Dell Inspiron 6000 - internal HDD

[cw100]

Hello, I am new here and came across this forum while googling for tips on getting my Dell Inspiron 6000 fixed. This forum seems very helpful from what i've read and so I thought I should post my problem to see if anyone can suggest a solution to me.

I recently was watching a video file on my laptop when the computer just shut down. When I try to reboot now, I get an error message saying "Internal HDD Hard error! Strike the F1 key to continue, F2 to run the setup utility". When I hit F1 with my windows install disk in the CD-rom drive, I get an error saying that there is no Hard Disk Drive recognized and to make sure that the Hard Drive is powered on, etc.

I thought that maybe my hard drive had died on me so I purchased a new hard drive and it is the same exact problem still occuring. Any tips or links on what I might need to do would be very helpful...Thanks for your time!

 

[hughva]

Most Dells have a diagnostics program (F12 at boot).
Run the tests and see what they say.

 

[cw100]

Thanks for your reply. At boot, my 2 options are:
f2 is setup
f12 is boot menu

When I hit F12 it says "Preparing one-time boot menu" and then the same error occurs on the very next screen....

 

[hughva]

Try F2 and see if the HD is shown in the BIOS.

 

[cw100]

Same thing happens when I hit F2...it takes me to the screen that says
"Internal HDD Hard error. Strike F1 to continue, f2 to run the setup utility"

Then if I hit F1 it says "No bootable devices. Strike F1 to retry boot, F2 for setup utility"

When I am finally able to hit F2 for setup utility, the only thing I see for "BIOS" is says "Bios Version A08 (7-22-2005)" under the system info.

 

[hughva]

You should still be able to get into the BIOS, even without a HD.
Still, you have a problem with the HD and probably need to replace it.

 

[cw100]

I ordered and put in a brand new hard drive and still have the same problem so do you think its a problem with a connection to the hard drive?

 

[hughva]

Have you installed an operating system?

 

[cw100]

I have not installed an operating system on the new hard drive because the dell is not recognizing the drive as being there (same problem as the old hard drive) so it will not allow me to install the operating system. I think there is some short somewhere between the hard drive connection to the computer.

I put the Windows XP CD-rom in the drive and I get to the point of hitting enter to install windows, "r" to repair windows", etc. When I hit enter to install windows I get a message stating that there is no hard drive available to install Windows on and that the laptop will power off in 15 seconds.

Just out of curiosity I plugged my external hard drive that I store music on into the Dell and it gives me the option to install windows on that hard drive and still doesn't read the new hard drive or the old hard drive as existing so it sounds to me like there is a problem somewhere between the internal hard drive and the connection to the computer. Is there a way to either install windows on an external hard drive and boot the laptop up that way? I didn't want to continue with my current external hard drive because I did not want the windows installation to wipe out all the music I have stored on that particular external.

 

[hughva]

Is tis a SATA or PATA drive?
Have you tried connecting it to another controller?

 

[cw100]

I am pretty sure it's a PATA drive and I don't know how to connect it to another controller. help..?

 

[hughva]

This is a laptop, so there's only one controller (My bad).
Try getting into the BIOS again. If you still can't, I'd have to assume some kind of motherboard problem.

 

[cw100]

I got into the bios and listed under device info the following appears as the first line
Primary Hard Drive = {none}

I was also able to run the diagnostics and ran into errors:

START DST SHORT TEST
TEST RESULTS: FAIL
ERROR CODE: 1000-0141
MSG: NO DRIVE DETECTED

the I continued with the diagnostic and got this......

NO DIAGNOSTIC UTILITY PARTITION FOUND. TO RUN DIAGNOSTICS, INSERT YOUR DELL "DRIVERS AND UTILITIES" CD, THEN SELECT OK TO RESTART THE SYSTEM AND BOOT OFF THE CD

Is there some connection problem between the motherboard and the hard drive?
What should I do from here? I still cannot find anyway to load windows on the hdd........

 

[hughva]

I don't know of anything else to do.
If the drive is properly connected and undetectable, part of your motherboard has failed, probably the drive controller.
I'm not 100% confident in this, so maybe someone with better hardware knowledge will join in.

 

[cw100]

Thanks, I appreciate your help!