No Boot Device Available

4250 Views 5 Replies 3 Participants Last post by spunk.funk, Mar 15, 2011

ProFrog

Discussion Starter · Mar 13, 2011

(Sorry if this is the wrong section for this, I wasn't entirely sure)

I have a Dell Optiplex GX260 series desktop. The other day my mom was using it, and she doesn't have a clue how to use a computer. While doing SOMETHING, I don't know what, she accidentally unplugged it. Now when I try to turn it on, it gives me the message "No boot device available-strike F1 to retry boot, F2 for setup utility." When I press either of those keys, nothing happens. I've tried downloading Ultimate Boot CD for WIndows on to a DVD from another PC, but I wasn't exactly sure what files to put on it, the original .exe file, or one of the files that that file would install, I tried the .exe file, and nothing happened. I tried one of the files that it installed that was an Application, still nothing. So I transferred all the files from the installation onto the DVD, but still when I put the disk into the nonfunctional PC, nothing changed. I've tried changing the settings so that the computer looks for bootable devices in the CD-Drive first, still nothing. I've heard that reinstalling the OS (Windows XP in my case) should work, but once again I feel I wouldn't know which files to use. Am I doing this wrong and using the wrong files/procedure, or am I taking an entirely wrong approach? Also, is this problem due to something my mom did or would it have happened the next time I turned off my computer anyway? Lastly, does this mean that my hard drive is on its way out? Thank you, any answers are appreciated.

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Falador

· #2 · Mar 13, 2011

It could be that the hard drive "took a hit" from the unplugging of the computer, and has bad sectors.

In my opinion, a good start would be to boot from your Windows XP CD and going to the Recovery Console (press R on the "Welcome To Setup" screen). The Recovery Console is basically a command prompt interface with tools to recover your Windows XP. In the Recovery Console type "chkdsk /r" (without the quotes). This will check your hard drive for errors and fix them, if possible. When it is done (may take a while), type "exit" and the computer will restart. See if the error returns after that.
If chkdsk finishes very quickly, or doesn't reach 100%, it may be a sign of hard drive failure.

A word of caution: if the hard drive is already singing its "swan song", running chkdsk may cause data loss. It never happened to me, but I know that there is a chance.

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ProFrog

Discussion Starter · #3 · Mar 13, 2011

I don't actually have a Windows XP CD. I got the PC used.

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spunk.funk

· #4 · Mar 13, 2011

UBCD4Win you can load an XP CD files or you can leave it as is. In the first window under Media Output, make sure you choose Create ISO image (name it whatever you want) Then burn the image to a CD using IMGBurn. On the troubled computer, press F12 at bootup and choose CD rom as First Boot Device. Put in the newly created UBCD4win CD and boot the computer. You should see the message Press Any Key to Boot From CD IN UBCD go the Command Prompt icon and type in chdsk C: /R and press enter. The Check Disk utility will try and fix any file errors.

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ProFrog

Discussion Starter · #5 · Mar 14, 2011

Wait, so which files from UBCD4Win do I burn to the disk? (Thanks for the help by the way).

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spunk.funk

· #6 · Mar 15, 2011

spunk.funk said:
UBCD4Win you can leave it as is. In the first window of the UBCD4WCB ,under Media Output, make sure you choose Create ISO image (name it whatever you want) Then burn the image to a CD using IMGBurn. On the troubled computer, press F12 at bootup and choose CD rom as First Boot Device. Put in the newly created UBCD4win CD and boot the computer. You should see the message Press Any Key to Boot From CD IN UBCD go the Command Prompt icon and type in chdsk C: /R and press enter. The Check Disk utility will try and fix any file errors.

See attached photo. After selecting Create ISO image, press the Build button.

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No Boot Device Available

ProFrog

Falador

ProFrog

spunk.funk

ProFrog

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