Help with brand new PC

[zorro37]

Dell Inspiron 545, straight out of the box, connect everything up that I need to, and I get

No boot device avaliable, press enter to retry
SATA 0 installed
SATA 1 installed
SATA 4 none
SATA 5 none.

This is all after it loads normally, the blue bar loads full, then this comes up. I can get around on computers but I'm no expert, and one thing I do know is that I hate dell customer service so any help getting this going would be much appreciated cause it has had me stumped all morning and I really need to get it working.

[buzd]

You may need to go into the BIOS (setup) to select the proper boot device. It may be set to CD or IDE.

To get into setup, usually you push F1 or DEL during boot up. If neither of those work, F12 will usually bring up a boot menu that will let you enter setup. You will probably want to set it to SATA 0.

[zorro37]

Originally Posted by buzd

You may need to go into the BIOS (setup) to select the proper boot device. It may be set to CD or IDE.

To get into setup, usually you push F1 or DEL during boot up. If neither of those work, F12 will usually bring up a boot menu that will let you enter setup. You will probably want to set it to SATA 0.

Thanks buzd. I tried this and couldn't find any option to set it to SATA 0, only to set it to hard drive, which I made sure it was. However still getting the same message.

I ran diagnostics and got error 0141, Hard drive not detected, and my service code isn't being recognised to get help on the dell site.

Looks like I'm gonna have to call their foreign support line, last time I did this I was on the phone for an hour and a half and got nowhere, mostly because anytime I told him a letter I had to give him a word that it began with.

[RussTKD]

Have you opened the case and checked the cables to the harddrive? One may have come loose in shipping.

[jrdbrn]

Originally Posted by RussTKD

Have you opened the case and checked the cables to the harddrive? One may have come loose in shipping.

I am thinking this, though it does say
SATA 0 installed
SATA 1 installed

Maybe they forgot to install the OS? Make sure no memory sticks or CDs are plugged/in the computer.

[buzd]

Originally Posted by jrdbrn

I am thinking this, though it does say
SATA 0 installed
SATA 1 installed

Maybe they forgot to install the OS? Make sure no memory sticks or CDs are plugged/in the computer.

Maybe the power isn't connected to one or both of the drives?

[zorro37]

Thanks a lot for the suggestions so far guys.

Don't have anything going into the computer except for the power cable and monitor. I don't really know how to ensure the OS is installed, but I get through the post screen okay with a windows logo, the blue bar loads fully, then the error message.

I opened up the case, and sure enough there are a few things disconnected, but TBH I haven't got half a clue with the case off so I don't know whether these should be connected, or what they should be connected with.

I can't see anything gapingly obvious they should be going to though.

I'm going to get someone to come look at it in the morning probably, so any hints would be awesome and really save me some trouble and probably $$. Here is a pic of what I see and the disconnected things.



I am thinking it is one of those two loose yellow/black/orange/red things as there are a couple of them connected to stuff, and a couple of identical ones lying loose, but I don't know where they'd go?

[buzd]

each hard drive should have a narrow ribbon cable (SATA) and a power connecter attached to it. These can occasionally be difficult to identify with Dell's proprietary configurations.

However, the fact that the windows logo comes up means that the computer is starting to boot. Which means at least one drive is connected. Weird that you are getting a no boot device message after that.

Try hitting F8 (repeatedly) during POST and see if you can get into safe mode.

The pic looks OK to me. Does the second hard drive have a power connector, like P3 in the attached picture?

[zorro37]

Think I've figured out the problem and I'm pretty incensed if so. While I'm not 100% sure, there appears to be a gaping hole of nothing labelled HDD1 that you can barely see in the photo.

From pure common sense, it is telling me SATA 0 installed, and SATA 1 installed. When I open it up and look for the second hard drive as you suggest buzd, it isn't there.

Right at the top of that photo, there is the label HDD0 with the harddrive clearly there underneath it with P3 connected. To the right of that, there is a label saying HDD1, with the space and holders underneath for the harddrive, and a P4 not connected to anything.

Appears to me Dell just plain forgot to put that in there, the computer knows it should be there and is starting off of HDD0 while looking for HDD1, which just plain isn't there.

I'm gonna be super PO'd if this is the case and I have to wait another week for a brand new PC

Or maybe there's only meant to be one hard drive and the PC has it wrong?

[buzd]

It depends what you ordered. Did you order 2 drives or 1 (both are common options these days).

However, it sounds like Windows is installed. Maybe the BIOS is getting confused because it thinks two drives are installed and it's only showing one. Maybe change the BIOS config to tell it that only SATA 0 is installed, and maybe you will have more success.

[Saint77]

If the pc was set up with RAID. (2 or more drives) You will not see any drive options to boot to in the BIOS.

Its quite common for extra loose connectors to be had in a new PC, this allows for add ins or upgrades later.

There will not be anything labaled HDD 0 physically inside the case. dont let that mislead you. In tech speak, HDD 0 is hard disk 1, HDD1 is Disk 2, and so on.

[AndyG]

As far as I can tell from the photo, there are 2 SATA leads plugged into the MoBo, one orange, one blue. The blue is connected to what looks like a hard drive top and centre, the orange one to what looks like a DVD or CD drive top left. Them's your SATA devices, I think.

Were you expecting two hard disks or one, pin addition to the DVD/CD drive?

As others have said, loose leads are one possibility - check the power leads and the SATA leads. The boot options in BIOS are another - try different device sequences. If you have any kind of boot disk or OS install disk, try dropping it in the DVD drive and booting from it and see what you get - the objective is to get enough of an OS up - somehow - so you can see what hardware is working, and hopefully to inspect the HDD and check it has an OS installed. There are linux systems that will boot off a USB stick if you're up for a little experimentation.

I'm not clear exactly what you're seeing during the failed boot - how about posting a few photos? We know you have the capability!

TBH, as it's straight out of the box, I'd be phoning Dell Sales* with my order number, and insisting they have someone from Tech support get back to me pronto (on their phone bill, not mine) to talk me through sorting it out. And they'd have 24 hours before I shoved the lot back in the box and went to cclcomputers instead.


* however busy tech support are, there's *always* a sales guy available. go figure.

[zorro37]

Thanks for the help, I'm not feeling the best either so I've decided to just take the morning off and get this sorted out. I'm about to get cracking at it again as it is frustrating the hell out of me. My previous experiences with Dell customer service has me compelled to do it myself. But the computers themselves have never failed me and I got a pretty good deal on it after looking around so that's why I got this one.

I'm about to look at everything suggested here. I just checked and apparently I overreacted a bit there and took my assumptions too far, I only ordered one hard drive even though I thought I had two. My bad there.

As I said before, I've zero experience with the inside of the computer so all of this is basically alien to me. But like I said, there doesn't appear to be anything missing a connection, just loose ones with nothing to connect to.

Don't have any boot discs to boot an OS from unfortunately, it's Windows 7 btw.

I'll post some photos of the failed boot when I get some camera batteries in the morning but thanks again to all you seemingly pro technicians giving me free help!

[Denzien]

You only have one hard drive according to the photo. As mentioned earlier, you have one (1) SATA Hard Drive and one (1) SATA DVD (Blu-Ray?) Drive.


When you start the computer, look to see if there is a selection for a 'Boot Menu' or similar (usually F8 or F12). This will allow you to explicitly select the drive you want to boot from. Select the Hard Drive (this should be apparent from the names of the devices) and see if it will boot into an operating system.

[buzd]

Originally Posted by Denzien

You only have one hard drive according to the photo. As mentioned earlier, you have one (1) SATA Hard Drive and one (1) SATA DVD (Blu-Ray?) Drive.


When you start the computer, look to see if there is a selection for a 'Boot Menu' or similar (usually F8 or F12). This will allow you to explicitly select the drive you want to boot from. Select the Hard Drive (this should be apparent from the names of the devices) and see if it will boot into an operating system.

The strange part is he says he's getting the Windows logo with the bar, which seems to imply that it's already booting. I don't know how he could get that error after the boot partition has already been found.

TTIUWP (heh).

[Denzien]

Originally Posted by buzd

The strange part is he says he's getting the Windows logo with the bar

Guess I shouldn't have just skimmed the thread

[Denzien]

I'm still puzzling over the fact that he's getting a report for SATA drives 0,1,4,5 but not 2,3. Usually this means that SATA ports 2,3 are configured for RAID...but on top of all of this, I only see 4 SATA ports on the motherboard - not 6. I suppose because it's Dell, it could be a 'special' motherboard configuration...


Also, and this is a long shot, maybe the system in question was configured as a RAID-0 and had all but one of the drives removed at the factory after Windows was installed. Either it was originally configured as a RAID-0 by mistake or the second drive was removed by mistake.

If the remaining drive of a RAID-0 contains the boot sector and if the stripe size is large enough the system will actually be able to attempt booting from the drive and then fail.

[buzd]

Originally Posted by Denzien

Also, and this is a long shot, maybe the system in question was configured as a RAID-0 and had all but one of the drives removed at the factory after Windows was installed. Either it was originally configured as a RAID-0 by mistake or the second drive was removed by mistake.

If the remaining drive of a RAID-0 contains the boot sector and if the stripe size is large enough the system will actually be able to attempt booting from the drive and then fail.

That occurred to me too, but that takes an extraordinary amount of effort to mess that up. Dell is not usually guilty of that.

Could be, though...

[Saint77]

I didnt see the photo earlier for some reason.

That PC looks just like the Dells we have at work. They all have extra loose connectors, so dont worry over that.

Originally Posted by Denzien

You only have one hard drive according to the photo. As mentioned earlier, you have one (1) SATA Hard Drive and one (1) SATA DVD (Blu-Ray?) Drive.


When you start the computer, look to see if there is a selection for a 'Boot Menu' or similar (usually F8 or F12). This will allow you to explicitly select the drive you want to boot from. Select the Hard Drive (this should be apparent from the names of the devices) and see if it will boot into an operating system.

Dells are F12

In fact, if the option is there, I would even suggest testing the drive, or going to the diagnostic partition and testing it there. Just for kicks.

Originally Posted by Denzien

I'm still puzzling over the fact that he's getting a report for SATA drives 0,1,4,5 but not 2,3. Usually this means that SATA ports 2,3 are configured for RAID...but on top of all of this, I only see 4 SATA ports on the motherboard - not 6. I suppose because it's Dell, it could be a 'special' motherboard configuration...


Also, and this is a long shot, maybe the system in question was configured as a RAID-0 and had all but one of the drives removed at the factory after Windows was installed. Either it was originally configured as a RAID-0 by mistake or the second drive was removed by mistake.

If the remaining drive of a RAID-0 contains the boot sector and if the stripe size is large enough the system will actually be able to attempt booting from the drive and then fail.

Our Vostro 220s are just like this one. Its way older though, so I suspect its not one of those. Regardless, im with you here on this...

[zorro37]

Here are some pics I got earlier, with new info.

In order:

1. I press on, Dell POST starts and bar loads fully.


2. Windows logo comes up as if it is starting. (BTW the green line at the bottom of this image isn't on the screen, the camera has done that.)


3. Cuts to this error screen.



*HOWEVER*, I just tried the PC again for the umpteenth time, and now I'm not getting any windows logo anymore, just this error message before cutting to 3.



I got in touch via email with Dell Sales as AndyG suggested, as for some weird reason nowhere on their site will recognize my service tag that you need to get the phone numbers, instant messaging help, and proper online support. They got back saying they received the query and will respond within 24 hours.

[Denzien]

Are you sure you didn't buy this from D3ll?




Check your cables again (unplug/replug) and leave the case open as you turn it on again. Once running (Fail screen or not) touch the hard drive to see if it's vibrating.

I'm afraid your hard drive might be a dud.

[buzd]

Originally Posted by Denzien

Are you sure you didn't buy this from D3ll?

[rsp1218]

After reading through the thread and looking at your problems, I am about 80% sure that your hard drive is corrupt. This can happen during shipping if the system gets banged around or dropped. I would recommend either fighting with Dell for a few hours on the phone or just buying a new hard drive and installing windows on it from the CD they gave you.

[Denzien]

Originally Posted by rsp1218

I am about 80% sure that your hard drive is corrupt. This can happen during shipping if the system gets banged around or dropped.

It would take an extreme case of abuse to damage a modern hard drive...such as dropping the bare drive onto a concrete floor. Other components in the computer would also be badly damaged if damage occurred during shipping.

Zorro: how did the computer's box look? Also, try removing the hard drive and inspect for physical damage in case it was dropped at the assembly plant. (post photos!)

[zorro37]

Everything was totally fine, I checked the box before signing the delivery slip. I really wouldn't feel comfortable removing the hdd although that is obviously where the error lies. And would doing so void the warranty?

It appears this wasn't as straightforward a solve as I first thought, so thanks to everyone who helped/suggested, but it looks like as soon as Dell get back to me I'll just have a shouting match with them until I get a new PC which will probably take a while

[RussTKD]

Originally Posted by zorro37

Everything was totally fine, I checked the box before signing the delivery slip. I really wouldn't feel comfortable removing the hdd although that is obviously where the error lies. And would doing so void the warranty?

It appears this wasn't as straightforward a solve as I first thought, so thanks to everyone who helped/suggested, but it looks like as soon as Dell get back to me I'll just have a shouting match with them until I get a new PC which will probably take a while

Dell's customer service is pretty decent. A failed hard drive in a brand new machine will be quickly remedied, I'm sure.

[Denzien]

Originally Posted by zorro37

I really wouldn't feel comfortable removing the hdd although that is obviously where the error lies. And would doing so void the warranty?

I doubt they could prove you removed it unless they used one of those sticker things.

Removal (should you be interested enough to try) is very simple.

1. unplug the power and the data cables from the back
2. with a #2 Phillips screwdriver (that's the "normal size"), unscrew the four screws that are holding the drive onto that section of sheet metal. You can see two of them at the very top of the photo. (you may want to have your hand underneath the drive for the last screw or two)
3. slide the drive out. That's it.

Re-installation is the reverse of removal, just be sure to put it back the way you got it out or it won't fit

[AndyG]

Isn't it far more likely to be damage sustained in transit than damage to a component pre-assembly? I assume they test the systems before shipping.

I don't think I'd risk removing the HDD - there's little to gain, and (if you damage anything in the process) potentially a lot to lose. Unplug and reconnect leads by all means, but that's as far as I'd go.

[Denzien]

Originally Posted by AndyG

Isn't it far more likely to be damage sustained in transit than damage to a component pre-assembly? I assume they test the systems before shipping.

What I'd like to know about their assembly line is if the system is assembled and then Windows is installed or if Windows is ghosted onto a slew of hard drives using a particular image containing all the possible required drivers and then inserted into the systems. Or something similar.


Otherwise it's just pointless speculation unless the OP is able to determine if the BIOS is configured correctly and that an attempt to reinstall Windows using the supplied disks fails. Sometimes I forget just how comfortable I've become around hardware. I open my workstation too, even though we're supposed to get the 'techs' to install stuff.

[Saint77]

Its almost certainly a ghosted image, and by that I mean all the partitions, hidden and seen. For a few years, the restore partition was Norton Ghost itself, this was true of Gateway, Dell, and a few others smaller companies.

Drives are also susceptible to electrical spikes, temp chances and condensation as well as phsyical beatings. Or it could have just been a bad drive from the git go. I have seen them fail fairly early.

If it were me, I would not touch anything but the phone, and make Dell fix thier stuff.