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Boot screen shows hard disk drive not found. this problem occurs when hard disk is installed in computer. how do I troubleshoot this problem? How to fix dell laptop not reading hard drive?



1. Device Manager Scan

If the notebook has 2 hard drives and can't find the second hard drive.The laptop did not recognize the hard disk.




  • Then we can use the device manager to observe whether the hard disk can be detected in windows.
  • Right click on the computer and select Device Manager.
  • Click the "disk drive" option,
  • Expand the disk drive option to see if there are any disks you have connected to.
  • Right mouse button on the disk drive, select Scan to detect hardware changes,
  • After the scan is successful, the disk drive will be connected.


2. Earlier Version Windows

When you install an earlier version of Windows on a drive that will be the boot drive, the drive may not be detected. You may need to update the drivers for your computer's storage controller.


3. If the BIOS cannot detect the hard drive,

there are usually these reasons:

The hard disk is not installed correctly. At this time, the first thing we need to do is to check whether the data cable and power cable of the hard disk are properly installed. In general, it may be that the hard disk is not detected when it is not properly placed.

1) Unpack the computer case and find the hard disk;

2) Change the data cable of the hard disk, the power interface is seen whether it is inserted;

3) Re-install and then start the test;

4) Try using a new hard drive and a new data cable.


4. Damaged hard drive

Remove the hard drive from your laptop and use it as a secondary drive on another computer to see if it can work.

Physical damage to the hard disk or IDE interface. You can connect the hard drive to another computer and try to detect it. If it is a new hard drive, check the pin configuration on the back of the hard drive.


5. The jumper settings on the drive are incorrect

If your laptop has dual hard drives installed, you need to set one of them as the master hard drive and the other as the slave hard drive slave. If both are set to the primary hard disk or both are set to the secondary hard disk, connect the two hard disks to the IDE slot of the motherboard with one data cable. At this time, the BIOS cannot detect your hard disk.


6. Hard drive failure and can't not recognized


6.1. The hard disk is physically damaged.

Solution: There is also a possibility that the hard disk is damaged and the computer cannot detect the hard disk. At this time, it needs to be repaired or replaced. It should be noted that if there is important data in the hard disk, you should go to the reputable data recovery company to recover the data and then send it to the factory for repair.

Check hard drive bad sectors

Preparation Tools: Beta version of the HD Tune software.


In the software running interface, click the "Error Scan" tab,then click the "Start" button to start scanning.

1) The scan result will be directly displayed in the box on the left. If it is green, it means pass, and red means there is physical bad track (that is, the hard disk is faulty).

Reminder: The general host has only one physical hard disk. By default, there is no need to select a hard disk. If there are other hard drives that need to be detected, you can select different hard drive models through the drop-down menu and then click “Start” to scan.



In addition: the test results provided by the HD Tune can only be used for reference. If you need further confirmation, you need to contact the service station.

2) If the scan results are all green, the hard disk does not have a sector with physical bad sectors. So, you can consider checking the hard drive data cable, power cord is loose?
You can try to re-plug the connection test to see if the fault is repaired.


6.2. The hard drive data cable and power cable are loose, oxidized or broken.

Try changing the power connector, data cable or IDE SATA interface.



6.3. Some motherboards have the SATA interface turned off by default.Therefore, after we load the BIOS default settings, the SATA hard disk will not be found.

Just enter the BIOS and open the SATA interface. Because different motherboard settings are different, please refer to the motherboard manual for modification.


6.4. Poor contact caused by oxidation on the metal interface of the back-circuit board after long-term use of the hard disk.

You need to remove the circuit board to remove the oxide on the metal.It is recommended to find a professional maintenance personnel to help cleanup.


The above tips for troubleshooting dell diagnostics hard drive not installed. If you still have a problem with your notebook and need laptop repair part, please leave a message below.




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