Dell Inspiron Mini 910 says no operating system

KiwiHoshi

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Feb 7, 2013
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I received a Dell Inspiron Mini 910 from my dad. It is in good condition, battery works, and it turns on. However upon booting, it says:
PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable.
PXE-M0F: Exiting PXE ROM.
Operating System not found

I made a bootable Windows XP USB, put it in the computer, and tried to boot it...but it doesn't install.

So, I checked BIOS and it says the HDD size is 0MB. I checked the cables in the back of the computer; it doesn't look like anything is look or unscrewed (but I'm just an amateur so I may have missed something.) Is my hard drive just dead? Should I have made a USB boot for the Windows XP reinstallation CD instead?

Please help! Thanks!
 
Solution
Update: Looks like all of the space is there, and that you just lost the partition table or deleted a partition. All 32 GB show up. See if you can boot off a usb drive with that laptop. If so you can then use gparted to create the partition you need to restore your winXP system. http://gparted.org/liveusb.php

Aside - you are hosed when you get this PC working.

When you re-install WINXP from teh recovery media the first thing it will do is try to download all the fixes needed, however Microsoft has removed all winXP service. You can't get even the old fixes. So you cannot update winXP from the recovery media version to any version that can run safely. I ended up with Linux Mint on an old HP computer for exactly this reason...
Does the hard drive show up at all in BIOS? Can you hear the drive spinning up when you turn the tower on? It's okay to have your ear near the drive while you press the power button, just don't get your hair caught up in the fans. Does the drive make a clicking or vibrating noise?
 

KiwiHoshi

Honorable
Feb 7, 2013
16
0
10,510


Uh, I don't know. I'm using a regular laptop to type on here and it's kinda noisy. I walked away with the Mini and I don't hear anything... The hard drive is very small in it, though. I don't even know where the fan is on it...so no worries with my hair! :)

Bios says:
Fixed HDD: STEC PATA 32GB-(PM)
HDD Size: 0MB

Does that help?
 

KiwiHoshi

Honorable
Feb 7, 2013
16
0
10,510


Umm...how would I do that? The drive isn't the typical size. It's a Dell half mini PCI-e drive.

Oh, and I learned from my dad that it had been working fine. Suddenly one day, it wouldn't boot all the way and came up with the "operating system not found" message.

If I try to run Knoppix with TestDisk, would it be able to tell me if the hard drive is dead or fix it somehow? Also, I'm trying to weigh the costs. Does it make sense to spend $30 to $40 for a new drive or take that money and get a tablet? :??:

Update: I put Dell's Reinstallation CD for XP on a USB and tried that. It actually began to run the installation process. HOWEVER, this came up:
LKIkS


 
Update: Looks like all of the space is there, and that you just lost the partition table or deleted a partition. All 32 GB show up. See if you can boot off a usb drive with that laptop. If so you can then use gparted to create the partition you need to restore your winXP system. http://gparted.org/liveusb.php

Aside - you are hosed when you get this PC working.

When you re-install WINXP from teh recovery media the first thing it will do is try to download all the fixes needed, however Microsoft has removed all winXP service. You can't get even the old fixes. So you cannot update winXP from the recovery media version to any version that can run safely. I ended up with Linux Mint on an old HP computer for exactly this reason. Too old to justify the $100 for a new copy of windows, the installed winXP no longer was viable and no way to get from the winXP on the recovery media to an updated WinXP.
 
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