Dell 6400. Is my mb done for?

JabbaTheHut · 04-02-2012 10:47pm #1

My trusty old Dell Inspiron 6400 is not feeling the best. I got the blue screen of death a couple of days ago. When I rebooted, I'm given the error that there is no bootable devices available. I took out the HD, which the BIOS does not see, and checked it in my PC, and it works fine.
I have noticed that, when it tries to boot up, the harddrive clicks. Very much the same as when you have an external 2.5 hd, with 2 usb plugs on it, with only one plug inserted into the computer. It's like it's not getting enough power.
I've managed to run linux with it, from a usb connection, which makes me think that it's a motherboard problem to the HD.
Perhaps, what I'm really asking is, is it possible that the mb is not giving enough power to power up the hd? And if so, if I open it up, and go about trying to get full power to it, what would I be facing?

unkel · 04-02-2012 11:07pm

JabbaTheHut wrote: »

I've managed to run linux with it, from a usb connection, which makes me think that it's a motherboard problem to the HD

Your clicking hard disk is a sign it is near death. Try and backup your files as soon as possible if you haven't already done so.

The fact you can run linux on a usb stick is almost rock solid proof that your motherboard (and the rest of your laptop) are fine

I've a 6400 too BTW, decent solid old yoke of a laptop!

JabbaTheHut · 05-02-2012 1:06am

I've tried 3 different hd's in it, but they give the same error: no bootable devices available. I did suspect the hd in the beginning, but after the 3 coming up with the same thing, I'm beginning to suspect the power end of the mb. I plugged the hd into my PC again now, and it's still accessible. No clicks. Perfect. I don't mind running linux with the 6400, but I'd love to know if it is a small hardware problem that is solved without too much trouble.

demanufactured · 05-02-2012 11:35am

Sata controller is borked

JabbaTheHut · 05-02-2012 1:45pm

demanufactured wrote: »

Sata controller is borked

On the mb?

demanufactured · 05-02-2012 3:13pm

yes unfortunatly, see if you canget one on ebay

yoyo · 05-02-2012 5:00pm

Yeah sounds like the controllers gone alrite, you could probably get a mobo on ebay for a few quid, good laptops those though

. Typing this on a 5+ year old 9400 Dell :P

Nick

JabbaTheHut · 05-02-2012 7:49pm

Aw ****e. I was afraid of something like that. Looking at ebay and places, they're making the bones of 80-100 euro. Might bide my time, and run an OS from a usb hd, and keep an eye out for a cheaper mb. I don't mind spending the money on it, per say, but it's used motherboards, and I could be in the same boat in another short space of time, having spent 1/2 of what a fully functioning machine is worth.

Oh, and thanks for the help, guys

unkel · 05-02-2012 9:30pm

JabbaTheHut wrote: »

I've tried 3 different hd's in it, but they give the same error: no bootable devices available.

What exactly happened when you stick a different HD in it? I presume you are booting from a windows installation CD / DVD, to format HD and start installing your OS?

U_Fig · 06-02-2012 6:48am

First Of all if you have a big enough USB drive then just use Linux with persistent changes I've been doing that with my old Inspiron 6400 now for ages it has a HDD in it but like Linux runs faster than win 7 so faster to boot it up still going strong.
Btw I'm typing this on a Dell Demension that's pushing 7 years old..

Skerries · 06-02-2012 12:20pm

maybe change the SATA to legacy in the BIOS or reset to default first

JabbaTheHut · 06-02-2012 2:30pm

unkel wrote: »

What exactly happened when you stick a different HD in it? I presume you are booting from a windows installation CD / DVD, to format HD and start installing your OS?

I get "No bootable devices" error with every hd I put in it. The BIOS does not see it either. There's a Dell diagnostics utility that says there is no hard drive present.
I can boot with an installation cd, but can't install because of no hd being seen.
Like I said, I can run linux from a usb, so it means it's something wrong with the section that controls the booting from the hd.

I tried what you said, Skerries, but it's still the same.
U_Fig. I think I'll have to stick with linux as you say.Just need to get used to it now.

unkel · 06-02-2012 3:11pm

JabbaTheHut wrote: »

The BIOS does not see it either. There's a Dell diagnostics utility that says there is no hard drive present.

Aye that's not good, but don't give up just yet. Did you reset the BIOS to factory defaults?

Did you open up the laptop to see is there anything obvious loose near the SATA connector?

U_Fig · 06-02-2012 6:45pm

You'll get used to it quick enough if your not too finish with Linux go for Ubuntu prib the raisers to get running.. Have you tried just playing around with the connectors? I fixed a laptop the other day with a similar problem to urs no hard drive was being seen and it was cause by a slightly loose SATA connector.

JabbaTheHut · 06-02-2012 7:03pm

unkel wrote: »

Aye that's not good, but don't give up just yet. Did you reset the BIOS to factory defaults?

Did you open up the laptop to see is there anything obvious loose near the SATA connector?

Yeah. Opened it up hoping to see something like that, but it's all good. I didn't try the bios factory default yet. I'll try that now.

edit: Bios setting didn't work either. No worries. I'm going to get used to linux, although there's a win7 job out there too. Don't think it'd be running very smooth though.

unkel · 06-02-2012 7:39pm

JabbaTheHut wrote: »

I didn't try the bios factory default yet. I'll try that now.

Please do! Had similar issue with my main PC recently where SATA port 3 didn't recognise any hard disk / optical drive anymore. Restored BIOS and voila it was back in action

I haven't come across hardware problems with SATA connections on laptob mobos before that I remember - let's hope it's still software related...

PrzemoF · 07-02-2012 11:29am

OP, have you tried to play with "hdparm", "fdisk", "lshw -class disk" commands (linux command line)?

That is also a disk utility, depending on the distro you're using, that can provide some diagnostic info - I think it's called "Disk administration" or something similiar.

yoyo · 07-02-2012 11:32am

PrzemoF wrote: »

OP, have you tried to play with "hdparm", "fdisk", "lshw -class disk" commands (linux command line)?

That is also a disk utility, depending on the distro you're using, that can provide some diagnostic info - I think it's called "Disk administration" or something similiar.

Not much use even if the bios isn't detecting the drives, I'd say either the controllers gone or the sata port on the mobo has become dislodged.
A solution that might help the op is that if the DVD drive uses SATA you could somehow use that for a hard disk (sacrificing the DVD drive). I don't know if it would fit though and you would need to make some sort of tray to keep the drive secured

Nick

PrzemoF · 07-02-2012 12:03pm

Hmmmm......
http://www.raymond.cc/forum/hardware/21509-bios-not-detect-hard-disk-linux-live-cd-can-detect.html

yoyo · 07-02-2012 12:05pm

PrzemoF wrote: »

Hmmmm......
http://www.raymond.cc/forum/hardware/21509-bios-not-detect-hard-disk-linux-live-cd-can-detect.html

First I've heard of it, I'd say that must be a bios bug though, but if the controller is broke nothing will detect it!

Nick

PrzemoF · 07-02-2012 12:35pm

Yor're right - if the controller is dead, it's dead. But if you can access the disk using linux it means that it's BIOS/windows fault.

unkel · 07-02-2012 4:17pm

And software fecks up much more often than hardware. And if there is a problem, software is much easier (and cheaper) to fix, although it might take a bit of time

I wonder how the OP got on with his BIOS reset, or even BIOS flash...

JabbaTheHut · 08-02-2012 4:18pm

yoyo wrote: »

Not much use even if the bios isn't detecting the drives, I'd say either the controllers gone or the sata port on the mobo has become dislodged.
A solution that might help the op is that if the DVD drive uses SATA you could somehow use that for a hard disk (sacrificing the DVD drive). I don't know if it would fit though and you would need to make some sort of tray to keep the drive secured

Nick

I though about that, but the drive is PATA.

PrzemoF wrote: »

Yor're right - if the controller is dead, it's dead. But if you can access the disk using linux it means that it's BIOS/windows fault.

I can boot the computer with linux, but haven't been able to find it. Only thing is, I'm not that used to the OS, so maybe spending a bit more time and I'd figure out where exactly I should look for.

unkel wrote: »

And software fecks up much more often than hardware. And if there is a problem, software is much easier (and cheaper) to fix, although it might take a bit of time

I wonder how the OP got on with his BIOS reset, or even BIOS flash...

I edited my post before that. Probably would have been better to have posted a new reply. It's a no go there.

Now, the onlt thing was, I remembered that over the Christmas it gave me trouble. Can't remember what exactly it was, but it had trouble booting. I didn't really get a chance to investigate properly, and when I went about trying to sort it, it was fine. For a month or so, as it turned out.

yoyo · 08-02-2012 7:20pm

JabbaTheHut wrote: »

I though about that, but the drive is PATA.

I can boot the computer with linux, but haven't been able to find it. Only thing is, I'm not that used to the OS, so maybe spending a bit more time and I'd figure out where exactly I should look for.

I edited my post before that. Probably would have been better to have posted a new reply. It's a no go there.

Now, the onlt thing was, I remembered that over the Christmas it gave me trouble. Can't remember what exactly it was, but it had trouble booting. I didn't really get a chance to investigate properly, and when I went about trying to sort it, it was fine. For a month or so, as it turned out.

Ahh thats annoying

. You can get 2.5" PATA to SATA adaptors though cheap enough. If you can boot into linux look under "Places", the hard disk should appear if Linux sees it, alternatively you may need to play around with the commands PrzemoF gave (via terminal)

Nick

unkel · 08-02-2012 8:17pm

JabbaTheHut wrote: »

I edited my post before that. Probably would have been better to have posted a new reply. It's a no go there.

Ah ok I missed that! Did you try both reset of BIOS and flash?

yoyo wrote: »

You can get 2.5" PATA to SATA adaptors though cheap enough.

I bought one the other day for less than €2. There's a bit of space in the hard drive bay where it might very well fit, or alternatively if you take out the DVD drive there'd be loads of room there

JabbaTheHut · 09-02-2012 2:16am

unkel wrote: »

Ah ok I missed that! Did you try both reset of BIOS and flash?

I bought one the other day for less than €2. There's a bit of space in the hard drive bay where it might very well fit, or alternatively if you take out the DVD drive there'd be loads of room there

Didn't try the flash. Since linux is running on it, I didn't want to fk up anything that may render it useless. When the linux is running, the harddrive keeps clicking, so I removed it in case it might finish it off too.

Now. I could easily do without a DVD drive. This is something I could work with. The BIOS can see the drive no problem, and discs boot from it, so it should work, right?

yoyo · 09-02-2012 12:40pm

JabbaTheHut wrote: »

Didn't try the flash. Since linux is running on it, I didn't want to fk up anything that may render it useless. When the linux is running, the harddrive keeps clicking, so I removed it in case it might finish it off too.

Now. I could easily do without a DVD drive. This is something I could work with. The BIOS can see the drive no problem, and discs boot from it, so it should work, right?

The DVD drive will use a different connector to the hard disk, that would only work if both were SATA.
Does Linux actually detect the drive at all? The fact its clicking seems to mean the drive is being operated, but that doesn't mean the controller isn't gone.

Nick

JabbaTheHut · 09-02-2012 8:00pm

yoyo wrote: »

Ahh thats annoying . You can get 2.5" PATA to SATA adaptors though cheap enough. If you can boot into linux look under "Places", the hard disk should appear if Linux sees it, alternatively you may need to play around with the commands PrzemoF gave (via terminal)

Nick

I can't see it listed anywhere. I assume that's not good.

yoyo wrote: »

The DVD drive will use a different connector to the hard disk, that would only work if both were SATA.
Does Linux actually detect the drive at all? The fact its clicking seems to mean the drive is being operated, but that doesn't mean the controller isn't gone.

Nick

As I said earlier, the clicking sound is the same sound that comes from a portable drive that had only one of the two usb connectors connected to it. I know this is not always the case, but when I put the hd into a portable case, and plug just one usb in, that's the sound it makes. With two plugged in, the clicking stops, and I can see the drive fine then in Windows on my Desktop.

I there any way to test the controller itself?

Dell 6400. Is my mb done for?

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