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332
Dell Inspiron fails to find SATA hard disk
Inspiron 3670
I wonder if anyone can help ?
My Dell Inspiron desktop (purchased just over three years ago) failed a few days ago. The DVD drive and Power light flash in normal boot sequence but the SATA hard disk does not spin up. SupportAssist reports that no hard disk is detected .
I removed the HDD, inserted it into a USB/SATA container, connected this to another computer ... and could access the disk and data correctly without problem from that PC. The diags on that computer reported no drive errors and no faults on the disk.
Replaced the HDD in the original machine, rechecked all of the cables were seated well; machine still fails to boot and BIOS reports no drive other than the DVD.
The BIOS logs show no changes since 2020. There have been no hardware changes since purchase.
I am very puzzled, any suggestions ? Possibly a fault in one of the cables unlikely though that sounds ?
dahtb
3 Posts
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February 6th, 2023 05:00
Thanks for the help and advice.
The problem was not, as I thought, the power cable; nor the Data cable. Rather it was the SATA data port on the board. Swapping the data cable to a different port, resulted in everything springing into life. Not sure what caused the original data port to stop working, but there was a spare ... so all is well.
redxps630
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12.4K Posts
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January 31st, 2023 05:00
try replace cmos battery w a new one. When you say SA, do you mean a preboot Dell diagnostic test telling you hdd is detected but has error? If the cable is bad, ePSA would tell you no hdd detected.
dahtb
3 Posts
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January 31st, 2023 06:00
Thanks for the quick reply.
It was pre-boot diagnostic testing - referring the user to SA; apologies. I was trying to type quickly. The "code" I quoted above is incorrect, it should be 2000-0141. "No hard drive detected"
If you just let the PC alone and switch on, the external lights flash as noted and then nothing happens. The SATA HDD does not even spin up.
If however you press F2 and interrupt the initial startup sequence (1) there is only the DVD drive showing on the SATA slots of the displayed config, and (2) if you run hardware diags you get the error message above.
However as proven by moving the disk to another computer, there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the actual disk.
redxps630
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12.4K Posts
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January 31st, 2023 07:00
I can think either the sata port connected to hdd is bad or the sata power/data cable is not good. If you feel no mechanical spin at all of the hdd, suspect power cable issue. 3670 support both 3.5 and 2.5 hdd implying the sata power cable from motherboard has two to three sata power connectors. If so, try the other power connector.