Error Message on Startup - INSPIRON 1300

Hi all,

All of a sudden, when i try to start up my Dell Inspiron 1300

The device in the system modular bay cannot be identified. It may not be completely inserted or may have some other problem. Please read and complete the following steps in order:

1. Press the device firmly and completely into the bay.
2. Power off the system
3. Press the power button to retry detecting the device.

Press Esc to ignore error and continue.

When I press Esc, it says "no bootable devices - strike F1 to retry boot. F2 for setup utility.

I've tried to reseat the hard drive, as a google search seems to indicate that this is the problem but to no avail.

When I go into BIOS, under device info, it says:

Primary Hard Drive {none}
Modular Bay Device {none}

Can anyone advise as to what's going on????

Thanks

 

Remove the modular bay completely and then turn on the laptop.See what happens then.

 

the modular bay being the cd/dvd rom drive? when i remove this, I get the same error message...

 

Did you remove it before turning the laptop on ?
EDIT : If you have done this, it might be some mobo disconnection or something.I think you might need to call up dell and ask them about the issue.

 

yes i removed it before powering on...still same message. i tried booting from a windows xp disk but still same error therefore think it is a motherboard issue...hope it's not knackered.

question: if I take the harddrive out and put it into an identical spec laptop, will this have any detrimental effect on the second laptop?

 

I don't think so.
For being safe you can try 2.5" HDD enclosure.