Member Avatar for SortOfaTechnie

Hi Guys,

I have a DELL OPTIPLEX 745 and I accidentally pulled out my Graphics card while my computer was on and it crashed. It wouldn't switch on, the HDD was just making a slight noise and then it stops. Eventually it was switching on but was giving an error that says, " Boot device A, could not be found, Press F1 to try again and F2 to enter setup". if I pressed F1 then it wouldn't boot up. When I go into the Bios, under the Drives TAB, it shows that SATA Drive A is not present.So I then re-installed my operating system ( Windows 7 ) and it still does the same thing but now it gives me an option to Press F12 and then i can select to Boot from the HDD and then it loads my OS. Can someone help me to fix it so that it starts up normally or reset the Bios or something like that?

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by sandyvong

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Good troubleshooting by — finding the drive on the correct onboard port is the key detail others missed. A drive that will boot only when explicitly chosen from F12 but is not listed as the BIOS “default” usually means one of three things: a loose/failed cable or power connector, the SATA port/controller is being mapped differently by the BIOS, or the drive (or its controller) is becoming intermittent after the hardware fault. Back up critical data first while the disk is still accessible.

Practical next steps (in order):

  • Power down, unplug, touch the chassis to discharge static, then reseat the drive’s SATA and power connectors and the GPU. Try a different SATA cable and a different motherboard SATA port if available.
  • Run the system vendor diagnostics (Dell’s preboot diagnostics via F12) and the drive manufacturer’s diagnostic tool to check SMART and surface health.
  • Clear CMOS to reset BIOS device mappings (power off, unplug, remove coin cell for 30s or use the motherboard clear-jumper), then re-enter BIOS and confirm the correct physical drive is selected as the primary boot device.
  • If the problem persists, swap the drive into another machine or test a known-good drive in this machine to isolate drive vs. motherboard/SATA controller failure.

About reflashing the BIOS: is right that BIOS reflashes are sometimes suggested, but they carry risk. Try the hardware/CMOS checks and diagnostics first. If you do update the BIOS, use Dell’s official package and follow their instructions exactly. ’s point about verifying the boot device is valid — just be sure you’re selecting the actual physical port the drive uses, not a generic “SATA A” entry.

Short checklist:

  • Backup now.
  • Reseat/swap SATA cable and power lead.
  • Run Dell preboot diagnostics + SMART tests.
  • Clear CMOS; verify boot order and physical port.
  • Replace cable/drive or consult service if controller/motherboard is failing.

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Member Avatar for NathanOliver

Sounds like you might need to re flash your bios.

Member Avatar for SortOfaTechnie

I have actually figured it out myself but thank you guys for taking interest in my post. The system had selected the default HDD, which is the SATA on board A drive but in the Bios it's written " not present ",. The actual drive is the SATA0 Drive and when I selected that as the primary drive in the Bios, all is good

Member Avatar for sandyvong

you have to reinstall bios and put the first boot device as Hard disk

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