Jake Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 I've got an old Dell Latitude C640 laptop which my dog has jumped on (don't ask). When he did this it BSOD'd and when rebooted it says: Primary Hard Disk Drive 0 Not Found No bootable devices--strike F1 to retry I took the cover (about 6"x4") off the back expecting to find the hard disk but it's not there. Do I have to split the whole thing open to get at the Hard Disk or what? I searched for a Dell c640 service manual but couldn't find a free one for download. Any ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Posted March 14, 2007 Author Share Posted March 14, 2007 Nevermind, I found it. http://support.euro.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/latc640/sm_en/hdd.htm#999504 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 It pops out of the side of the machine I believe, left hand side near the back - probably one screw holding it in, will come out with the black plastic trim piece attached. Like this: http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/latc600/sm_html/remove.htm#1000337 Edit: Too slow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Posted March 14, 2007 Author Share Posted March 14, 2007 Well I got the HD out and refitted it but it's still dead Excuse me while I go and kick the dog Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carl0s Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 oops. hard drives don't like being nudged whilst reading/writing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jezz Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 Does BIOS find the drive Jake? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Posted March 14, 2007 Author Share Posted March 14, 2007 Does BIOS find the drive Jake? Nope. What does that indicate? I could buy another HD but I dunno if the problem is the HD or something inside the laptop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carl0s Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 You could do with a 2.5" -> 3.5" adapter cable so you can try the drive in a desktop PC. The message you quoted before is from the BIOS - so it's not finding the drive. That indicated that either the drive is fooked, or the controller, or the little edge-connector that they fit onto them, or something else on the same channel is fooked (CDROM drive ?) but most likely a dead drive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jezz Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 Nope. What does that indicate? I could buy another HD but I dunno if the problem is the HD or something inside the laptop. If BIOS doesnt even recognise there's a hard drive there, its lost its (??cant remember the term??). Mine did this and there is a way to retrieve it, but when it finally rebooted i had lost most of the info on the drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pot Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 Jake, if you get really stuck, I may be able to help, Dell are one of my companies major suppliers, so I can pass your problem onto the guys who deal with them, and see if they slip your issue in... Worth a try if all else fails... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jezz Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 I've remembered the technical term for the similar sounding problem i had. Sounds like your drive's lost its 'master boot record'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 I've remembered the technical term for the similar sounding problem i had. Sounds like your drive's lost its 'master boot record'. The Primary HDD Not Found error implies it can't find the drive at all, let alone look for an MBR. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest gzaerojon Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 my money's on the bios, i think the battery has come loose (even for a second) and has returned to default settings. go though the settings and make sure everything is correct like 1st boot device is c drive and that the drive is showing up ok. i can always take a look if you get stuck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jezz Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 The Primary HDD Not Found error implies it can't find the drive at all, let alone look for an MBR. Mine said the same. Couldnt even find the drive in bios. Once the MBR was restored though, i had access to the drive again, just with 50% of the info that was on there was corrupt. I binned it in the end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Posted March 14, 2007 Author Share Posted March 14, 2007 go though the settings and make sure everything is correct like 1st boot device is c drive and that the drive is showing up ok. It's not showing in the BIOS, it's as if there is no HD fitted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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