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General discussion

inspiron 1100 hard disk failure

Feb 5, 2006 6:38PM PST

hello,
i have a dell inspiron 1100.i tried to format my hard disk and reinstall the existing operatin system(windows xp home edition.).when i tried to boot the system it is saying that
primary hard disk drive 0 falied
No bootable devices-- strike F1to retry boot, F2 for setup and untility following a beep beep sound.
when i try to reboot using F1 it is showing the same.

when i entered BIOS it is notshowing the hard drive.
it is showing in the field
Primary Hard Drive :none.

when i try to format the hard disk using the os cd it is not able to format.

my opinin is that my hard drive is crashed as it is not recognized in BIOS and not able to be formatted.
but iam not sure of the hard disk failure.

please help me in this regard.
thanks.

my notebook details are here.

DELL
Model: INSPIRON 1100
BIOS Version A28.
intel pentium 4 2.40 GHz
Modem controller Broadcom plaris.

Discussion is locked

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I can't tell if you replaced the drive.
Feb 5, 2006 9:11PM PST

It's about 100 bucks of a drive from geeks.com or newegg.com and in my opinion cheaper than a new laptop or a trip to the service counter.

If you are looking to verify that the drive is dead, the test is to put in a new drive or take the drive out and put it into another machine. Some may find that revolting but this is how its done.

Bob

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thanks
Feb 6, 2006 12:46AM PST

hi thanks for the response..

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I have the exact same problem
Feb 21, 2006 1:03AM PST

hello,
I have the exact same problem with a 1100. Before the reinstall I could access the hard disk with no problems. I am in touch with dell support and this is there suggestion for the moment.

"1.Run the Drive Short Test from the PSA diagnostics and obtain the error code.

The PSA diagnostics contain the Drive Short Test (DST). To launch the PSA sequence and run the DST, perform the following steps:

Press and hold the <Fn> key, and then press the power button to power the system on.
Release both buttons.
The PSA diagnostics sequence begins.
Follow any on-screen instructions.
Record the sequence of beeps and/or make note of any error codes that may appear."

I will let you know if I get a solution back from Dell. You might let me know if you find one. Tim

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NON-DECTECTION OF HARD DISK BY BIOS - RUNNING OF DST
Jul 2, 2011 11:54PM PDT

Hi Abhijay Chopra,

I had the similar problem in not finding my new segate Hard disk not being detected by Bios of my Dell Inspiron 1100. But I was really glad to see your suggestion of rectifying or detecting the error by running DST. Since I was not aware of this and remained in confusion to what was wrong in the system; your suggestion came as a solution to see what went wrong and the follow up action I would intimate to you later. thank you very much Mr.chopra !

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Might try/see the Dell Forum
Jul 3, 2011 12:39AM PDT