagree with that? Am I not doing enough?

Thanks,
Scott

p.s. I did try putting the bad hard drive on two other computers to no avail, they couldn't see it.

p.s.s. I also tried linux, I could boot to linux mint, but couldn't get onto the hard drive or use fsck.

p.s.s.s......just kidding lol thats all

 

[Rosco]

if you have done all that. your right it got to be the hard drive. trust your instincts! you will find your grove!

 

[Xander]

I'm going to take the other side of that ^ coin and say, "Don't trust your instincts until you know that you have instincts." Get enough of these under your belt and you'll get a better, faster feel for what's causing these problems. Yes, most of the time an undetected drive is, itself, the cause of the problems but you'll find that you develop a pattern/rhythm soon enough for your diagnostics.

Most of the time, your fastest diagnostic method is substituting a "known good" device. If that device gets recognized, that (usually) will narrow down your remaining problems significantly.

 

[Rosco]

nice addition ehousecall

 

[scott00049]

Thanks everybody for the advice. It was the hard drive...yaayy. Customer is happy.

Thanks,
Scott