# "No Boot Device Available" Help.



## Milopez (Jul 9, 2008)

I've been running Vista Home Premium for about 4 months, and everything was working fine until this morning. Firefox suddenly froze up, and when I tried ctrl+shift+esc to end process my computer continued to follow suit and eventually the screen froze. It stayed like this for several minutes so I unfortunately did a manual reset by holding the power button down. When my computer booted back up it went to the normal "DELL" screen. Then it goes black and I am presented with this-

No Boot Device Available
SATA 0: Installed
SATA 1: Installed
SATA 2: None
SATA 3: None

Any help at all would be appreciated. I would list my specs but have no idea how to access them once the computer wont boot up.


----------



## Dunedin (Jul 19, 2007)

Hello Milopez 

Try running a Startup Repair

.


----------



## Milopez (Jul 9, 2008)

Thanks for the suggestion. I did find that somewhere and attempted it but had problems with step:

"6. Select the operating system you want to repair, and then click Next."

I cant exactly find my operation system because no operating systems are listed, and when I click load drivers I cant find it.


----------



## Dunedin (Jul 19, 2007)

Are you offered any drivers at all?

If you are just click them all

.


----------



## Milopez (Jul 9, 2008)

I get this option








when I click load drivers I get this screen








then i click ok








and i get this.

I can't find a driver to load from.


----------



## Dunedin (Jul 19, 2007)

It looks like the hard drive is not being recognised.

Run the Dell Diagnostics in this article

.


----------



## Milopez (Jul 9, 2008)

This is a little discouraging because even the most basic steps I can't get. 
When I reboot my computer and hit F12 as the directions state I get this screen:








I see no option called "Hard Drive Diagnostics" for me to select. Maybe I'm just missing a step or something.

Anyways the continued help is appreciated.


----------



## Dunedin (Jul 19, 2007)

I think you should run other diagnostics on the hard drive then.

http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287

If you don't know the make of hard drive Hitachi Drive Fitness Test will work with any make.

.


----------



## Milopez (Jul 9, 2008)

Dunedin said:


> I think you should run other diagnostics on the hard drive then.
> 
> http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287
> 
> ...


So need to download the cd image and burn it to a cd and boot from that?


----------



## Dunedin (Jul 19, 2007)

Yes exactly, download the CD image to burn.

.


----------



## Milopez (Jul 9, 2008)

Sorry about the delayed response. I ran the tool, and I receive this message.


----------



## Dunedin (Jul 19, 2007)

Read this and see if it helps

.


----------



## aceknight (Jul 30, 2008)

i have this very same problem currently, i ran a diagnostic and it came out with error code 0x70

can you tell me if that means anythingto you?


----------



## Dunedin (Jul 19, 2007)

Hello aceknight 

That code means there are bad sectors on your hard drive.

Read this. Page 28

If you have data you need to save you should slave the drive in another machine to copy it off before doing this

.


----------



## dellhell (Jul 30, 2008)

:wave:

I'm having the same exact problem as MiLopez, but the computer I'm on right now can't burn CDs/DVDs so your solution of downloading from Here won't help. Is there anything I can do? :sigh:


----------



## aceknight (Jul 30, 2008)

Um, hitachi is telling me it can't erase the sector, it isn't compadable or something. Also, erasing the whole drive will NOT get rid of all my necessary processes right? like my computer wont suddenly be a pile of metal?

edit: i checked the list of other DTF orDUT or w/e but i dont know where to findmy machine's number.


----------



## Dunedin (Jul 19, 2007)

*dellhell*

The drive is suspect here and the only way to check it properly is by running these diagnostics. I don`t know any other way.

Can you not use another machine which can burn a CD for you?

*aceknight*

Erasing the whole drive will wipe out XP and all your files.
If you need to rescue data slave the drive in another machine and try to access your files that way.

If you need more help with this try posting in the Hardware forum and tell them all you have done so far. You may have to get a new hard drive I`m afraid

.


----------



## aceknight (Jul 30, 2008)

okay,i dont need any of thedata particularly, most of my stuff is on a flash drive. But does this meen i'm goingg to have to spring $200 for a new operating sysatem, or is a new hard drive the ONLY way to recover my machine after a full erase? ps- going to work now, i'll be back in 4-5 hours


----------



## Dunedin (Jul 19, 2007)

You should not have to buy a new operating system. You should have been supplied with a way to reinstall Vista when you bought the machine.

So, if the erase fixes the drive you will just have to reinstall Vista on it.

It the drive cannot be fixed, you will have to buy a new one if it is out of warranty and install your copy of Vista on it.

When you get back I will be in bed :smile:

.


----------



## dellhell (Jul 30, 2008)

I called Dell, and its turns out it was a faulty hard drive.
thankfully it was still under warranty so they are sending a new hd. Hopefully i can still retrieve my data from the old hard drive.

Thank you for the reply.


----------



## Dunedin (Jul 19, 2007)

Good news that Dell will replace the drive for you :smile:

Good luck with the data recovery.

.


----------

