NOW NOT FIXED!! Please help with dead laptop that I really need!!

[Bglad]

I have a Dell Inspiron laptop that has developed the following problem.

When I boot, it goes through the bios boot, then when it goes to access the hard drive it gives me a "drive not available" error. OK, here is what I have tried already:

The drive works. I pulled it out and hooked it to another machine and it works fine.
The drive is recognized by the bios during bios boot and in bios setup.
No errors anywhere other than the one described above.
It will boot just fine to a floppy or to the CD-ROM.
If I boot to a floppy with Partition Magic it sees the drive.
If I boot to a DOS boot disk, I can FDISK and the drive is recognized. I can also then format the drive.
If I boot to a Windows CD, I can format and load windows. But when I reboot, it then gives me a drive not recognized error when going to access the hard drive.
My guess is this must be a bios problem so I tried to update the bios. But I get an error that says "cannot update bios because you already have the latest version". I don't know if it will update an earlier version but Dell doesn't have them up on their site anymore.

This is a work machine and I really need it. Can anyone help with some more ideas to try?

 

[Willoughbyva]

Make sure the bios sees the drive and the bios settings are correct. I'm not to familiar with laptops because I don't have one, but there should be a place in the bios for the hard drive to be setup. Usually just setting it to auto will work.

 

[Bleep]

If I understand right you formatted the drive. Did you set the partition active?

Bleep

 

[Bglad]

Yes, I formatted the drive. But I also used Drive Image to image it back to the way it was. Plus the drive works fine as a boot drive in another machine.

 

[LiLithTecH]

I have seen this similair problem with Inspiron 8100, 8200, 8500.

It is not the BIOS. You are getting past the Bootstrap loader (proved by running in DOS mode).

On the machines I encountered it on, it turned out to be Faulty Ram modules and or just
reseating the ram modules did the trick.

I would have to say a faulty module as you can load to a command prompt but not a Straight GUI prompt
(Windows Install GUI does not count).

 

[Bglad]

Hmmmm. I didn't even consider memory based on the clues but I'll try that Monday morning and post the results.

 

[Bglad]

OK...

This morning I tried by booting with only one of the two sticks of memory installed and tried it in both slots. No errors with either stick or slot and the problem persists.

ARGH!!!!!!

Anyone have any ideas for me?? I'm about to trash the thing as Dell wants $267 paid upfront just to look at it and just shy of $500 if it needs a motherboard. Given the symptoms they could easily decide it is easier for them to replace the mobo and bill me and I couldn't argue.

 

[sunkim50]

OK.. this is a LONNNNG-SHOT but here it is..

After you install Windows 98.. try to then boot of the floppy.. I'm assumming you will be able to see the content of your C drive.

Then from "A" Drive type fdisk /mbr

Maybe.. and a BIG maybe... you're master boot-record is messed with some other boot-loader.

fdisk /mbr will put the Windows 98 boot disk "boot record" on your master boot record.

good luck

 

[WeeWolf]

I agree with Sunkim50 sounds like the mbr to me give that a shot and let us know.

 

[Bglad]

OK I'll try. Don't know how that would have happened. I wasn't screwing with anything when this all happened.

But here is the question. I have a Drive Image backup of this drive. Would the MBR be backed up on the image or is that done when creating the partition? Here is why.

I just ordered a new hard drive from Newegg to see if that solves it... hey I'm grasping at straws now. So, when the new drive gets here, if I image it back from my backup, while I be putting the problem on the new drive?

 

[Bglad]

Oh yeah, and I'm running Windows 2000 with NTFS.

 

[LiLithTecH]

I don't see how it could be the Master Boot Record when
you booted fine in another machine.

The other consideration to think about maybe be the I/O cable
inside the laptop maybe broke or has come unseated (the one from
the mainboard, not the drive carrier)

 

[Bglad]

Thanks for taking the time to try to help me.

I don't see how that could be that either but I'm willing to try anything now to see if I stumble upon a solution.

I'm also skeptical of the i/o cable as it will fdisk, format and load windows. However, to be safe, I ordered a replacement hard drive caddy from Dell along with the new hard drive. Should have it in the next couple of days so I'll probably be quiet until then. Unfortunately I'm not expecting this to solve my problem but I don't know what else to try now short of trashing the darned thing.

 

[Bglad]

By the way, does anyone know where I could get an older bios to see if it will let me "update" to an older bios? This is because it seems like it might be a bios issue and I can't reinstall bios now as it says "Error updating bios. You already have the most recent version". I'm still wondering if the bios could be corrupted and that would fix it.

Alternatively is there a way to force the bios install even though I already have the latest version?

 

[sunkim50]

ohhhh.. had a thought.. maybe you have a virus in your boot sector?

I would make a clean Anti-Virus boot disk and make sure it's write protected and scan that sucker.. haha

 

[Joemonkey]

virus is definitely a possibility!

i would get a write protected disk that has the debug program, and debug the drive...

or easier would be to low level format it

EDIT: Link to how to debug in case you've never done it

 

[Bglad]

OK, I'm going to work on this but still my question. If this is the problem, will that problem be on my backup image file as well? I'm guessing now because I've already taken the image and loaded it onto an old desktop machine I had laying around and it is working fine.

I've never low level formatted before but I should ahve a new hard drive and a new caddy which includes the IDE cable either tomorrow or Friday. I'll just wait for the new drive and see if that works. If the new drive works, then I'll know it is indeed a problem with the old drive. Although if it is, I'm inclined to just throw it out because I was running out of space anyway and I bought the new faster rpm drive to replace it.

But the question still stands, can I image the new drive from my backup if it is a virus? Or do I have to do a fresh install?

 

[Bglad]

Update.

Well I got a new hard drive delivered today and it works! Good news.

Thought I'd post a thanks for the help ideas. I still think its awfully weird that the old hard drive works in every way except it isn't recognized for boot. I've never seen anything like that before.

 

[Bglad]

OK....
I thought it was fixed before because I formatted a new HD with /S, rebooted and it booted from the HD into dos.

This morning, I restored the drive from my Drive Image backup and now it won't boot up. So, I'm thinking either its the motherboard or a virus. But the drive works just fine in two other computers I've tried it in. I'm leannig toward motherboard but... just in case...

How difficult and dangerous is it to do a low level format of the drive? What are the odds there could be a virus that I would have to do that to get rid of?

Thanks for the help.

 

[lo5750ul]

Bglad,

Did you format /s the original hdd? Did the hdd then work? If so did you try installing a vanilla OS from CD rather than from your image? It sounds like your image is corrupt or bad.

Rob

 

[sunkim50]

I agree with the guy above me.. and also i would try to format /s for your old laptop hard drive and see if that works.

It would really suck if it was your image file this who time. I think something may have been imaged wrong.

 

[Ape]

I am thinking it?s a virus. I remember there was a virus around a couple of years ago (can?t remember the name) that would cause your IDE devices to disappear (digitally not physically). To fix, you had to not only perform the FDISK on the hard drive but before you re-boot you need to cut power to the CMOS for a little while (5 to 15 min) because the virus would hide in there as well. Then you can reboot and install. The virus I hope this helps. Ape Out.

 

[Bglad]

Well, I don't have an answer. My backup runs fine in a desktop machine but h/d isn't found if I load it into the laptop. Really weird! Not only did I clear cmos, I completely reloaded the bios!

Well, I got a fresh Win2k installed on a brand new h/d today. Now I'm thinking that backup is not reliable and I better get my files out of it quickly.

Thanks for all the help. Sorry I found a solution but never found the real answer to this one. I'd really like to know myself.