Dell Vostro "No TPM" problem?

System is not recognizing the HDD, and I am getting the error message on POST that "No TPM or TPM has problem", how can I fix this please?

 

Was this laptop using BitLocker Drive Encryption?

 

No idea, laptop belongs to a friend and she doesn't know

 

Oh, BTW, the BIOS does not recognize the HDD.

 

... and thus have you tried a known working HDD? Or verified that the current HDD is working?

 

Yes, I did BOTH, attached existing HDD as a slave to my main pc and also placed a brand new sealed HDD into the laptop so problem is this TPM issue

 

What model of Vostro is this? Is it actually supposed to have a TPM module or not?

 

Oh sorry, Model is Vostro 1510, I looked in the bios and don't see anything relating to TMP either on the Main or Security pagesor is there another name for it in the BIOS?

 

The specs on Dell's web site say it has a TPM.

The TPM is special hardware on the motherboard which acts like an electronic vault.

If BitLocker Drive Encryption was activated on the laptop, the TPM stores the encryption key pair for the hard drive and it stores a hash for the hard drive boot/system files. Attempts to start/repair the drive can modify the hash, thus making ALL info on the drive permanently inaccessible.

If BLDE was not activated, a motherboard replacement will fix the problem. Some BIOS's support enabling/disabling the Trusted Platform Module.

If the info on the drive needs to be recovered, it might be best to not mess with the laptop, and seek pro IT help.

 

Thanks for the info, I also found this here:

BitLocker Drive Encryption Overview

but isn't there any way to reset this without having to change the motherboard so I use another HDD? Since I don't absolutely need to use the existing drive, is there a way for me to use a new HDD? Myabe updating the BIOS or something?