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General discussion

Dell Inspiron desktop boot problem

Nov 23, 2013 5:30AM PST

When I go to start my computer, it goes fine until it goes to boot and then it says no boot device detected. And then it says
Sata0: installed
Sata1: installed
Sata2: not detected
Sata3: not detected

If I go into the boot menu it shows the hard drive on SATA0 and if I select it manually it does boot up. Why won't it boot up normally? Also once it boots doing this manual method it won't let me shut it dow. Just sticks on "windows is shutting down"

Discussion is locked

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There are a lot of causes.
Nov 23, 2013 5:36AM PST

Such as incorrect BIOS settings (try defaults) and a failing HDD.

I can't tell how old but Dell has some diagnostics and my question is do they show what's failed?
bob

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Dell Inspiron desktop boot problem
Nov 25, 2013 7:56PM PST

Hi,
I updated the BIOS, set the default settings and still the same result. I used the Seagate Seatools hard drive software which showed the disk was fine. I also did the Dell diognostics and it showed that everything was good. What I cant understand is why do I get this error message at boot, but if I go into boot menu manually and select the drive it boots up normally ? It is also recognised in the BIOS.

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Re: boot device
Nov 25, 2013 8:29PM PST

What's the list of boot devices in the BIOS?

Kees

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Check the BIOS for boot order
Nov 25, 2013 11:34PM PST

But if all looks well it could be a thankfully rare failing drive. That is, a drive that does not become ready fast enough and a second start works as the drive is now ready.

You won't encounter this one too often but it's what is next to look into after the BIOS settings are checked.
Bob