Member Avatar for Schnibs

Hello

after searching on google with my problem this seemed the place to ask.

So yesterday there was a power cut which turned off my computer, so 5 minutes later i go to fire it back up and there is another power cut during the boot up i think.

Now whenever i try to boot it up i get an option to start in variouse safe modes or regular mode but every time it begins loading windows it hits a blue screen. :sad:


If i put the dell resource cd in to repair or reinstall windows it says

setup did not find any hard disk drives installed

(so im guessing its a hard drive problem)

ive also tried to clear the cmos which some1 said to try but with no difference.

Any help would be appreciated

cheers

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Dani AI

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A sudden loss of power can cause either a physical disk fault or the storage controller/boot metadata to become unreadable. already described the system failing to finish startup, and pointed toward checking firmware settings. The useful first distinction is whether the machine’s firmware actually sees the drive (hardware present) or whether the OS/installer simply cannot talk to it (driver/compatibility issue).

Begin with firmware and on-board diagnostics. Reboot into Setup (F2 on most Dells) and look for the drive model in the system information. If present, run Dell’s pre-boot diagnostics from the boot menu (F12) and note any SMART or extended-test errors. If the drive is absent from firmware, power down, disconnect/reseat the drive and SATA/power leads (or remove and reseat the laptop drive), and try a different cable or SATA port before assuming mechanical failure.

If the firmware sees the disk but a repair/reinstall environment does not, try booting from a current USB live environment (Linux or Windows PE) to inspect the disk and run SMART checks. If the installer still shows no disk, temporarily change the SATA mode (AHCI/RAID/IDE) in BIOS or provide the correct storage driver to the installer—older recovery media sometimes lack modern controller drivers. If data is critical, connect the drive to another computer or a USB-SATA adapter to copy files before attempting repairs.

If the drive makes clicking sounds, does not spin, or fails diagnostics, stop further writes and consult professional data-recovery options. For routine failures with a detected but faulty drive, replacing the drive (preferably with an SSD) and restoring from backup is often the fastest fix. For Dell diagnostic tools and guidance see Dell’s support site (https://www.dell.com/support/home).

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Member Avatar for Schnibs

Anybody got any ideas at all?

Member Avatar for dcc

Have you checked in the BIOS to see if the IDE 0 is still enabled? You could also just try clearing the CMOS.

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