Laptop that 'forgets' it has a Hard Drive

[NAHA]

Hi, I have a new laptop (that I'm about to send back to DELL I think!)

When it first arrived 3 weeks ago it was fine for a few days.
It then decided that it did not have a hard drive (most of the time). It would start the BOIS process - crawl through that & then ask me if I wanted to boot from floppy or NIC.
(complaining that it didn't have an HDD or CD)

It did occasionally boot OK. DELL sent an engineer who eventually replaced the motherboard - great I thought - sorted.

Next day - exactly the same symptoms.

I'm now thinking HDD or power supply issues. Well actually I'm thinking DELL can have the darn thing back - but I'd still love to know what's wrong with it!

I know in a desktop the HDD & CD are often on the same cable so if you lose the HDD it can 'hide' the CD. Is it the same on a laptop where both HDD & CD plug straight into the M/board?


When it does boot it will do so repeatedly & vica versa. Also if I can get to the HDD the diagnostics on it look fine!

Anyone know the answer to this bizarre problem?

 

[BuckeyeComputers]

Still under warranty..send it back
as far as being on the same "cable" or ide channel i do not believe they are never really watched on boot up or check the bios too see how they are set up...but on a few compaq laptops i have taken apart there is no cable just directly plugged into the board...I would just have it exchanged being that new

 

[pudda]

If you are the curious type, call your tech support at Dell. These are typically very sturdy systems and just returning the laptop may not give you a feeling of satisfaction. Have never run into the same problem with Dells, always something different than the last, which indicates to me that the hardware they use is usually the culprit and not entirely Dell itself.
Just my comments...

The test continues...

 

[NAHA]

Hi,
BuckeyeComputers - Yes they do plug straight into the mobo (as per my post) - I'm just not sure if the mobo may be configured/wired so that they act as if they are on an ide cable - I wouldn't think so but it might explain why the CD disappears when the HDD does.

pudda - I've been speaking to DELL tech support - they seem baffled - even had a new mobo fitted - no joy!

 

[jonhiker]

I would send it back to Dell. There is some problem that you could be chasing your tail trying to fix. It's under warranty, take advantage of the warrenty.