Hard drive failure? "No boot filename recieved... operating system not found"

[joe marley]

Hello everybody,
Thanks for listening to my woes. Last night I was using my Dell laptop which is 4 years old, and I heard some clicking sounds. I listened to the clicking sounds under the hard drive failure stickied post and none of them were a close match, but somewhat similar to the first two labeled "Head Damage." It almost sounds like the motor starts spinning, a pin drops and bounces on it, the motor slows down, and then it stops. My computer sometimes runs extremely loudly (even when I'm not using it), I always thought this was the fan but maybe it has been the hard drive motor experiencing some trouble? Anyways, I heard this new click sound a few times, and after a few minutes I got a message saying the computer would have to be restarted.

After restarting, I get a black screen with some info on it. I am now stuck at this screen and can't get past it, I can only restart from there. I wrote down what it says exactly in case this makes any sense to any of you:

Broadcom UNDI, PXE-2.1 (build 082) v1.0.4
Copyright (C) 2000-2002 Broadcom Corporation
Copyright (C) 1992-2000 Intel Corporation
All rights reserved.
Intel Base-Code, PXE-2.1 (build 082)
Copyright (C) 1997-2000 Intel Corporation

CLIENT MAC ADDR: OO OB DB 9D C5 6C GUIP:[here there is a row of 33 numbers with a few letters mixed in]
PXE-E52: No boot filename recieved

PXE-MOF: Exiting Broadcom PXE ROM.
Operating System not found

[END] So, does this mean that my hard drive is fried? What could have happened? Is there any chance of recovering all my files? Thank you in advance for your time and consideration.

[d0rkz]

when you start your computer you should get a splashscreen with the computer company's logo on it. if you hit f10 at this screen it should bring you into diagnostics. try running diagnostics on the drive and see if you get any errors.

[photolady]

Boot the computer and press F2 as soon as you see the Dell logo. This will take you into setup, from there find Boot, Boot priority or similar. Check to see what the computer is booting from to start with. It's probably set to boot from something like this "PXE-E52" If it is, change it to boot to your Harddrive as first boot device.

What's happening is, for some reason this LAN device gets set to boot the computer. You never boot from LAN. If after you change it, the computer still won't boot properly, then you need to run diagnostics as mentioned above.

[joe marley]

dOrkz: I tried hitting F10 and it brought me to the same screen I described before.

photolady: I got into setup, but it says its booting from the hard drive already. I didn't even see PXE-E52 as an option. The one option I didnt recognize (besides CD-Rom, floppy drive, etc.) was the Onboard NIC. I don't know what this thing is but I tried booting from that with no luck.

What does this mean? Is this thing screwed? Should I take it in to a professional to see if I can save any of my stuff? Thank you all again for your time and help, it means a lot to me. Take care and keep it up!

[joe marley]

Hello again,

I've been reading up in some of the other threads, including "Need help recovering data from dead HD" [http://www.cybertechhelp.com/forums/....php?t=120826]
and I'm still trying to figure out if I can save my data before replacing the hard drive?

On another note, does anyone have any suggestions for info on replacing an internal hard drive on a laptop? Thank you again!

[photolady]

What is the model number on your Dell? Dell usually has the info on swapping your old drive for a new one.

It is not hard to do, and most anyone can do this. Basically, it's removing one then just plugging it back into the laptop. There is no jumpers to set or cables to insert like in a desktop.

As for recovery the data, that depends on the structure of the dead drive. Whether the drive is completely unreadable, data can't be saved without paying lots of money to someone for data recovery.

Now if you want to try this yourself, you would need an external USB enclosure which you place your old drive into, then transfer data to the new one after it is installed.

[Rich M]

If the drive is dead, it less likely will run in a usb enclosure as a drive has to be reals strong to do that. Stick the drive into freezer in zip loc bag for 4 hours and then pull out and attach to one of these converters better to an ide drive in a desktop and if you can see it. If you do copy real quickly as you don't have much time.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...2797&CatId=470

[joe marley]

I've looked into replacement internal hard drives for my Dell Inspiron 5100, and the cheapest Ive found is a 40gig CMS (I dont know if this is a decent brand or not either...) for around $160. I don't know if this much is worth investing in a computer thats over 3 years old and has been having some problems recently, such as this hard drive nonesence. I do happen to have an 80 gig external already that connects via USB, and I was wondering, would it be possible to use this as my only hard drive? I'm not sure how I would reinstall Windows, does anyone know if this is possible?

Thanks again for your advice! You guys are the only people Im getting any help from right now.

[Rich M]

Should be about $65, where are you looking?

[photolady]

That's what I thought too. Last 40gb Western Digital 2.5" drive I bought for a customer was only $70. Newegg has a western digital 60gb for less than $70 that will work for your laptop.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822144375

Your external won't work to boot windows from what I've read about this.

[joe marley]

WOW - I love you guys. Thanks so much. I found that one on the Dell site based off of what exact Dell I had, and didn't really know what else would work. Im almost broke right now so this is a great news. Thank you again.

[photolady]

I figured you were quoting Dell's prices. Usually, those from the manufacturer are double what you would pay anywhere else for the same exact thing.

And you're welcome.

[Metr01973]

I've just fixed my brothers laptop that was experiencing almost the exact same error message and problems you described. I'm afraid the only way to fix my brothers was a new hard drive. As soon as I put in the new HD and turned the laptop on all the error messages had gone and I was able to use his recovery disks and now he has a completely working laptop. I bought a Toshiba 80gb 4200rpm HD from Novatech (UK) and it cost me about £55 with P&P.

[joe marley]

Hello Everyone,
With the help of the people above, I was able to replace my dead hard drive with a new, affordable one. Thanks!! I reinstalled XP and moved on. Occasionally, though, I'd get the same message I used to get about "no boot file name found" or "operating system not found." I found that by Pressing F2 upon start, entering BIOS, and choosing to load the Default Settings and Exit, then Restarting, that XP would boot up normally and I would have no more problems. That trick was working fine whenever I needed it to until about a week ago, when is just stopped altogether. Now I get the same problems over and over again. The messages are generally the same:
"PXE - E53: No boot filename received.
PXE - MOF: Exiting Broadcom PXE Rom
Operating system not found."
I found that when I unplugged my ethernet cable, it sometimes acknowledged this in the restart, saying "Cable unplugged" or something along those lines, and then the same messages as above. I've messed around with the different BIOS settings several times, enabling and disabling devices, etc. to no avail. Any suggestions? I'm so frustrated I'm considering just reinstalling Windows if I can find a copy. Please help!! Thank you in advance for your time and help.

[photolady]

Go back to your F2, one in the BIOS, look for the boot sequence or boot order, and do the same thing I told you above, make sure the computer is set to boot from cd rom first and then the hdd. Check for those entries I mentioned above also and disable them. If that doesn't work, then I'm at a loss to tell you what is causing this unless it's the IDE controller inside the laptop.