Machine is a Dell Inspiron 2-in-1 13-7353 laptop, purchased June 7,
2016. It's running Windows 10.
It's my wife's machine, so I'm not terribly familiar with it, but it's
been running fine since purchased, and updates automatically.
Today, it wouldn't boot, saying that no bootable devices were found.
Oh, o!
I suspect that the hard drive is dead.
I did an F12 to enter the boot menu, and it shows:
UEFI On
Secure Boot On
PTT is Off
(I turned PTT back on in the Advanced Setting>Security.)
If I go to Boot sequence, all it shows is UEFI, and there is no boot option...no Windows Boot Manager
Other options that are available are:
BIOS Flash Update (no thanks at this point, and don't think relevant
to problem solving)
Diagnostics, I did and shows no hardware issues
Change Boot Mode Settings (doesn't seem relevant)
System information (F12) shows:
Dell Inspiron 13-7353
8 GB memory
i3-6100
Storage shows:
Primary SATA
Type 128 GB HDD 2.5 inch
Device ID SanDisk 2400S 2.57mm 128GB
The specs show this is an SDD:
https://dl.dell.com/Manuals/all- products/esuprt_laptop/esuprt_inspiron_laptop/inspiron-13-7353- laptop_Reference%20Guide_en-us.pdf
The service manual tells me how to remove/replace the hard drive:
https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-us/Inspiron-13-7353- laptop/Inspiron-13-7353-laptop/inspiron-13-7000-series-service-manual? guid=guid-5b8de7b7-879f-45a4-88e0-732155904029&lang=en-us
I'm out of town and don't have the tools to do the procedure at this
time, and won't for a week or so.
What I'm wondering is if there's any other thing I can try to remedy
this, or an I screwed? That is, do I need to replace the hard drive
(SSD)? I have no image of the drive to restore.
Does it sound like the drive is kaput?
TIA
Machine is a Dell Inspiron 2-in-1 13-7353 laptop, purchased June 7, 2016. It's running Windows 10.
It's my wife's machine, so I'm not terribly familiar with it, but it's
been running fine since purchased, and updates automatically.
Today, it wouldn't boot, saying that no bootable devices were found. Oh,
o!
I suspect that the hard drive is dead.
I did an F12 to enter the boot menu, and it shows:
UEFI On
Secure Boot On
PTT is Off
(I turned PTT back on in the Advanced Setting>Security.)
If I go to Boot sequence, all it shows is UEFI, and there is no boot option...no Windows Boot Manager
Other options that are available are:
BIOS Flash Update (no thanks at this point, and don't think relevant to problem solving)
Diagnostics, I did and shows no hardware issues
Change Boot Mode Settings (doesn't seem relevant)
System information (F12) shows:
Dell Inspiron 13-7353
8 GB memory
i3-6100
Storage shows:
Primary SATA
Type 128 GB HDD 2.5 inch
Device ID SanDisk 2400S 2.57mm 128GB
The specs show this is an SDD:
https://dl.dell.com/Manuals/all- products/esuprt_laptop/esuprt_inspiron_laptop/inspiron-13-7353- laptop_Reference%20Guide_en-us.pdf
The service manual tells me how to remove/replace the hard drive:
https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-us/Inspiron-13-7353- laptop/Inspiron-13-7353-laptop/inspiron-13-7000-series-service-manual? guid=guid-5b8de7b7-879f-45a4-88e0-732155904029&lang=en-us
I'm out of town and don't have the tools to do the procedure at this
time, and won't for a week or so.
What I'm wondering is if there's any other thing I can try to remedy
this, or an I screwed? That is, do I need to replace the hard drive
(SSD)? I have no image of the drive to restore.
Does it sound like the drive is kaput?
TIA
The service manual tells me how to remove/replace the hard drive:
https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-us/Inspiron-13-7353- laptop/Inspiron-13-7353-laptop/inspiron-13-7000-series-service-manual? guid=guid-5b8de7b7-879f-45a4-88e0-732155904029&lang=en-us
I'm out of town and don't have the tools to do the procedure at this
time, and won't for a week or so.
What I'm wondering is if there's any other thing I can try to remedy
this, or an I screwed? That is, do I need to replace the hard drive
(SSD)? I have no image of the drive to restore.
Does it sound like the drive is kaput?
Machine is a Dell Inspiron 2-in-1 13-7353 laptop, purchased June 7, 2016. It's running Windows 10.
It's my wife's machine, so I'm not terribly familiar with it, but it's
been running fine since purchased, and updates automatically.
Today, it wouldn't boot, saying that no bootable devices were found. Oh,
o!
I suspect that the hard drive is dead.
I did an F12 to enter the boot menu, and it shows:
UEFI On
Secure Boot On
PTT is Off
(I turned PTT back on in the Advanced Setting>Security.)
If I go to Boot sequence, all it shows is UEFI, and there is no boot option...no Windows Boot Manager
Other options that are available are:
BIOS Flash Update (no thanks at this point, and don't think relevant to problem solving)
Diagnostics, I did and shows no hardware issues
Change Boot Mode Settings (doesn't seem relevant)
System information (F12) shows:
Dell Inspiron 13-7353
8 GB memory
i3-6100
Storage shows:
Primary SATA
Type 128 GB HDD 2.5 inch
Device ID SanDisk 2400S 2.57mm 128GB
The specs show this is an SDD:
https://dl.dell.com/Manuals/all- products/esuprt_laptop/esuprt_inspiron_laptop/inspiron-13-7353- laptop_Reference%20Guide_en-us.pdf
The service manual tells me how to remove/replace the hard drive:
https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-us/Inspiron-13-7353- laptop/Inspiron-13-7353-laptop/inspiron-13-7000-series-service-manual? guid=guid-5b8de7b7-879f-45a4-88e0-732155904029&lang=en-us
I'm out of town and don't have the tools to do the procedure at this
time, and won't for a week or so.
What I'm wondering is if there's any other thing I can try to remedy
this, or an I screwed? That is, do I need to replace the hard drive
(SSD)? I have no image of the drive to restore.
Does it sound like the drive is kaput?
TIA
Boris wrote:
[snip]
The service manual tells me how to remove/replace the hard drive:
https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-us/Inspiron-13-7353-
laptop/Inspiron-13-7353-laptop/inspiron-13-7000-series-service-manual?
guid=guid-5b8de7b7-879f-45a4-88e0-732155904029&lang=en-us
I'm out of town and don't have the tools to do the procedure at this
time, and won't for a week or so.
What I'm wondering is if there's any other thing I can try to remedy
this, or an I screwed? That is, do I need to replace the hard drive
(SSD)? I have no image of the drive to restore.
Does it sound like the drive is kaput?
I take it the errors are not being reported by your wife, rather you have the machine in your possession and you are "out of town"?
From which I conclude that it has been moved about - perhaps quite roughly.
The message "no bootable devices found" probably indicates that the SSD is dead. BUT, given the possible recent rough handling, perhaps it has simply become unplugged?
Given that the most likely scenario is that the SSD has died, you could order a replacement now, so it will be waiting for you at home for your return.
You may be able to order a recovery image from Dell, by quoting the tag number. It might be supplied as a CD, or USB stick. The lesson for the future is always make a recovery image as soon as you get any new PC.
On 7/9/25 9:21 PM, Boris wrote:
Machine is a Dell Inspiron 2-in-1 13-7353 laptop, purchased June 7, 2016.
It's running Windows 10.
It's my wife's machine, so I'm not terribly familiar with it, but
it's
been running fine since purchased, and updates automatically.
Today, it wouldn't boot, saying that no bootable devices were found.
Oh,
o!
I suspect that the hard drive is dead.
I did an F12 to enter the boot menu, and it shows:
UEFI On
Secure Boot On
PTT is Off
(I turned PTT back on in the Advanced Setting>Security.)
If I go to Boot sequence, all it shows is UEFI, and there is no boot
option...no Windows Boot Manager
Other options that are available are:
BIOS Flash Update (no thanks at this point, and don't think relevant to
problem solving)
Diagnostics, I did and shows no hardware issues
Change Boot Mode Settings (doesn't seem relevant)
System information (F12) shows:
Dell Inspiron 13-7353
8 GB memory
i3-6100
Storage shows:
Primary SATA
Type 128 GB HDD 2.5 inch
Device ID SanDisk 2400S 2.57mm 128GB
The specs show this is an SDD:
https://dl.dell.com/Manuals/all-
products/esuprt_laptop/esuprt_inspiron_laptop/inspiron-13-7353-
laptop_Reference%20Guide_en-us.pdf
The service manual tells me how to remove/replace the hard drive:
https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-us/Inspiron-13-7353-
laptop/Inspiron-13-7353-laptop/inspiron-13-7000-series-service-manual?
guid=guid-5b8de7b7-879f-45a4-88e0-732155904029&lang=en-us
I'm out of town and don't have the tools to do the procedure at this
time, and won't for a week or so.
What I'm wondering is if there's any other thing I can try to remedy
this, or an I screwed? That is, do I need to replace the hard drive
(SSD)? I have no image of the drive to restore.
Does it sound like the drive is kaput?
TIA
I see this a lot. 95% of the time is is the CMOS battery
(usually a 2032). Pull your power plug before changing it.
Make sure you have no static charge on you. (Put one hand
on the case's bare metal whilst changing the battery.)
You will have to set up bios up again.
5% of the time it is something drastic.
https://drivesaversdatarecovery.com/
can recover your drive for you
-T
Well, one test would be to attempt to boot off a USB stick.
Depending on what you have at the moment on USB sticks.
On 2025-07-10 09:30, Paul wrote:
Well, one test would be to attempt to boot off a USB stick.
Depending on what you have at the moment on USB sticks.
I would vote for this first.
You can avoid links breaking by enclosing them within angle brackets,
like this: <>
<https://dl.dell.com/Manuals/all-products/esuprt_laptop/ esuprt_inspiron_laptop/inspiron-13-7353-laptop_Reference%20Guide_en-us.pdf>
On 07/10/2025 6:47 AM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-07-10 09:30, Paul wrote:The machine is six years old, and is running Windows 10. You are about
Well, one test would be to attempt to boot off a USB stick.
Depending on what you have at the moment on USB sticks.
I would vote for this first.
to spend time and money to get it running again. At that age even if running it will probably not upgrade to Windows 11.
It would be my recommendation that rather that spending a lot of time
and money that the machine be replaced.
One I had the new machine, I would remove the hard drive form the old computer, buy a USB hard drive enclosure and transfer the files to theYou're now talking about _data_ files rather than the OS, I presume (I'm guessing you're _not_ suggesting trying to install the OS from the old
new computer. In my experience, just because the drive will not boot,
that does not mean that the data can not be read from it.
On 07/10/2025 6:47 AM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-07-10 09:30, Paul wrote:The machine is six years old, and is running Windows 10. You are about
Well, one test would be to attempt to boot off a USB stick.
Depending on what you have at the moment on USB sticks.
I would vote for this first.
to spend time and money to get it running again. At that age even if
running it will probably not upgrade to Windows 11.
It would be my recommendation that rather that spending a lot of time
and money that the machine be replaced.
One I had the new machine, I would remove the hard drive form the old >computer, buy a USB hard drive enclosure and transfer the files to the
new computer. In my experience, just because the drive will not boot,
that does not mean that the data can not be read from it.
On 7/9/25 9:21 PM, Boris wrote:
Machine is a Dell Inspiron 2-in-1 13-7353 laptop, purchased June 7, 2016.
It's running Windows 10.
It's my wife's machine, so I'm not terribly familiar with it, but it's
been running fine since purchased, and updates automatically.
Today, it wouldn't boot, saying that no bootable devices were found. Oh,
o!
I suspect that the hard drive is dead.
I did an F12 to enter the boot menu, and it shows:
UEFI On
Secure Boot On
PTT is Off
(I turned PTT back on in the Advanced Setting>Security.)
If I go to Boot sequence, all it shows is UEFI, and there is no boot
option...no Windows Boot Manager
Other options that are available are:
BIOS Flash Update (no thanks at this point, and don't think relevant to
problem solving)
Diagnostics, I did and shows no hardware issues
Change Boot Mode Settings (doesn't seem relevant)
System information (F12) shows:
Dell Inspiron 13-7353
8 GB memory
i3-6100
Storage shows:
Primary SATA
Type 128 GB HDD 2.5 inch
Device ID SanDisk 2400S 2.57mm 128GB
The specs show this is an SDD:
https://dl.dell.com/Manuals/all-
products/esuprt_laptop/esuprt_inspiron_laptop/inspiron-13-7353-
laptop_Reference%20Guide_en-us.pdf
The service manual tells me how to remove/replace the hard drive:
https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-us/Inspiron-13-7353-
laptop/Inspiron-13-7353-laptop/inspiron-13-7000-series-service-manual?
guid=guid-5b8de7b7-879f-45a4-88e0-732155904029&lang=en-us
I'm out of town and don't have the tools to do the procedure at this
time, and won't for a week or so.
What I'm wondering is if there's any other thing I can try to remedy
this, or an I screwed? That is, do I need to replace the hard drive
(SSD)? I have no image of the drive to restore.
Does it sound like the drive is kaput?
TIA
I see this a lot. 95% of the time is is the CMOS battery
(usually a 2032). Pull your power plug before changing it.
Make sure you have no static charge on you. (Put one hand
on the case's bare metal whilst changing the battery.)
You will have to set up bios up again.
5% of the time it is something drastic.
https://drivesaversdatarecovery.com/
can recover your drive for you
-T
On 2025/7/10 8:27:12, Graham J wrote:
[]
You can avoid links breaking by enclosing them within angle brackets,Doesn't always work -some news clients don't recognise the <>, and/or
like this: <>
<https://dl.dell.com/Manuals/all-products/esuprt_laptop/
esuprt_inspiron_laptop/inspiron-13-7353-laptop_Reference%20Guide_en-
us.pdf>
mangle the link. To my surprose my Thunderbird _does_ recognise it as a
link in your post (it has coloured _both_ lines blue), as I thought Thunderbird was one of the less-capable clients in this respect; whether
it still appears as a link (both lines) in my quote of it above, I'll
have to see when this my post comes back.
Only posting here to say that, rather than an enclosure, I'd get a
connector or even a dock, or a double dock. Enclosures end up being
like a external drive kit, and used only for one drive, to turn a bare
drive into an external drive. Too much trouble when you want to connect
a different drive. But a connector or dock can used for multiple
drives just by unplugging and plugging
I too remember 10 or 20 years ago getting a "no boot drive" message when nothing serious was wrong. I don't think it was the BIOS battery but
I'm sorry to say I don't remeber what it was.
On 07/10/2025 6:47 AM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-07-10 09:30, Paul wrote:The machine is six years old, and is running Windows 10. You are
Well, one test would be to attempt to boot off a USB stick.
Depending on what you have at the moment on USB sticks.
I would vote for this first.
about to spend time and money to get it running again. At that age
even if running it will probably not upgrade to Windows 11.
It would be my recommendation that rather that spending a lot of time and money that the machine be replaced.
One I had the new machine, I would remove the hard drive form the old computer,
buy a USB hard drive enclosure and transfer the files to the new computer.
In my experience, just because the drive will not boot, that does not mean that the data can not be read from it.
On 2025-07-10 14:46, micky wrote:
Only posting here to say that, rather than an enclosure, I'd get a
connector or even a dock, or a double dock. Enclosures end up being
like a external drive kit, and used only for one drive, to turn a bare
drive into an external drive. Too much trouble when you want to connect
a different drive. But a connector or dock can used for multiple
drives just by unplugging and plugging
I partitioned a disk the other day in a Conceptronics dock. The partitioned disk was unreadable on its final destination, because on the Conceptronics is is seen as having a 2KB physical and logical sector, while elsewhere it has a 512 b logical sector.
Beware.
In message <104nu59$d6kr$1@dont-email.me>, T <T@invalid.invalid> writesbattery, as I'm terribly maladroit when it comes to doing anything hardware-related.)
On 7/9/25 9:21 PM, Boris wrote:
Machine is a Dell Inspiron 2-in-1 13-7353 laptop, purchased June 7, 2016. >>> It's running Windows 10.
It's my wife's machine, so I'm not terribly familiar with it, but it's >>> been running fine since purchased, and updates automatically.
Today, it wouldn't boot, saying that no bootable devices were found. Oh, >>> o!
I suspect that the hard drive is dead.
I did an F12 to enter the boot menu, and it shows:
UEFI On
Secure Boot On
PTT is Off
(I turned PTT back on in the Advanced Setting>Security.)
If I go to Boot sequence, all it shows is UEFI, and there is no boot
option...no Windows Boot Manager
Other options that are available are:
BIOS Flash Update (no thanks at this point, and don't think relevant to
problem solving)
Diagnostics, I did and shows no hardware issues
Change Boot Mode Settings (doesn't seem relevant)
System information (F12) shows:
Dell Inspiron 13-7353
8 GB memory
i3-6100
Storage shows:
Primary SATA
Type 128 GB HDD 2.5 inch
Device ID SanDisk 2400S 2.57mm 128GB
The specs show this is an SDD:
https://dl.dell.com/Manuals/all-
products/esuprt_laptop/esuprt_inspiron_laptop/inspiron-13-7353-
laptop_Reference%20Guide_en-us.pdf
The service manual tells me how to remove/replace the hard drive:
https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-us/Inspiron-13-7353-
laptop/Inspiron-13-7353-laptop/inspiron-13-7000-series-service-manual?
guid=guid-5b8de7b7-879f-45a4-88e0-732155904029&lang=en-us
I'm out of town and don't have the tools to do the procedure at this
time, and won't for a week or so.
What I'm wondering is if there's any other thing I can try to remedy
this, or an I screwed? That is, do I need to replace the hard drive
(SSD)? I have no image of the drive to restore.
Does it sound like the drive is kaput?
TIA
I see this a lot. 95% of the time is is the CMOS battery
(usually a 2032). Pull your power plug before changing it.
Make sure you have no static charge on you. (Put one hand
on the case's bare metal whilst changing the battery.)
You will have to set up bios up again.
5% of the time it is something drastic.
https://drivesaversdatarecovery.com/
can recover your drive for you
-T
If it's the battery, then if the machine is left on for a minute or so after it fails to boot, and then the Restart button is pressed, it may well boot up normally. At least that's what I've found with my own PC. (I haven't tried to replace the duff
Boris <Boris@invalid.invalid> wrote in news:XnsB317D936152AABorisinvalidinvalid@135.181.20.170:
Machine is a Dell Inspiron 2-in-1 13-7353 laptop, purchased June 7,
2016. It's running Windows 10.
It's my wife's machine, so I'm not terribly familiar with it, but
it's been running fine since purchased, and updates automatically.
Today, it wouldn't boot, saying that no bootable devices were found.
Oh, o!
I suspect that the hard drive is dead.
I did an F12 to enter the boot menu, and it shows:
UEFI On
Secure Boot On
PTT is Off
(I turned PTT back on in the Advanced Setting>Security.)
If I go to Boot sequence, all it shows is UEFI, and there is no boot
option...no Windows Boot Manager
Other options that are available are:
BIOS Flash Update (no thanks at this point, and don't think relevant
to problem solving)
Diagnostics, I did and shows no hardware issues
Change Boot Mode Settings (doesn't seem relevant)
System information (F12) shows:
Dell Inspiron 13-7353
8 GB memory
i3-6100
Storage shows:
Primary SATA
Type 128 GB HDD 2.5 inch
Device ID SanDisk 2400S 2.57mm 128GB
The specs show this is an SDD:
https://dl.dell.com/Manuals/all-
products/esuprt_laptop/esuprt_inspiron_laptop/inspiron-13-7353-
laptop_Reference%20Guide_en-us.pdf
The service manual tells me how to remove/replace the hard drive:
https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-us/Inspiron-13-7353-
laptop/Inspiron-13-7353-laptop/inspiron-13-7000-series-service-manual?
guid=guid-5b8de7b7-879f-45a4-88e0-732155904029&lang=en-us
I'm out of town and don't have the tools to do the procedure at this
time, and won't for a week or so.
What I'm wondering is if there's any other thing I can try to remedy
this, or an I screwed? That is, do I need to replace the hard drive
(SSD)? I have no image of the drive to restore.
Does it sound like the drive is kaput?
TIA
Sorry about the wrapped links. I first composed the post with
Notepad, and did a paste to my post.
On 2025-07-10 14:46, micky wrote:
Only posting here to say that, rather than an enclosure, I'd get a
connector or even a dock, or a double dock. Enclosures end up being
like a external drive kit, and used only for one drive, to turn a bare
drive into an external drive. Too much trouble when you want to connect
a different drive. But a connector or dock can used for multiple
drives just by unplugging and plugging
I partitioned a disk the other day in a Conceptronics dock. The
partitioned disk was unreadable on its final destination, because on the >Conceptronics is is seen as having a 2KB physical and logical sector,
while elsewhere it has a 512 b logical sector.
Beware.
On 2025-07-10 14:23, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
On 2025/7/10 8:27:12, Graham J wrote:
[]
You can avoid links breaking by enclosing them within angle brackets,Doesn't always work -some news clients don't recognise the <>, and/or
like this: <>
<https://dl.dell.com/Manuals/all-products/esuprt_laptop/
esuprt_inspiron_laptop/inspiron-13-7353-laptop_Reference%20Guide_en-
us.pdf>
mangle the link. To my surprose my Thunderbird _does_ recognise it as
a link in your post (it has coloured _both_ lines blue), as I thought
Thunderbird was one of the less-capable clients in this respect;
whether it still appears as a link (both lines) in my quote of it
above, I'll have to see when this my post comes back.
No (using TB here), clicking on it goes to <https://dl.dell.com/Manuals/ all-products/esuprt_laptop/> because there is an extra space in the link
you posted. The link posted by Graham works.
And when quoting the link is destroyed.
... Dell Inspiron 2-in-1 13-7353 laptop, purchased June 7, 2016. ...^^^^
Boris <Boris@invalid.invalid> wrote:
... Dell Inspiron 2-in-1 13-7353 laptop, purchased June 7, 2016. ...^^^^
Ever replace the CMOS battery? T mentioned this, too. Your old one (if >original) is 9 years old. Batteries are chemical, and degrade over
time. Not the main battery, but the coin cell used to retain BIOS
settings while off. Unlike the main battery, the CMOS battery does not
get recharged.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZr4dy_fOHs
Shows dismantling the laptop to replace the CMOS battery.
It's not a bare coin cell battery that you can just pop out the battery,
and pop in a new one into a holder, but has leads soldered to it going
to a connector. After replacement, you may have to reset the BIOS to >defaults, and go into the BIOS config screens to select a boot device.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZr4dy_fOHs
Shows dismantling the laptop to replace the CMOS battery.
Only posting here to say that, rather than an enclosure, I'd get a
connector or even a dock, or a double dock. Enclosures end up being
like a external drive kit, and used only for one drive, to turn a bare
drive into an external drive. Too much trouble when you want to connect
a different drive. But a connector or dock can used for multiple
drives just by unplugging and plugging.
This is the double dock I bought also not available now, but as a
Most all double docks also let you copy one drive to the other.
Yes, we can but hope.new computer. In my experience, just because the drive will not boot,
that does not mean that the data can not be read from it.
I do backups. But my backup frequency is not all that high.
Paul
On Thu, 7/10/2025 9:16 AM, Carlos E.R. wrote:sector.
On 2025-07-10 14:46, micky wrote:
Only posting here to say that, rather than an enclosure, I'd get a
connector or even a dock, or a double dock. Enclosures end up being
like a external drive kit, and used only for one drive, to turn a bare
drive into an external drive. Too much trouble when you want to connect
a different drive. But a connector or dock can used for multiple
drives just by unplugging and plugging
I partitioned a disk the other day in a Conceptronics dock. The partitioned disk was unreadable on its final destination, because on the Conceptronics is is seen as having a 2KB physical and logical sector, while elsewhere it has a 512 b logical
Beware.
There's not much reason for the emulator type any more,
as most OSes and setups are capable of addressing the
LBAs in a native fashion.
In alt.comp.os.windows-10, on Thu, 10 Jul 2025 15:16:57 +0200, "Carlos
E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
On 2025-07-10 14:46, micky wrote:
Only posting here to say that, rather than an enclosure, I'd get a
connector or even a dock, or a double dock. Enclosures end up being
like a external drive kit, and used only for one drive, to turn a bare
drive into an external drive. Too much trouble when you want to connect
a different drive. But a connector or dock can used for multiple
drives just by unplugging and plugging
I partitioned a disk the other day in a Conceptronics dock. The
partitioned disk was unreadable on its final destination, because on the
Conceptronics is is seen as having a 2KB physical and logical sector,
while elsewhere it has a 512 b logical sector.
Beware.
I never would have seen that coming. Might not an enclosure, at least
by the same company, have the same problem?
I first bought a Thermaltake dock becuase iirc it said it would spin
down harddrives when the computer slept. Even though they were external.
But it didn't do that.
Then I got an Xiaomi becaus it is USB3.
Thermaltake is usb3 now, and it has buttons to push to life the larger
drive out of its connector, but Xiaomi and some others want you to pull
it out.
They both will copy one drive to another but how often do I want to do
that?
A CR2032 is not intended to be recharged, and you should not
attempt to do such a thing. Some laptops use the LR2032,
which is a rechargeable CMOS battery. It lasts for around
three days, without the main battery pack inserted. The LR2032
also wear out, and the rule is "like with like". Replace
an LR2032 with an LR2032. If you happened to have a laptop
which uses one of those.
Laptop CR2032 come as an "insulated" sleeve with the CR2032
inside and a twisted pair of wires with a two pin connector
on the end. This means the laptop does not use a socket for
the battery, but you also have to find someone to vend you
a battery with the twisted pair on it. Whereas I can get
a vanilla CR2032 at the hardware store here. The vanilla CR2032
(which is just a coin cell with no adornment), those are
suited to (socketed) desktop battery replacement.
In alt.comp.os.windows-10, on Thu, 10 Jul 2025 12:49:40 -0500,
VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> wrote:
Boris <Boris@invalid.invalid> wrote:
... Dell Inspiron 2-in-1 13-7353 laptop, purchased June 7, 2016. ...^^^^
Ever replace the CMOS battery? T mentioned this, too. Your old one (if
original) is 9 years old. Batteries are chemical, and degrade over
time. Not the main battery, but the coin cell used to retain BIOS
settings while off. Unlike the main battery, the CMOS battery does not
get recharged.
Sure it needs to be replaced, but can't you tell when that is by when it forgets what the date is? Just like I know my car needs gas when it
stops running.
Boris <Boris@invalid.invalid> wrote:
... Dell Inspiron 2-in-1 13-7353 laptop, purchased June 7, 2016. ...^^^^
Ever replace the CMOS battery? T mentioned this, too. Your old one (if original) is 9 years old. Batteries are chemical, and degrade over
time. Not the main battery, but the coin cell used to retain BIOS
settings while off. Unlike the main battery, the CMOS battery does not
get recharged.
5% of the time it is something drastic.
https://drivesaversdatarecovery.com/
can recover your drive for you
-T
If it's the battery, then if the machine is left on for a minute or so
after it fails to boot, and then the Restart button is pressed, it may
well boot up normally. At least that's what I've found with my own PC.
(I haven't tried to replace the duff battery, as I'm terribly maladroit
when it comes to doing anything hardware-related.)
On 2025/7/10 15:27:17, Paul wrote:
[]
Here is my daily driver, with me demonstrating I am occasionally
checking the wear life remaining. This one might brick on write, so
I may be able to make a read-only backup when the time comes.
[Picture]
https://i.postimg.cc/L4fQ0qpB/toolkit-99-percent-life-left.png
SSD owners should really make the occasional backup.
Paul
(As should HDD owners of course, though I still think the chances of those failing _without warning_ are less.)
99% remaining - when do you, Paul, think about changing it? (My CT480BX500SSD1 : 480.1 GB is 97% and "Good" [also using CrystalDiskInfo].)
On 2025/7/10 15:40:49, Paul wrote:not enough, but more than I used to.)
[]
I do backups. But my backup frequency is not all that high.It gladdens my heart to hear even Paul say that!
Paul
(I backup - in the sense of a copy with FreeFileSync = my genealogy stuff, my Thunderbird profile, and me.xls, once a week to USB sticks, and once a month Macrium image my C: and FreeFileSync my D [to alternating locatins on] an external HD. I'm sure
VanguardLH <V@nguard.lh> wrote:
Boris <Boris@invalid.invalid> wrote:
... Dell Inspiron 2-in-1 13-7353 laptop, purchased June 7, 2016. ...^^^^
Ever replace the CMOS battery? T mentioned this, too. Your old one (if
original) is 9 years old. Batteries are chemical, and degrade over
time. Not the main battery, but the coin cell used to retain BIOS
settings while off. Unlike the main battery, the CMOS battery does not
get recharged.
I don't want to dispute your comments, but just want to mention - like others have done - that on most 'modern' (this decade) systems, a dead
CMOS battery should not prevent a system from booting. Yes, it will have
lost the date/time, but it will *boot* just fine.
At least that's my experience with my ~2000 (2003 or earlier) laptop
and a slightly newer one [1] and 1980/1990 era desktops before that.
But as always, YMMV/YMWV.
[1] These are booted every three months, to check/charge the real
battery.
On 2025/7/10 15:51:7, Paul wrote:
[]
A CR2032 is not intended to be recharged, and you should not
attempt to do such a thing. Some laptops use the LR2032,
which is a rechargeable CMOS battery. It lasts for around
three days, without the main battery pack inserted. The LR2032
also wear out, and the rule is "like with like". Replace
an LR2032 with an LR2032. If you happened to have a laptop
which uses one of those.
Laptop CR2032 come as an "insulated" sleeve with the CR2032
inside and a twisted pair of wires with a two pin connector
on the end. This means the laptop does not use a socket for
the battery, but you also have to find someone to vend you
a battery with the twisted pair on it. Whereas I can get
a vanilla CR2032 at the hardware store here. The vanilla CR2032
(which is just a coin cell with no adornment), those are
suited to (socketed) desktop battery replacement.
[]
And are 20mm diameter and 3.2mm thick; I thought this rather pleasing
when I found it out (and of course it explains the 2024 and 2016 variants).
In alt.comp.os.windows-10, on Thu, 10 Jul 2025 12:49:40 -0500,
VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> wrote:
Boris <Boris@invalid.invalid> wrote:
... Dell Inspiron 2-in-1 13-7353 laptop, purchased June 7, 2016. ...^^^^
Ever replace the CMOS battery? T mentioned this, too. Your old one (if
original) is 9 years old. Batteries are chemical, and degrade over
time. Not the main battery, but the coin cell used to retain BIOS
settings while off. Unlike the main battery, the CMOS battery does not
get recharged.
Sure it needs to be replaced, but can't you tell when that is by when it forgets what the date is? Just like I know my car needs gas when it
stops running.
On Thu, 7/10/2025 2:25 PM, J. P. Gilliver wrote:not enough, but more than I used to.)
On 2025/7/10 15:40:49, Paul wrote:
[]
I do backups. But my backup frequency is not all that high.It gladdens my heart to hear even Paul say that!
Paul
(I backup - in the sense of a copy with FreeFileSync = my genealogy stuff, my Thunderbird profile, and me.xls, once a week to USB sticks, and once a month Macrium image my C: and FreeFileSync my D [to alternating locatins on] an external HD. I'm sure
Well, it takes all day to do a backup.
That's because I used Fulls exclusively. There are no USB sticks
with various odds&sods on them. I could never manage a mess like that.
I'm quite cluttered.
I can't even buy decent USB sticks here any more. If I wanted to start
an odds&sods rotation, where would I find the sticks for it ? My computer store isn't a computer store any more. Even the employees there look sad o.O
On a backup day, I'm likely to move a Profile over to another machine
and "camp out" there, while the backup is running.
There is one 2TB quality HDD in the city right now. And
as many WD Blue I don't want to stuff in my pockets (Best Buy).
The really funny part, is they keep the WD Blue under lock and
key... like someone would want to steal those. That would be like
stealing bog roll.
So really, this afternoon, looking at the situation, it looks
like just about anything I'd like to do, would be at the
pleasure of some online retailer.
When I had a defective WD Black 1TB (got it home, the motor would
not spin), I drove back into town, swapped for another, and was done
in no time. With an online retailer, there would be "all sorts of
suspicion" and so on. The computer store has a generous return policy,
but with no stock of anything, there is hardly going to be anything
to return. They don't even sell the WD Black 1TB any more.
The manufacturer has stopped.
I had the same sort of thing happen to my electronics hobby.
The electronics store in town closed, leaving me with nothing.
if I need a single resistor, I'm kinda fucked. At one time,
I could rely on <cough> Radio Shack for their "two resistors
for a dollar" packages. But at least I could get something.
They're not around any more either. They became "The Source",
then the Phone Company bought the store... so it could
control the store fronts at the various malls. They had no
real intention of maintaining the store as an electronics
supplier. All they wanted to do was sell "Phone Minutes", you know
how important that is, and how you just can't get Phone Minutes
in a Mall :-/
If I seem a little peeved, it's because I'm peeved.
Paul
In alt.comp.os.windows-10, on Thu, 10 Jul 2025 07:51:00 -0400, knuttle <keith_nuttle@yahoo.com> wrote:
On 07/10/2025 6:47 AM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-07-10 09:30, Paul wrote:The machine is six years old, and is running Windows 10. You are about
Well, one test would be to attempt to boot off a USB stick.
Depending on what you have at the moment on USB sticks.
I would vote for this first.
to spend time and money to get it running again. At that age even if
running it will probably not upgrade to Windows 11.
It would be my recommendation that rather that spending a lot of time
and money that the machine be replaced.
One I had the new machine, I would remove the hard drive form the old
computer, buy a USB hard drive enclosure and transfer the files to the
Only posting here to say that, rather than an enclosure, I'd get a
connector or even a dock, or a double dock. Enclosures end up being
like a external drive kit, and used only for one drive, to turn a bare
drive into an external drive. Too much trouble when you want to connect
a different drive. But a connector or dock can used for multiple
drives just by unplugging and plugging.
This is what I got the last time: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09J8HKMJP?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_1
It's unavailable now but they show others, with a type C or type A usb
plug at the top for only 12 to 15 dollars. If you're not using a large mechanical drive, you don't even need to use the power supply.
This is the double dock I bought also not available now, but as a
sample: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00WFS3WKU?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_1
Most all double docks also let you copy one drive to the other.
new computer. In my experience, just because the drive will not boot,
that does not mean that the data can not be read from it.
Boris <Boris@invalid.invalid> wrote:
... Dell Inspiron 2-in-1 13-7353 laptop, purchased June 7, 2016. ...^^^^
Ever replace the CMOS battery? T mentioned this, too. Your old one
(if original) is 9 years old. Batteries are chemical, and degrade
over time. Not the main battery, but the coin cell used to retain
BIOS settings while off. Unlike the main battery, the CMOS battery
does not get recharged.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZr4dy_fOHs
Shows dismantling the laptop to replace the CMOS battery.
It's not a bare coin cell battery that you can just pop out the
battery, and pop in a new one into a holder, but has leads soldered to
it going to a connector. After replacement, you may have to reset the
BIOS to defaults, and go into the BIOS config screens to select a boot device.
VanguardLH <V@nguard.lh> wrote:
Boris <Boris@invalid.invalid> wrote:
... Dell Inspiron 2-in-1 13-7353 laptop, purchased June 7, 2016. ...^^^^
Ever replace the CMOS battery? T mentioned this, too. Your old one (if
original) is 9 years old. Batteries are chemical, and degrade over
time. Not the main battery, but the coin cell used to retain BIOS
settings while off. Unlike the main battery, the CMOS battery does not
get recharged.
I don't want to dispute your comments, but just want to mention - like others have done - that on most 'modern' (this decade) systems, a dead
CMOS battery should not prevent a system from booting. Yes, it will have
lost the date/time, but it will *boot* just fine.
At least that's my experience with my ~2000 (2003 or earlier) laptop
and a slightly newer one [1] and 1980/1990 era desktops before that.
But as always, YMMV/YMWV.
[1] These are booted every three months, to check/charge the real
battery.
Machine is a Dell Inspiron 2-in-1 13-7353 laptop, purchased June 7,
2016. It's running Windows 10.
It's my wife's machine, so I'm not terribly familiar with it, but it's
been running fine since purchased, and updates automatically.
Today, it wouldn't boot, saying that no bootable devices were found.
Oh, o!
I suspect that the hard drive is dead.
I did an F12 to enter the boot menu, and it shows:
UEFI On
Secure Boot On
PTT is Off
(I turned PTT back on in the Advanced Setting>Security.)
If I go to Boot sequence, all it shows is UEFI, and there is no boot option...no Windows Boot Manager
Other options that are available are:
BIOS Flash Update (no thanks at this point, and don't think relevant
to problem solving)
Diagnostics, I did and shows no hardware issues
Change Boot Mode Settings (doesn't seem relevant)
System information (F12) shows:
Dell Inspiron 13-7353
8 GB memory
i3-6100
Storage shows:
Primary SATA
Type 128 GB HDD 2.5 inch
Device ID SanDisk 2400S 2.57mm 128GB
The specs show this is an SDD:
https://dl.dell.com/Manuals/all- products/esuprt_laptop/esuprt_inspiron_laptop/inspiron-13-7353- laptop_Reference%20Guide_en-us.pdf
The service manual tells me how to remove/replace the hard drive:
https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-us/Inspiron-13-7353- laptop/Inspiron-13-7353-laptop/inspiron-13-7000-series-service-manual? guid=guid-5b8de7b7-879f-45a4-88e0-732155904029&lang=en-us
I'm out of town and don't have the tools to do the procedure at this
time, and won't for a week or so.
What I'm wondering is if there's any other thing I can try to remedy
this, or an I screwed? That is, do I need to replace the hard drive
(SSD)? I have no image of the drive to restore.
Does it sound like the drive is kaput?
TIA
VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> wrote in news:6gw5vluaftx7.dlg@v.nguard.lh:
Boris <Boris@invalid.invalid> wrote:
... Dell Inspiron 2-in-1 13-7353 laptop, purchased June 7, 2016. ...^^^^
Ever replace the CMOS battery? T mentioned this, too. Your old one
(if original) is 9 years old. Batteries are chemical, and degrade
over time. Not the main battery, but the coin cell used to retain
BIOS settings while off. Unlike the main battery, the CMOS battery
does not get recharged.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZr4dy_fOHs
Shows dismantling the laptop to replace the CMOS battery.
It's not a bare coin cell battery that you can just pop out the
battery, and pop in a new one into a holder, but has leads soldered to
it going to a connector. After replacement, you may have to reset the
BIOS to defaults, and go into the BIOS config screens to select a boot
device.
I do have the Dell 13-7353 Service Manual, and it does show that the
CMOS battery is a CR2032, and that it can be pried out. This is what
I'll try first.
While I'm in there, I'll check that the hard cable is securely in place
(most likely it is).
Here's a look at the innards of this laptop.
https://postimg.cc/gallery/pHJ4GSJ
Laptop CR2032 come as an "insulated" sleeve with the CR2032
inside and a twisted pair of wires with a two pin connector
on the end.
[]
And are 20mm diameter and 3.2mm thick; I thought this rather pleasing
when I found it out (and of course it explains the 2024 and 2016 variants).
On Thu, 7/10/2025 6:34 PM, Boris wrote:
VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> wrote in news:6gw5vluaftx7.dlg@v.nguard.lh:
Boris <Boris@invalid.invalid> wrote:
... Dell Inspiron 2-in-1 13-7353 laptop, purchased June 7, 2016.^^^^
...
Ever replace the CMOS battery? T mentioned this, too. Your old one
(if original) is 9 years old. Batteries are chemical, and degrade
over time. Not the main battery, but the coin cell used to retain
BIOS settings while off. Unlike the main battery, the CMOS battery
does not get recharged.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZr4dy_fOHs
Shows dismantling the laptop to replace the CMOS battery.
It's not a bare coin cell battery that you can just pop out the
battery, and pop in a new one into a holder, but has leads soldered
to it going to a connector. After replacement, you may have to
reset the BIOS to defaults, and go into the BIOS config screens to
select a boot device.
I do have the Dell 13-7353 Service Manual, and it does show that the
CMOS battery is a CR2032, and that it can be pried out. This is what
I'll try first.
While I'm in there, I'll check that the hard cable is securely in
place (most likely it is).
Here's a look at the innards of this laptop.
https://postimg.cc/gallery/pHJ4GSJ
I did a "mutool extract" on the PDF, but the images inside the manual
are not in any higher resolution at the raw image level.
https://dl.dell.com/topicspdf/inspiron-13-7353-laptop_service-manual_en -us.pdf
[Picture]
https://i.postimg.cc/xCSsYnx8/inspiron-13-7353-laptop-25-SSD-and-CR
2032.gif
So the thing is joined by a cable, and the interposer on the small
end, I wouldn't want to be playing with that, as I don't recognize
the release mechanism!
The "big end" that fastens to the drive looks more conventional,
and possibly easier to work with. Any time the assemblies
are that small and squashy, every move you make has to be
carefully measured.
Instead of using PCB material, they made a massive number of
subassemblies, easy-to-damage cable assemblies, and so on.
Maybe the cable has come loose.
Paul
Boris <Boris@invalid.invalid> wrote in news:XnsB317D936152AABorisinvalidinvalid@135.181.20.170:
Machine is a Dell Inspiron 2-in-1 13-7353 laptop, purchased June 7,
2016. It's running Windows 10.
It's my wife's machine, so I'm not terribly familiar with it, but it's
been running fine since purchased, and updates automatically.
Today, it wouldn't boot, saying that no bootable devices were found.
Oh, o!
I suspect that the hard drive is dead.
I did an F12 to enter the boot menu, and it shows:
UEFI On
Secure Boot On
PTT is Off
(I turned PTT back on in the Advanced Setting>Security.)
If I go to Boot sequence, all it shows is UEFI, and there is no boot
option...no Windows Boot Manager
Other options that are available are:
BIOS Flash Update (no thanks at this point, and don't think relevant
to problem solving)
Diagnostics, I did and shows no hardware issues
Change Boot Mode Settings (doesn't seem relevant)
System information (F12) shows:
Dell Inspiron 13-7353
8 GB memory
i3-6100
Storage shows:
Primary SATA
Type 128 GB HDD 2.5 inch
Device ID SanDisk 2400S 2.57mm 128GB
The specs show this is an SDD:
https://dl.dell.com/Manuals/all-
products/esuprt_laptop/esuprt_inspiron_laptop/inspiron-13-7353-
laptop_Reference%20Guide_en-us.pdf
The service manual tells me how to remove/replace the hard drive:
https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-us/Inspiron-13-7353-
laptop/Inspiron-13-7353-laptop/inspiron-13-7000-series-service-manual?
guid=guid-5b8de7b7-879f-45a4-88e0-732155904029&lang=en-us
I'm out of town and don't have the tools to do the procedure at this
time, and won't for a week or so.
What I'm wondering is if there's any other thing I can try to remedy
this, or an I screwed? That is, do I need to replace the hard drive
(SSD)? I have no image of the drive to restore.
Does it sound like the drive is kaput?
TIA
Some more background. I and my wife, and her laptop (and mine) are all together, out of town. We will probably return to 'home base' this
Sunday, where I have my repair kit, and Windows 10 USB boot sticks. The sticks are for my own Win10 machines, laptop and desktops, not my wife's,
so if I'm even able to boot from one of my sticks, I may not be able to activate, since the sticks weren't made from her laptop. I don't know.
My wife keeps her laptop on 24x7, pluged into the charger. It's been
like that for years and years. Why?...she just does. This could be
three to four weeks at a time. She only powers down when having to pack
it up to travel, and once destination is reached, it powered on again for 24x7, until having to pack up again.
This may or may not be relevant:
The first sign that someting was wrong was yesterday, when she unpacked
her laptop and powered back up. The machine's Dell Support Assist said something to the effect that the AC power wattage adapter and type cannot
be determined, and Support Assist asked to check hardware. A 'Yes'
initiated a hardware check, whereby all hardware was determined to be ok. After the hardware check was completed, the only option given was to
'Shut down'. I could shut down, and then restart, but all this did was
to repeat the above. But, after a couple of round trips, the machine
said 'No boot device found'. Crap. That's when I posted the problem to
the group.
I appreciate all the replies.
I do carry an extra OEM Dell charger for hers, and my laptop (they are
the same). Trying both the extra and my own charger on her laptop gave
the same 'error' message. Trying her charger on my laptop worked fine,
which indicates that her charger was not faulty.
Since I don't have my repair kit when traveling, I thought I'd have to
wait until we got home Sunday or so, but I hate loose ends, and am sort
of compulsive about fixing things right away. I do travel with a whole
set of construction/mechanical tools, for home maintenance and appliance repairs, including some electronic tools. (Electronics/pc repairs is not
my strong point.) I did have a set of jewelers screwdrivers, and was
able to remove the srews from the back case of my wife's laptop. It was quite a chore. The 10 screws didn't want to come out; it was if they
were nylon aviation screws. I had to use a pair of pliers on the screwdriver's shaft during the entire 'unwinding' to even turn the
screws. Took about an hour.
Once the screws were out, I was able to pry the back cover off. I
removed the battery (easy to remove those screws), and then the CR2032
CMOS battery. The battery tested at 3.12v. Go figure. It was the
original nine year old CMOS battery.
https://postimg.cc/dDRQJ7Zx
The next step is to try and boot the machine with a Windows 10 USB boot stick. That has to wait until we get home.
If that doesn't work, I'll remove the SSD and connect to my external USB IDE/SATA adapter, and see if I can save some data.
Then, I'll decide if I want to purchase a replacement SATA SSD, or write
off this macine, and purchase a (refurbished or) new machine.
My wife would like to get her old machine up and running, but is ok if
she has to settle for a new Windows 11 machine. She doesn't mind
learning a new OS. Her demands on a macine are minimal; browsing, email,
and occasionally Word, so no big learning curve.
If you've read this far, thanks.
In message <104nu59$d6kr$1@dont-email.me>, T <T@invalid.invalid> writes
On 7/9/25 9:21 PM, Boris wrote:
Machine is a Dell Inspiron 2-in-1 13-7353 laptop, purchased June 7,
2016.
It's running Windows 10.
It's my wife's machine, so I'm not terribly familiar with it, but it's >>> been running fine since purchased, and updates automatically.
Today, it wouldn't boot, saying that no bootable devices were found.
Oh,
o!
I suspect that the hard drive is dead.
I did an F12 to enter the boot menu, and it shows:
UEFI On
Secure Boot On
PTT is Off
(I turned PTT back on in the Advanced Setting>Security.)
If I go to Boot sequence, all it shows is UEFI, and there is no boot
option...no Windows Boot Manager
Other options that are available are:
BIOS Flash Update (no thanks at this point, and don't think relevant to
problem solving)
Diagnostics, I did and shows no hardware issues
Change Boot Mode Settings (doesn't seem relevant)
System information (F12) shows:
Dell Inspiron 13-7353
8 GB memory
i3-6100
Storage shows:
Primary SATA
Type 128 GB HDD 2.5 inch
Device ID SanDisk 2400S 2.57mm 128GB
The specs show this is an SDD:
https://dl.dell.com/Manuals/all-
products/esuprt_laptop/esuprt_inspiron_laptop/inspiron-13-7353-
laptop_Reference%20Guide_en-us.pdf
The service manual tells me how to remove/replace the hard drive:
https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-us/Inspiron-13-7353-
laptop/Inspiron-13-7353-laptop/inspiron-13-7000-series-service-manual?
guid=guid-5b8de7b7-879f-45a4-88e0-732155904029&lang=en-us
I'm out of town and don't have the tools to do the procedure at this
time, and won't for a week or so.
What I'm wondering is if there's any other thing I can try to remedy
this, or an I screwed? That is, do I need to replace the hard drive
(SSD)? I have no image of the drive to restore.
Does it sound like the drive is kaput?
TIA
I see this a lot. 95% of the time is is the CMOS battery
(usually a 2032). Pull your power plug before changing it.
Make sure you have no static charge on you. (Put one hand
on the case's bare metal whilst changing the battery.)
You will have to set up bios up again.
5% of the time it is something drastic.
https://drivesaversdatarecovery.com/
can recover your drive for you
-T
If it's the battery, then if the machine is left on for a minute or so
after it fails to boot, and then the Restart button is pressed, it may
well boot up normally. At least that's what I've found with my own PC.
(I haven't tried to replace the duff battery, as I'm terribly maladroit
when it comes to doing anything hardware-related.)
On 7/10/25 2:03 AM, John Hall wrote:
5% of the time it is something drastic.
https://drivesaversdatarecovery.com/
can recover your drive for you
-T
If it's the battery, then if the machine is left on for a minute or so
after it fails to boot, and then the Restart button is pressed, it may
well boot up normally. At least that's what I've found with my own PC.
(I haven't tried to replace the duff battery, as I'm terribly
maladroit when it comes to doing anything hardware-related.)
I have not seen that. Usually what I see is that
I can go into bios and reset the boot devices and
it boots. After the next power off, all is lost
again. Then it is the CMOS battery.
On Thu, 7/10/2025 5:03 AM, John Hall wrote:battery, as I'm terribly maladroit when it comes to doing anything hardware-related.)
In message <104nu59$d6kr$1@dont-email.me>, T <T@invalid.invalid> writes
On 7/9/25 9:21 PM, Boris wrote:
Machine is a Dell Inspiron 2-in-1 13-7353 laptop, purchased June 7, 2016. >>>> It's running Windows 10.
It's my wife's machine, so I'm not terribly familiar with it, but it's >>>> been running fine since purchased, and updates automatically.
Today, it wouldn't boot, saying that no bootable devices were found. Oh,
o!
I suspect that the hard drive is dead.
I did an F12 to enter the boot menu, and it shows:
UEFI On
Secure Boot On
PTT is Off
(I turned PTT back on in the Advanced Setting>Security.)
If I go to Boot sequence, all it shows is UEFI, and there is no boot >>>> option...no Windows Boot Manager
Other options that are available are:
BIOS Flash Update (no thanks at this point, and don't think relevant to >>>> problem solving)
Diagnostics, I did and shows no hardware issues
Change Boot Mode Settings (doesn't seem relevant)
System information (F12) shows:
Dell Inspiron 13-7353
8 GB memory
i3-6100
Storage shows:
Primary SATA
Type 128 GB HDD 2.5 inch
Device ID SanDisk 2400S 2.57mm 128GB
The specs show this is an SDD:
https://dl.dell.com/Manuals/all-
products/esuprt_laptop/esuprt_inspiron_laptop/inspiron-13-7353-
laptop_Reference%20Guide_en-us.pdf
The service manual tells me how to remove/replace the hard drive:
https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-us/Inspiron-13-7353-
laptop/Inspiron-13-7353-laptop/inspiron-13-7000-series-service-manual? >>>> guid=guid-5b8de7b7-879f-45a4-88e0-732155904029&lang=en-us
I'm out of town and don't have the tools to do the procedure at this >>>> time, and won't for a week or so.
What I'm wondering is if there's any other thing I can try to remedy >>>> this, or an I screwed? That is, do I need to replace the hard drive
(SSD)? I have no image of the drive to restore.
Does it sound like the drive is kaput?
TIA
I see this a lot. 95% of the time is is the CMOS battery
(usually a 2032). Pull your power plug before changing it.
Make sure you have no static charge on you. (Put one hand
on the case's bare metal whilst changing the battery.)
You will have to set up bios up again.
5% of the time it is something drastic.
https://drivesaversdatarecovery.com/
can recover your drive for you
-T
If it's the battery, then if the machine is left on for a minute or so after it fails to boot, and then the Restart button is pressed, it may well boot up normally. At least that's what I've found with my own PC. (I haven't tried to replace the duff
The battery sockets come in different design styles,
with some being pretty easy to work on, and others
being the devil to work with. This is why some people
become "shy" of battery replacement, is they have
experienced one of the bad socket designs.
A CR2032 is not intended to be recharged, and you should not
attempt to do such a thing. Some laptops use the LR2032,
which is a rechargeable CMOS battery. It lasts for around
three days, without the main battery pack inserted. The LR2032
also wear out, and the rule is "like with like". Replace
an LR2032 with an LR2032. If you happened to have a laptop
which uses one of those.
Laptop CR2032 come as an "insulated" sleeve with the CR2032
inside and a twisted pair of wires with a two pin connector
on the end. This means the laptop does not use a socket for
the battery, but you also have to find someone to vend you
a battery with the twisted pair on it. Whereas I can get
a vanilla CR2032 at the hardware store here. The vanilla CR2032
(which is just a coin cell with no adornment), those are
suited to (socketed) desktop battery replacement.
One of the battery sockets here I get to replace, has two retainers,
and you have to repress both retainers to get the cell out,
which means it's pretty hard to do one of those.
Paul
Once the screws were out, I was able to pry the back cover off. I
removed the battery (easy to remove those screws), and then the CR2032
CMOS battery. The battery tested at 3.12v. Go figure. It was the
original nine year old CMOS battery.
https://postimg.cc/dDRQJ7Zx
On Thu, 7/10/2025 2:31 PM, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
On 2025/7/10 15:27:17, Paul wrote:
[]
Here is my daily driver, with me demonstrating I am occasionally
checking the wear life remaining. This one might brick on write, so
I may be able to make a read-only backup when the time comes.
[Picture]
https://i.postimg.cc/L4fQ0qpB/toolkit-99-percent-life-left.png >>>
SSD owners should really make the occasional backup.
Paul
(As should HDD owners of course, though I still think the chances of those failing _without warning_ are less.)
99% remaining - when do you, Paul, think about changing it? (My CT480BX500SSD1 : 480.1 GB is 97% and "Good" [also using CrystalDiskInfo].)
Nothing I own, is remotely close to 5%.
The Wear Leveling is very good. You can run a drive down pretty low, and
no locations should be "burned out". You could easily descent to 5% and
not be in trouble (yet).
On 2025/7/10 13:51:23, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-07-10 14:23, J. P. Gilliver wrote:The extra space was inserted by TB, not me (other than that I was the TB user) - presumably as part of the quoting mechanism.
On 2025/7/10 8:27:12, Graham J wrote:
[]
You can avoid links breaking by enclosing them within angleDoesn't always work -some news clients don't recognise the <>, and/or
brackets, like this: <>
<https://dl.dell.com/Manuals/all-products/esuprt_laptop/
esuprt_inspiron_laptop/inspiron-13-7353-laptop_Reference%20Guide_en-
us.pdf>
mangle the link. To my surprose my Thunderbird _does_ recognise it as
a link in your post (it has coloured _both_ lines blue), as I thought
Thunderbird was one of the less-capable clients in this respect;
whether it still appears as a link (both lines) in my quote of it
above, I'll have to see when this my post comes back.
No (using TB here), clicking on it goes to
<https://dl.dell.com/Manuals/ all-products/esuprt_laptop/> because
there is an extra space in the link you posted. The link posted by
Graham works.
And when quoting the link is destroyed.
And are 20mm diameter and 3.2mm thick; I thought this rather pleasing
when I found it out (and of course it explains the 2024 and 2016 variants).
Frank Slootweg <this@ddress.is.invalid> wrote:
VanguardLH <V@nguard.lh> wrote:
Boris <Boris@invalid.invalid> wrote:
... Dell Inspiron 2-in-1 13-7353 laptop, purchased June 7, 2016. ...^^^^
Ever replace the CMOS battery? T mentioned this, too. Your old one (if >> original) is 9 years old. Batteries are chemical, and degrade over
time. Not the main battery, but the coin cell used to retain BIOS
settings while off. Unlike the main battery, the CMOS battery does not
get recharged.
I don't want to dispute your comments, but just want to mention - like others have done - that on most 'modern' (this decade) systems, a dead
CMOS battery should not prevent a system from booting. Yes, it will have lost the date/time, but it will *boot* just fine.
At least that's my experience with my ~2000 (2003 or earlier) laptop
and a slightly newer one [1] and 1980/1990 era desktops before that.
But as always, YMMV/YMWV.
[1] These are booted every three months, to check/charge the real
battery.
Since the BIOS settings are stored in a CMOS table, and since the CMOS
table can get corrupted, the OP might try resetting the BIOS to copy
current values into the CMOS table. If a boot doesn't find a boot
device, a reset of BIOS to defaults which should also copy into CMOS
should find the boot device. However, why continue with a 9-year old
CMOS battery that should get replaced, and going dead might've been what causes CMOS table corruption.
As for the main battery, I've read where some folks will store them in
their fridge for long periods of non-use of the laptop. Not sure that
really helps with lifespan. However, at one time, some laptops would
not boot if the main battery were dead or removed. Not until the main battery got replaced would the laptop boot up.
On Thu, 7/10/2025 2:31 PM, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
99% remaining - when do you, Paul, think about changing it? (My CT480BX500SSD1 : 480.1 GB is 97% and "Good" [also using CrystalDiskInfo].)
Nothing I own, is remotely close to 5%.
The Wear Leveling is very good. You can run a drive down pretty low, and
no locations should be "burned out". You could easily descent to 5% and
not be in trouble (yet).
Paul
Well, it takes all day to do a backup.
That's because I used Fulls exclusively. There are no USB sticks
with various odds&sods on them. I could never manage a mess like that.
I'm quite cluttered.
I can't even buy decent USB sticks here any more. If I wanted to start
an odds&sods rotation, where would I find the sticks for it ? My computer store isn't a computer store any more. Even the employees there look sad o.O
On a backup day, I'm likely to move a Profile over to another machine
and "camp out" there, while the backup is running.
There is one 2TB quality HDD in the city right now. And
as many WD Blue I don't want to stuff in my pockets (Best Buy).
The really funny part, is they keep the WD Blue under lock and
key... like someone would want to steal those. That would be like
stealing bog roll.
So really, this afternoon, looking at the situation, it looks
like just about anything I'd like to do, would be at the
pleasure of some online retailer.
When I had a defective WD Black 1TB (got it home, the motor would
not spin), I drove back into town, swapped for another, and was done
in no time. With an online retailer, there would be "all sorts of
suspicion" and so on. The computer store has a generous return policy,
but with no stock of anything, there is hardly going to be anything
to return. They don't even sell the WD Black 1TB any more.
The manufacturer has stopped.
I had the same sort of thing happen to my electronics hobby.
The electronics store in town closed, leaving me with nothing.
if I need a single resistor, I'm kinda fucked. At one time,
I could rely on <cough> Radio Shack for their "two resistors
for a dollar" packages. But at least I could get something.
They're not around any more either. They became "The Source",
then the Phone Company bought the store... so it could
control the store fronts at the various malls. They had no
real intention of maintaining the store as an electronics
supplier. All they wanted to do was sell "Phone Minutes", you know
how important that is, and how you just can't get Phone Minutes
in a Mall :-/
If I seem a little peeved, it's because I'm peeved.As am I; it's not just the availability of components, it's the ability
Paul
Boris <Boris@invalid.invalid> wrote in
Does it sound like the drive is kaput?
TIA
quite a chore. The 10 screws didn't want to come out; it was if they
were nylon aviation screws. I had to use a pair of pliers on the screwdriver's shaft during the entire 'unwinding' to even turn the
screws. Took about an hour.
Once the screws were out, I was able to pry the back cover off. I
removed the battery (easy to remove those screws), and then the CR2032
CMOS battery. The battery tested at 3.12v. Go figure. It was the
original nine year old CMOS battery.
https://postimg.cc/dDRQJ7Zx
The next step is to try and boot the machine with a Windows 10 USB boot stick. That has to wait until we get home.
If that doesn't work, I'll remove the SSD and connect to my external USB IDE/SATA adapter, and see if I can save some data.
Then, I'll decide if I want to purchase a replacement SATA SSD, or write
off this macine, and purchase a (refurbished or) new machine.
My wife would like to get her old machine up and running, but is ok if
she has to settle for a new Windows 11 machine. She doesn't mind
learning a new OS. Her demands on a macine are minimal; browsing, email,
and occasionally Word, so no big learning curve.
If you've read this far, thanks.
True, but with laptops (Boris' case is a laptop), opening the damn
thing to *get* at the CMOS battery can be quite a task. As Boris
reported, also in his case, it was quite a task, one hour of fiddling
with tiny, unknown screws.
On Fri, 7/11/2025 12:56 AM, Boris wrote:
Boris <Boris@invalid.invalid> wrote in
news:XnsB317D936152AABorisinvalidinvalid@135.181.20.170:
Machine is a Dell Inspiron 2-in-1 13-7353 laptop, purchased June 7,
2016. It's running Windows 10.
It's my wife's machine, so I'm not terribly familiar with it, but
it's been running fine since purchased, and updates automatically.
Today, it wouldn't boot, saying that no bootable devices were found.
Oh, o!
I suspect that the hard drive is dead.
I did an F12 to enter the boot menu, and it shows:
UEFI On
Secure Boot On
PTT is Off
(I turned PTT back on in the Advanced Setting>Security.)
If I go to Boot sequence, all it shows is UEFI, and there is no boot
option...no Windows Boot Manager
Other options that are available are:
BIOS Flash Update (no thanks at this point, and don't think relevant
to problem solving)
Diagnostics, I did and shows no hardware issues
Change Boot Mode Settings (doesn't seem relevant)
System information (F12) shows:
Dell Inspiron 13-7353
8 GB memory
i3-6100
Storage shows:
Primary SATA
Type 128 GB HDD 2.5 inch
Device ID SanDisk 2400S 2.57mm 128GB
The specs show this is an SDD:
https://dl.dell.com/Manuals/all-
products/esuprt_laptop/esuprt_inspiron_laptop/inspiron-13-7353-
laptop_Reference%20Guide_en-us.pdf
The service manual tells me how to remove/replace the hard drive:
https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-us/Inspiron-13-7353-
laptop/Inspiron-13-7353-laptop/inspiron-13-7000-series-service-manual
? guid=guid-5b8de7b7-879f-45a4-88e0-732155904029&lang=en-us
I'm out of town and don't have the tools to do the procedure at this
time, and won't for a week or so.
What I'm wondering is if there's any other thing I can try to remedy
this, or an I screwed? That is, do I need to replace the hard drive
(SSD)? I have no image of the drive to restore.
Does it sound like the drive is kaput?
TIA
Some more background. I and my wife, and her laptop (and mine) are
all together, out of town. We will probably return to 'home base'
this Sunday, where I have my repair kit, and Windows 10 USB boot
sticks. The sticks are for my own Win10 machines, laptop and
desktops, not my wife's, so if I'm even able to boot from one of my
sticks, I may not be able to activate, since the sticks weren't made
from her laptop. I don't know.
My wife keeps her laptop on 24x7, pluged into the charger. It's been
like that for years and years. Why?...she just does. This could be
three to four weeks at a time. She only powers down when having to
pack it up to travel, and once destination is reached, it powered on
again for 24x7, until having to pack up again.
This may or may not be relevant:
The first sign that someting was wrong was yesterday, when she
unpacked her laptop and powered back up. The machine's Dell Support
Assist said something to the effect that the AC power wattage adapter
and type cannot be determined, and Support Assist asked to check
hardware. A 'Yes' initiated a hardware check, whereby all hardware
was determined to be ok. After the hardware check was completed,
the only option given was to 'Shut down'. I could shut down, and
then restart, but all this did was to repeat the above. But, after a
couple of round trips, the machine said 'No boot device found'.
Crap. That's when I posted the problem to the group.
I appreciate all the replies.
I do carry an extra OEM Dell charger for hers, and my laptop (they
are the same). Trying both the extra and my own charger on her
laptop gave the same 'error' message. Trying her charger on my
laptop worked fine, which indicates that her charger was not faulty.
Since I don't have my repair kit when traveling, I thought I'd have
to wait until we got home Sunday or so, but I hate loose ends, and am
sort of compulsive about fixing things right away. I do travel with
a whole set of construction/mechanical tools, for home maintenance
and appliance repairs, including some electronic tools.
(Electronics/pc repairs is not my strong point.) I did have a set of
jewelers screwdrivers, and was able to remove the srews from the back
case of my wife's laptop. It was quite a chore. The 10 screws
didn't want to come out; it was if they were nylon aviation screws.
I had to use a pair of pliers on the screwdriver's shaft during the
entire 'unwinding' to even turn the screws. Took about an hour.
Once the screws were out, I was able to pry the back cover off. I
removed the battery (easy to remove those screws), and then the
CR2032 CMOS battery. The battery tested at 3.12v. Go figure. It
was the original nine year old CMOS battery.
https://postimg.cc/dDRQJ7Zx
The next step is to try and boot the machine with a Windows 10 USB
boot stick. That has to wait until we get home.
If that doesn't work, I'll remove the SSD and connect to my external
USB IDE/SATA adapter, and see if I can save some data.
Then, I'll decide if I want to purchase a replacement SATA SSD, or
write off this macine, and purchase a (refurbished or) new machine.
My wife would like to get her old machine up and running, but is ok
if she has to settle for a new Windows 11 machine. She doesn't mind
learning a new OS. Her demands on a macine are minimal; browsing,
email, and occasionally Word, so no big learning curve.
If you've read this far, thanks.
OK, so you know what's happened then.
The battery pack is swelled. It's swelled to the point, the chassis
is now mis-shapen.
Take a look at the exterior of the unit. Does it seem
bulged at all ?
The thing about the design is, they on purpose do not try to route
cables on or near the battery pack. because the behavior of pouch
cells as they age is known. You can route cables to the side of the
pack, but it would not be a good idea to route cells over top of the
pack.
The root cause then, is the battery pack is likely
to be visibly "not-normal" when you get it open.
What it has pressed on, overloaded or otherwise
disturbed, you'll discover when you get in there.
Take a picture of the pack label, so you have a
reference when purchasing a replacement. That
is, if the insides are conducive to working
on that part of it.
It's very important with modern laptops, to set
the charger to 80%, when the two levels offered
are 80% and 100%. The 100% setting is hard on the
battery, and why it will be swelled after 9 years.
At the 80% charge level setting, the pack lasts
longer, especially in a "permanently plugged" situation.
My laptop, an older one, only has the 100% option,
so I definitely have to be careful with it. The pack
is pretty well spent now.
Modern packs always wear out. But this could change
some day, because of the extreme amount of research
done on batteries. For example, someone I went to school
with, has been charging and discharging a battery
continuously for the last five years. The electrodes
he is working with, are "self-healing" type. There
are all sorts of people like this, working in the
countryside, on battery innovation.
Paul
(Does running CrystalDiskInfo - not changing/clicking anything once it's open, just running it to get the % figure - actually wear anything? I'm hoping not, that it just interrogates some internal registers.)
Perhaps one (or both) of you should post to the TB newsgroup to see if
it can be fixed.
On 2025/7/11 5:56:17, Boris wrote:more usually the manufacturer's estimated shelf life of the cell - i. e., how long they think it would last, even if unused, doe to corrosion or other reasons for decay. I've certainly used PCs _well_ over the number of years expected, and they've still
Boris <Boris@invalid.invalid> wrote in
[]
Does it sound like the drive is kaput?
TIA
With the extra pictures etc. showing that the "drive" isn't just shoved into a fixed connector but has a cable, the possibility of one or both ends of the cable having come adrift increase.
[]
quite a chore. The 10 screws didn't want to come out; it was if they
were nylon aviation screws. I had to use a pair of pliers on the
screwdriver's shaft during the entire 'unwinding' to even turn the
screws. Took about an hour.
Yes, they can be a pain like that!>
Once the screws were out, I was able to pry the back cover off. I
removed the battery (easy to remove those screws), and then the CR2032
CMOS battery. The battery tested at 3.12v. Go figure. It was the
original nine year old CMOS battery.
https://postimg.cc/dDRQJ7Zx
I think the "X years" (3, 5, 6 ...) people talk about are often not the nominal capacity divided by the nominal drain of the circuitry; the latter is so low - and to some extent variable - that any such calculation has large error bars. I think it's
3.12 sounds nearly new to me.>
The next step is to try and boot the machine with a Windows 10 USB boot
stick. That has to wait until we get home.
Well (assuming you've not gone and put it all back together again) - _probably_ not a cause of the problem, but while you've got it open - check the seating of the RAM module(s); these _can_ work loose (or into a bad contact position).>
If that doesn't work, I'll remove the SSD and connect to my external USB
IDE/SATA adapter, and see if I can save some data.
Then, I'll decide if I want to purchase a replacement SATA SSD, or write
off this macine, and purchase a (refurbished or) new machine.
If it _does_ boot from stick, you mean, i. e. having proved that it's _likely_ to be the SSD at fault. If so, _I_ would definitely go the new-drive route (unlike some here) ...>
My wife would like to get her old machine up and running, but is ok if
... especially given that.
she has to settle for a new Windows 11 machine. She doesn't mind
learning a new OS. Her demands on a macine are minimal; browsing, email, >> and occasionally Word, so no big learning curve.
Indeed - learning a new OS would be trivial for such a user - certainly W11 from W10; she'd probably be fine with a Linux, not that I'm advocating that (nothing _against_ Linux, I just don't know much about it).>
If you've read this far, thanks.No prob.; I want you to get it sorted, so am interested!>
On 2025-07-11 15:22, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
(Does running CrystalDiskInfo - not changing/clicking anything once it's open, just running it to get the % figure - actually wear anything? I'm hoping not, that it just interrogates some internal registers.)
I believe it interrogates the SMART data.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-Monitoring,_Analysis_and_Reporting_Technology>
Boris wrote:
A USB boot stick for Windows 10 made on one device is applicable for
Some more background. I and my wife, and her laptop (and mine) are
all together, out of town. We will probably return to 'home base'
this Sunday, where I have my repair kit, and Windows 10 USB boot
sticks. The sticks are for my own Win10 machines, laptop and
desktops, not my wife's, so if I'm even able to boot from one of my
sticks, I may not be able to activate, since the sticks weren't made
from her laptop. I don't know.
another Win10 device.
The boot stick's Windows 10 version should be the same or later
version than the Win10 version on the device(for Windows repair
purposes)
This may or may not be relevant:
The first sign that someting was wrong was yesterday, when she
unpacked her laptop and powered back up. The machine's Dell Support
Assist said something to the effect that the AC power wattage adapter
and type cannot be determined, and Support Assist asked to check
hardware. A 'Yes' initiated a hardware check, whereby all hardware
was determined to be ok. After the hardware check was completed, the
only option given was to 'Shut down'. I could shut down, and then
restart, but all this did was to repeat the above. But, after a
couple of round trips, the machine said 'No boot device found'.
Crap. That's when I posted the problem to the group.
I appreciate all the replies.
I do carry an extra OEM Dell charger for hers, and my laptop (they
are the same). Trying both the extra and my own charger on her
laptop gave the same 'error' message. Trying her charger on my
laptop worked fine, which indicates that her charger was not faulty.
Does each charger when connected to her device yield the same 'on' status(e.g. colored light)?
Does the devices UEFI/BIOS provide the ability to save a UEFI/BIOSYes.
profile?
If so:Afraid not.
- do you have an earlier saved UEFI/BIOS profile ?
Do you have the latest UEFI/BIOS install file(used to update theNo.
UEFI/BIOS)?
If you've read this far, thanks.
On Thu, 7/10/2025 12:21 AM, Boris wrote:
Machine is a Dell Inspiron 2-in-1 13-7353 laptop, purchased June 7,
2016. It's running Windows 10.
It's my wife's machine, so I'm not terribly familiar with it, but
it's been running fine since purchased, and updates automatically.
Today, it wouldn't boot, saying that no bootable devices were found.
Oh, o!
I suspect that the hard drive is dead.
I did an F12 to enter the boot menu, and it shows:
UEFI On
Secure Boot On
PTT is Off
(I turned PTT back on in the Advanced Setting>Security.)
If I go to Boot sequence, all it shows is UEFI, and there is no boot
option...no Windows Boot Manager
Other options that are available are:
BIOS Flash Update (no thanks at this point, and don't think relevant
to problem solving)
Diagnostics, I did and shows no hardware issues
Change Boot Mode Settings (doesn't seem relevant)
System information (F12) shows:
Dell Inspiron 13-7353
8 GB memory
i3-6100
Storage shows:
Primary SATA
Type 128 GB HDD 2.5 inch
Device ID SanDisk 2400S 2.57mm 128GB
The specs show this is an SDD:
https://dl.dell.com/Manuals/all-
products/esuprt_laptop/esuprt_inspiron_laptop/inspiron-13-7353-
laptop_Reference%20Guide_en-us.pdf
The service manual tells me how to remove/replace the hard drive:
https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-us/Inspiron-13-7353-
laptop/Inspiron-13-7353-laptop/inspiron-13-7000-series-service-manual?
guid=guid-5b8de7b7-879f-45a4-88e0-732155904029&lang=en-us
I'm out of town and don't have the tools to do the procedure at this
time, and won't for a week or so.
What I'm wondering is if there's any other thing I can try to remedy
this, or an I screwed? That is, do I need to replace the hard drive
(SSD)? I have no image of the drive to restore.
Does it sound like the drive is kaput?
TIA
Well, one test would be to attempt to boot off a USB stick.
Depending on what you have at the moment on USB sticks.
On the one hand, the UEFI BIOS could be cooked. Two failure modes are suggested. Being a Dell and having the usual Dell Support, it may have
tried to do a BIOS update and failed. But the unit is from 2016, nine
years old, and what are the odds a BIOS update would be presenting
itself nine years later. I would guess No on this one, unless the Dell Support got into a loop and kept installing the same release until the
BIOS chip was worn out. The owner would be indispensible at this
point, indicating whether there was any weird behavior "every time I
booted".
The Z400s drive could be a Sandisk 2.5". The TBW endurance quotation
for it, seems a bit strange. The 128GB drive is almost normal on
endurance value, but the pattern of values quoted is suspicious.
Presumably it suffers a bit from a limitation on NAND flash chip
count, or on channel count.
The drive is not old enough to suggest "first generation, crash
worthy". It probably is not the Sandisk firmware which is at fault.
The drive in a laptop, has the benefit of battery backup, and the
shutdowns can be more well managed than a desktop which does not have
a UPS. It is unlikely to have lost its translation table (sector map)
or other metadata via a power fail. Which leaves an "eudurance
related" failure, and there may have been a Windows warning about
endurance ("wear life remaining"), but not a BIOS level warning.
*******
Summary: Boot with USB stick, view the disk with whatever tools the
USB stick OS
can manage to produce. It depends on your skills, your
location, as to whether you can do anything of note regarding
drive recovery or get a response. I can imagine my response,
if I was without my "kit bag" of boot sticks. My response
would be pretty feeble. With my crusty desktops, I could load
the drive on a desktop and play with it.
NAND flash do not make data recovery easy, so the backups
were your only practical protection. The sectors inside a
NAND flash SSD are not in LBA order. Only the translation
map, can turn the order of sectors back into a linear
sequence. The drive may have implicit FDE, it could
have OS BitLocker, and so on. The little SSDs are just a
royal mess inside :-/
This is why we can't have nice things.
You could purchase a USB flash stick at Walmart, go to the
public library, boot one of their computers for an hour, and
attempt to load up a USB stick with a download, via the
Rufus.ie USB stick program. That is the closest thing to
"free" you can manage, but usually public libraries will not
issue a card suited to booking a desktop, unless you live in
the municipality and can prove it with a drivers license. A
computer shop might be able to cough up a USB stick with a
Linux on it.
https://rufus.ie/en/
I don't think standalone SSD tester sticks are available from
the companies who make them. Usually, they would provide a
test program to be run from an OS.
Most likely, a dead drive. It the drive does not end its life in an
orderly fashion (wear level indicator failure), a metadata failure
will also put a stop to endless operation. While the UEFI NVRAM area
can run out of room to store boot paths, the one UEFI with the bug
causing that, you're not likely to be suffering that same fate.
Paul
And here's what I found on Newegg: https://www.newegg.com/sandisk-z400s-128gb/p/0D9-0006-00089
Notice that the original drive shows SD8....1012, while the Newegg drive shows SD8....1112. Is this drive the same as the original?
Yes. Each charger activates the charging light, but the light goes off
after a few seconds, and does not come back on.
On 11/07/2025 23:30, Boris wrote:
And here's what I found on Newegg:
https://www.newegg.com/sandisk-z400s-128gb/p/0D9-0006-00089
Notice that the original drive shows SD8....1012, while the Newegg
drive shows SD8....1112. Is this drive the same as the original?
You'll be better off buying Orico brand. 128GB drive costs £10 from
Amazon. You then add the shipping costs unless you collect it from
their collecting sites in your area. These are mainly local shops on
the high street.
<https://www.amazon.co.uk/ORICO-Internal-Compatible-Laptop-Desktops/dp/ B0D7C93FBK>
They don't ship to the U.S., but I did find Orico here with that drive
It's bizarre that a nine year old machine is in this good shape!
The voltage on the cell in this case, is excellent. No sign it's in a rush down the knee. The knee curve lasts for about three weeks before the
cell voltage is too low to maintain the RTC. 2.3V at the battery is about
the limit for it. 0.3V is dropped across the diode next to the CR2032,
and the RTC can run with as low as 2.0V.
*******
I wish there was some way to check that SSD. Just as earlier today, one of
"...winston" <winstonmvp@gmail.com> wrote in news:104rc4k$1j1gd$1@dont-email.me:
Boris wrote:
A USB boot stick for Windows 10 made on one device is applicable for
Some more background. I and my wife, and her laptop (and mine) are
all together, out of town. We will probably return to 'home base'
this Sunday, where I have my repair kit, and Windows 10 USB boot
sticks. The sticks are for my own Win10 machines, laptop and
desktops, not my wife's, so if I'm even able to boot from one of my
sticks, I may not be able to activate, since the sticks weren't made
from her laptop. I don't know.
another Win10 device.
The boot stick's Windows 10 version should be the same or later
version than the Win10 version on the device(for Windows repair
purposes)
This may or may not be relevant:
The first sign that someting was wrong was yesterday, when she
unpacked her laptop and powered back up. The machine's Dell Support
Assist said something to the effect that the AC power wattage adapter
and type cannot be determined, and Support Assist asked to check
hardware. A 'Yes' initiated a hardware check, whereby all hardware
was determined to be ok. After the hardware check was completed, the
only option given was to 'Shut down'. I could shut down, and then
restart, but all this did was to repeat the above. But, after a
couple of round trips, the machine said 'No boot device found'.
Crap. That's when I posted the problem to the group.
I appreciate all the replies.
I do carry an extra OEM Dell charger for hers, and my laptop (they
are the same). Trying both the extra and my own charger on her
laptop gave the same 'error' message. Trying her charger on my
laptop worked fine, which indicates that her charger was not faulty.
Does each charger when connected to her device yield the same 'on'
status(e.g. colored light)?
Yes. Each charger activates the charging light, but the light goes off
after a few seconds, and does not come back on.
However, this time, I heard the fan go on, and I was presented with the Support Assist screen:
"Time-of-day not set - please run SETUP program.
Invalid configuration information - please run SETUP program."
(Perhaps this was because I had previously removed the CMOS battery and
the laptop battery? I had reinstalled before getting this message.)
I pressed the Setup button.
I then went to System Configuration>Drives, and screen on the right
showed the SSD SATA-0, but it's check box was empty. I checked the box,
and pressed Restore Settings. I though I was getting somewhere.
The next screen was General>Boot Sequence, stating the boot order for
Legacy and UEFI settings. I pressed Exit, rebooted, and was then
presented with "No boot device found."
Screenshots:
https://postimg.cc/gallery/W3Rrrtd
Yes.
Does the devices UEFI/BIOS provide the ability to save a UEFI/BIOS
profile?
If so:Afraid not.
- do you have an earlier saved UEFI/BIOS profile ?
No.
Do you have the latest UEFI/BIOS install file(used to update the
UEFI/BIOS)?
If you've read this far, thanks.
On 10/07/2025 20:48, T wrote:
On 7/10/25 2:03 AM, John Hall wrote:
5% of the time it is something drastic.
https://drivesaversdatarecovery.com/
can recover your drive for you
-T
If it's the battery, then if the machine is left on for a minute or
so after it fails to boot, and then the Restart button is pressed, it
may well boot up normally. At least that's what I've found with my
own PC. (I haven't tried to replace the duff battery, as I'm terribly
maladroit when it comes to doing anything hardware-related.)
I have not seen that. Usually what I see is that
I can go into bios and reset the boot devices and
it boots. After the next power off, all is lost
again. Then it is the CMOS battery.
That's my experience too.
On 2025-07-11 13:47, Daniel70 wrote:
Perhaps one (or both) of you should post to the TB newsgroup to see if
it can be fixed.
Nay, it has been reported for ages.
What it could mean, is it attempted to boot in Legacy mode,
and the Legacy sequence did not have an Active (Boot Flag) partition,
because GPT disks don't have Active (Boot Flag) capability.
| Sysop: | Keyop |
|---|---|
| Location: | Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, UK |
| Users: | 508 |
| Nodes: | 16 (3 / 13) |
| Uptime: | 219:42:37 |
| Calls: | 9,974 |
| Calls today: | 5 |
| Files: | 13,833 |
| Messages: | 6,358,759 |
