# My Dell Latitude CPi can't find bootable device



## bluebirdie26 (Dec 11, 2010)

When I turn on my Dell Latitude CPi laptop ( i know its old) the dell sign comes on then i get a error message that reads:
Primary hard disk drive not 0 not found 
No bootable device (s) selected strike F1 to retry boot, F2 for setup utilitys
Now when I press F2 i get the set up menu but what do i do from there please hellp i'm not computer savy. BTW i have a pentium 11 processer and windows 98 operating system


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## SDFOX 7 (Apr 29, 2007)

It's probable that either your hard disk drive failed, or the hard disk drive controller failed.

I'm a bit confused, your specs say "Hard Drives: C: Total - 140232 MB, Free - 100488 MB;".

Do you really have 140GB hard drive? I didn't know that old of a laptop could even recognize that large of a size.

Anyway, the stock part for your model is the 6.4GB IBM TravelStar DADA26480. You can find them on a popular auction site (not sure if it's against rules to post here).


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## TheOutcaste (Aug 8, 2007)

Physically remove the hard drive, then re-install it, it may just have a bad connection.

I'd say the 140GB HD is for the Acer in the specs running Win 7, not the Dell running Win 98


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## bluebirdie26 (Dec 11, 2010)

I have 2 laptops one is a dell the other is an acer 1 old 1 new.


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## bluebirdie26 (Dec 11, 2010)

Thanks for your suggetions. Now can you say that in dummy terms lol i am really bad with computers terms sorry


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## TheOutcaste (Aug 8, 2007)

Take the hard drive out of the laptop then put it back in. If it's a bad connection that might fix it. The User Guide should have instructions on how to remove the drive, but the Dell Support site seems to be down at the moment.
This site has instructions though:
http://www.ehow.com/how_6656055_install-drive-dell-latitude-cpi.html
You might want to remove it from the carrier and then put the carrier back on as the carrier connects to the drive connector and adaptes it to the motherboard connector. Removing it and replacing it will "wipe" the connectors, and may fix a bad connection.

If it still says the drive is not found after removing and re-inserting the drive, it's probably dead. If the laptop can't detect it you can't even run diagnostics on it. All you could do at that point it test the drive in another system to make sure it's the drive that is bad, and not the controller/connector on the laptop.


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## TheOutcaste (Aug 8, 2007)

Dell's site is working again, here's the Dell parts manual:

Removing and Replacing Parts: Dell™ Latitude™ CP and CPi


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