internal hard disk drive not found?!?

Question

I have a Dell laptop, it's a couple of months old, and it's giving this error message

Internal hard disk drive not found to resolve this issue, try to reseat the drive. No Bootable devices--strike F1 to retry boot, f2, enter setup menu, f5 enter PSA.

It's dell inspiron 15 Windows 8

Before it actually crashed I always heard like a ticking noise, a split second noise that happened every once in a while, like metal hitting metal, but it was only a split second

I tried to 'reseat' the harddrive, twice. No luck.

Please help, and also if it isn't fixable I would love some links to buy a new harddrive. I have no idea what harddrive the laptop needs.

Answer 1

You should generally avoid moving or bumping any computer much while it is on or move it very carefully if you must move it (unless it only has a solid state drive). Hearing a little snick from a drive occasionally could have been a head hitting a platter or ticking could have been it repeatedly trying to reread a bad spot. Neither is a good sign.



Did you buy it used? If it is a new Dell less than a year old, you should be able to get a warranty replacement drive right from Dell. I just hope you wrote the recovery DVD's to restore it to factory fresh if you have an issue after the warranty expires. Because while a warranty replacement drive should come with the OS installed, the Recovery partition may be empty. Or at least 5 years ago when I had trouble verifying those recovery DVD's they sent me a new hard drive to use in case that was the problem and the Recovery partition on the replacement drive was empty. Although, I think I imaged the Recovery partition before I sent the other drive back because somehow I put that on the replacement drive.



If it is a used laptop out of warranty you could get most any laptop SATA drive of the capacity you think you might need or is on sale. If you do not have recovery DVD's to restore the OS, you may be able to order them from Dell.

Answer 2

take the hard rive out completely then plug it back in and replace the cover , if it has a caddy reseat the connector from the caddy to the drive , you can buy sata laptop drives almost anywhere look on newegg but at 2 months old it is under warranty so call or e-mail dell first

Answer 3

If you bought this laptop new you should have a minimum of one year of support so contact Dell Tech support - http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19?c=&l=&s= and see what warranty options you have. You may be able to get the laptop repaired at no charge.

Answer 4

DO NOT mess with it → contact Dell Support. Have your Service Tag number handy.



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