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General discussion

Dell Inspiron 531 Boot problem

by dws5223 Feb 17, 2010 12:29AM PST

I didn't see a similar thread anywhere, so I figured I would try this before I drag it to a repair shop. My husband tried to get on the internet and it hung up in white screen mode and did nothing. He couldn't turn it off on the tower so he just flipped the power strip switch. Once he did this, when you boot up it gives the Dell picuture, F2 F12 options then gives a message of 'No Boot device available Sata 0 and 1 installed....I try to boot from the utilities disk and also try to reinstall Windows from the disk from Dell and it doesn't show an operating system, nor does it recognize my hard drive. I haven't had any problems with it all before this, so I wouldn't think the hard drive would just die that easily? Don't know for sure but what a waste if so....any ideas? My bios only recognizes my floppy drive and my dvd drive....

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5 Posts
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Similar post at link.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Feb 17, 2010 3:37AM PST
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Dell inspiron 630m Screen problems
by UgMartUganda Feb 22, 2010 5:02AM PST

Hi i run a website and i am constantly on the move. I need a laptop to post busisness on to my directory. So i went out a year ago and bought this dell insp' 630m. Its already broken....the screen is blank and am very disapointed with it. Is there any fix-it-yourself solution to this?

Message was edited by: admin to remove Website link as it is irrelevant to question at hand.

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The Cnet Laptop Troubleshooting forum at link.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Feb 22, 2010 8:35AM PST
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Dell Inspiron 531 will not boot
by kcman01 Oct 15, 2010 10:42PM PDT

I have the exact same problem and would be interested if there is a solution to the problem. Specifics of my problem:
My Dell Inspiron 531 will not boot. It runs on Windows Vista Home Premium 31 bit. I have attempted to reload the operating system
DVD I received with the system but during this process it asks to load the drivers but when I insert the drivers and utilities DVD I received with the system, the response is "does not recognize drivers" so I cannot complete the reloading of the operating system. I don't know if the operating system on the computer is corrupt or the hard drive is the problem and would appreciate any assistance as I am at the end of my rope on this problem. Any suggestions or info on problems Dell has had with the situation would be appreciated.

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Then use the old fashioned way.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Oct 16, 2010 1:18PM PDT

Use your service tag and collect the drivers from Dell.com

Sadly I'm finding many to be unaware of the old install drivers after Windows routine. But do try it.
Bob

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