Dell INSPIRON 8000- no bootable drive problem...continued

[mk]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

This is regarding the 5 year old INSPIRON 8000 (past the warranty). The
crazy problem is that the Laptop may or may not boot.
When it does not boot up- the message is 'no bootable drives'.
When it boots up- no problem.
For the last 6 days it did not boot.
Last night it booted up. I had the DFT utility (from Hitachi- the TRAVELSTAR
HARD DRIVE ) as a start up disk and I checked and determined that the Hard
disk passed all tests.
When I rebooted after the test- the message is 'no bootable' and the lap top
wouldn't start again.
Is it possible that there is a loose connection someplace which is 'finding'
or 'not finding' the hard drive. If so how to fix it?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

MK wrote:
> This is regarding the 5 year old INSPIRON 8000 (past the warranty). The
> crazy problem is that the Laptop may or may not boot.
> When it does not boot up- the message is 'no bootable drives'.
> When it boots up- no problem.
> For the last 6 days it did not boot.
> Last night it booted up. I had the DFT utility (from Hitachi- the TRAVELSTAR
> HARD DRIVE ) as a start up disk and I checked and determined that the Hard
> disk passed all tests.
> When I rebooted after the test- the message is 'no bootable' and the lap top
> wouldn't start again.
> Is it possible that there is a loose connection someplace which is 'finding'
> or 'not finding' the hard drive. If so how to fix it?

How many years old is this current hard drive? If more
than 3 years and in constant, typical laptop use and
utilization, the hard drive could be failing and one
should be prepared. Other parts that need to be checked
include the seating of all connectors to the HD and the
HD cable. The trouble with random faults is that the
device does pass tests but note that the device cannot
be tested if it cannot start. I'd accept the frequency
of non-boot to indicate good probability of failing.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

The organic entity known as MK communicated the following:

> This is regarding the 5 year old INSPIRON 8000 (past the warranty).
> The crazy problem is that the Laptop may or may not boot.
> When it does not boot up- the message is 'no bootable drives'.
> When it boots up- no problem.
> For the last 6 days it did not boot.
> Last night it booted up. I had the DFT utility (from Hitachi- the
> TRAVELSTAR HARD DRIVE ) as a start up disk and I checked and
> determined that the Hard disk passed all tests.
> When I rebooted after the test- the message is 'no bootable' and the
> lap top wouldn't start again.
> Is it possible that there is a loose connection someplace which is
> 'finding' or 'not finding' the hard drive. If so how to fix it?

If it would have booted from either CD or floppy in the mean time and then
not find the hard disk either, I might believe in a loose connection for
the hard drive. Otherwise my guess would be a faulty motherboard. My guess
is the price of a new motherboard is higher than you would like considering
the price of a new laptop.

Hans

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

The hard drive is not found if i use a boot up floppy.
The CD drive is not found along with the harddrive. As some one said the CD
drive IS a slave drive to the harddrive.
SO- I am puzzled - where is the loose connection?

By the way- the laptop just booted up normally just now.

Question 1: Is there any way to know where would be the loose connection? I
DID check the 'seating of the hard drive (on the hard drive side) and there
seems to be nothing crazy.

Question 2: Is there anyway to diagnose the mother board?
MK

"LaVacheQuiRit" <i.dont.want.spam@xs4all.invalid> wrote in message
news:Xns95395B58A35D12345679x81@195.129.110.73...
> The organic entity known as MK communicated the following:
>
> > This is regarding the 5 year old INSPIRON 8000 (past the warranty).
> > The crazy problem is that the Laptop may or may not boot.
> > When it does not boot up- the message is 'no bootable drives'.
> > When it boots up- no problem.
> > For the last 6 days it did not boot.
> > Last night it booted up. I had the DFT utility (from Hitachi- the
> > TRAVELSTAR HARD DRIVE ) as a start up disk and I checked and
> > determined that the Hard disk passed all tests.
> > When I rebooted after the test- the message is 'no bootable' and the
> > lap top wouldn't start again.
> > Is it possible that there is a loose connection someplace which is
> > 'finding' or 'not finding' the hard drive. If so how to fix it?
>
> If it would have booted from either CD or floppy in the mean time and then
> not find the hard disk either, I might believe in a loose connection for
> the hard drive. Otherwise my guess would be a faulty motherboard. My guess
> is the price of a new motherboard is higher than you would like
considering
> the price of a new laptop.
>
> Hans