(Dell Inspiron) No bootable device

CosmicJest said:

Promised update:

I've had no further problems. Thank you to all helpers.

Hi CosmicJest,

Its great to hear that the issue has been resolved. Kindly mark the thread as solved.

If you have any further queries feel free to reach out to us.

CosmicJest said:

I had another hard crash yesterday, while I was performing a backup to an external drive (this is the first time this has happened with any external devices -[besides my mouse] connected to the computer).

The good news is, I figured out (must've missed it before) that in order to run those DOS commands I failed at earlier, I need to be running cmd.exe with elevated privileges. That opens up a whole new playing field!

So, since yesterday's reboot, I've successfully run
SFC /SCANNOW (no errors)
FixMBR (no message upon completion), and
bootrec.exe as requested in this thread and in the manner described here: Use the Bootrec.exe tool in the Windows Recovery Environment to troubleshoot and repair startup issues in Windows, using the /rebuildbcd command.

The last thing in my arsenal is to try the Startup Repair found here:
Startup Repair
if the problem recurs again. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that won't be necessary, but thought I'd keep you all informed.

Hi CosmicJest,

Thanks for the updated information. Please check the system at your convenience and let us know if there are any further issue.

If you have any further queries, please feel free to contact us.

CosmicJest said:

I believe this mis-adventure to be over, a full 5 months after purchasing the computer and nearly 3 months after first asking for help in resolving the unusual spontaneous reboot issue, and after having 2 new hard drives installed. Apparently the original hard drive had critical errors and the 2nd hard drive (both Samsung/Seagate) died 6 days after I received the laptop back from Dell repair.

I don't want to go into further details of the story more than to say it all seems to be resolved now. Since hard drive #3 was installed on Thursday, I have been monitoring the system event log and have seen ZERO errors! Yay! I do believe this (WD) hard drive is healthy and am very hopeful that I experience no further serious issues with this laptop.

Many thanks and kind regards to SandeepP, who stuck by me through the thread and PMs the entire time.

Hi CosmicJest,

Its great to hear system is working fine after the harddrive replacement. Hopefully there should not be any further issues with the system.

If you face any further issues feel free to reach out to me.

I had the exact same issue with one of my computers that I custom built. It took about a year and a half for me to finally figure out that the hard drive was faulty, although you can still store information on it. If this is indeed the same issue, at some point within the next year, the computer will crash more and more often, until the computer will no longer be able to boot. Here is what you will need to do at that time.

WARNING! THE FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS WILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY!
WARNING! THE FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS REQUIRE YOU TO HAVE IN-DEPTH KNOWLEDGE OF THE INNER WORKINGS OF A COMPUTER!
DISCLAIMER: I cannot be held responsible for you breaking your computer if this does not work. You are solely responsible for your own computer.

This solution will use a linux to help repair your computer, but in the end you will have exactly the same OS on your computer that you had before. You may need to reactivate windows when you are finished.


1. Get a new hard drive for your computer that is the same size or larger than the one you currently have. IT MUST BE AT LEAST THE SAME SIZE OR YOU WILL RUN INTO PROBLEMS! The same brand is preferable, but not absolutely necessary.
1.1. Get a blank 2GB or more Flash drive.
1.2. And a computer that you can plug both hard drives into simultaneously. Your desktop should probably do the trick.
1.3. Have a Phillips screwdriver on hand.

2. Find out if you have x86 or an x64 based computer by opening 'system information' on your computer, and write it down.



3.Download and install LiLi USB creator Here
3.1. Download Clonezilla as an iso for the architecture you noted in step 2 here, and note the location

4. Plug the flash drive into your computer, and MAKE SURE IT IS BLANK.
4.1. Use LiLi USB Creator to install Clonezilla onto your flash drive.
4.2. Once Clonezilla is on the flash drive, remove the drive from your computer, and shut down the computer. Remove the battery. Unplug the computer. Press the power button to discharge any remaining power in the computer.
4.3. Turn off the desktop, unplug it, and if the power supply has a power switch, set it to O. Depress the power button to discharge any remaining electricity.

5. Unplug the hard drive from the desktop. (We are doing this to prevent accidents)
5.1. Plug in both the new and old hard drives from the laptop into the desktop.
5.2. Plug the flash drive into a USB port on the desktop.
5.3. Restore power to the desktop, and turn it on.
5.4. Activate the boot menu (usually F12)
5.5. Select the Flash drive as the boot media.

6. Follow the instructions for cloning a disk here

7. Follow step 4.3 again.
7.1. Remove the hard drives from the desktop.
7.2. Put the desktop back the way it was. We are done with it.
7.3. Put the new hard drive in the laptop, and reassemble it.
7.4. Turn your laptop back on. It should boot normally now, if you did everything right.

I have done this several times for various reasons in the past, and it has never failed to work. I even cloned from a HDD to an SSD! Let me know if you have any questions about the process.

Your old Hard Drive will still work for general storage purposes, however, the error it has will prevent it from acting as a master drive (it will not be able to contain a stable operating system)

Good Luck!

kevdlandrig said:

I had the exact same issue with one of my computers that I custom built. It took about a year and a half for me to finally figure out that the hard drive was faulty, although you can still store information on it. If this is indeed the same issue, at some point within the next year, the computer will crash more and more often, until the computer will no longer be able to boot. Here is what you will need to do at that time.

WARNING! THE FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS WILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY!
WARNING! THE FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS REQUIRE YOU TO HAVE IN-DEPTH KNOWLEDGE OF THE INNER WORKINGS OF A COMPUTER!
DISCLAIMER: I cannot be held responsible for you breaking your computer if this does not work. You are solely responsible for your own computer.

This solution will use a linux to help repair your computer, but in the end you will have exactly the same OS on your computer that you had before. You may need to reactivate windows when you are finished.


1. Get a new hard drive for your computer that is the same size or larger than the one you currently have. IT MUST BE AT LEAST THE SAME SIZE OR YOU WILL RUN INTO PROBLEMS! The same brand is preferable, but not absolutely necessary.
1.1. Get a blank 2GB or more Flash drive.
1.2. And a computer that you can plug both hard drives into simultaneously. Your desktop should probably do the trick.
1.3. Have a Phillips screwdriver on hand.

2. Find out if you have x86 or an x64 based computer by opening 'system information' on your computer, and write it down.



3.Download and install LiLi USB creator Here
3.1. Download Clonezilla as an iso for the architecture you noted in step 2 here, and note the location

4. Plug the flash drive into your computer, and MAKE SURE IT IS BLANK.
4.1. Use LiLi USB Creator to install Clonezilla onto your flash drive.
4.2. Once Clonezilla is on the flash drive, remove the drive from your computer, and shut down the computer. Remove the battery. Unplug the computer. Press the power button to discharge any remaining power in the computer.
4.3. Turn off the desktop, unplug it, and if the power supply has a power switch, set it to O. Depress the power button to discharge any remaining electricity.

5. Unplug the hard drive from the desktop. (We are doing this to prevent accidents)
5.1. Plug in both the new and old hard drives from the laptop into the desktop.
5.2. Plug the flash drive into a USB port on the desktop.
5.3. Restore power to the desktop, and turn it on.
5.4. Activate the boot menu (usually F12)
5.5. Select the Flash drive as the boot media.

6. Follow the instructions for cloning a disk here

7. Follow step 4.3 again.
7.1. Remove the hard drives from the desktop.
7.2. Put the desktop back the way it was. We are done with it.
7.3. Put the new hard drive in the laptop, and reassemble it.
7.4. Turn your laptop back on. It should boot normally now, if you did everything right.

I have done this several times for various reasons in the past, and it has never failed to work. I even cloned from a HDD to an SSD! Let me know if you have any questions about the process.

Your old Hard Drive will still work for general storage purposes, however, the error it has will prevent it from acting as a master drive (it will not be able to contain a stable operating system)

Good Luck!

Hi kevdlandrig,

Thanks for sharing these details with us. I am sure it must be useful for other users facing the same situation.