Try removing your caddy and HDD and then reseat it. It sounds like a bad connection.

I tried reseating the HD, seems as though everything was alright and fit alright but still get the error on start up. I should say that unlike I stated in my original post, the machine does recognize the operating system on the first restart everytime, sometimes it just takes longer to boot. Thanks for the idea, hope somebody else can recommend something.

 

Mike

How big is the new HD and is its size compatible with your laptop model?

I used the Dell website and my service tag to find a replacement HD, so I guess I never thought about it not being compatable. The new hard drive is a 160 GB Western Digital Scorpio which again was ordered from the Dell website and I bought it because it was the only internal hard drive they sold for my computer. The old HD I believe was 40 GB, so how do I know what the maximum is for my computer. Thanks for the suggestion and hopefully someone can help me figure out if this is my issue.

 

Mike

I found this post while searching the forums, and if this is true that could very well be my problem. Please chime in and let me know what you think of the situation and what my options are. Thanks.

 

Upgrading hard drive in inspiron 5100 

Mike that link was dead. Did your old hard drive die? I am thinking this could be a controller problem on the motherboard or the new hd is too big.

 

Run the Dell diagnostics on the hard drive see what it comes up with.

My computer has been on the fritz for awhile now and it was basically generic problems such as error messages, running slow and freezing up. So I was going to reinstall my operating system and hope that it would clear up. Before I could get around to that my fiance updated the McAfee which had expired probably 6 months before. After that the computer was running even worse and kept giving a message that Hard drive failure was anticipated. The hard drive in fact never actually died. So that is when I decided to put a new hard drive and I probably wouldn't have put something so big but I had no idea what was compatable and I trusted the dell website to supply me with a new hard drive. Since the 160 GB HD was the only internal hard drive available that is what I ordered. Could anyone tell me exactly how to find out what is the max. size hard drive compatible with my Inspiron 5100?

 

I'm going to do the dell diagnostics when I get a chance and post the results.

 

Thanks,

  Mike

120gb is the biggest capacity it will use. Dell must have not "crossed all the T's". I have found a few of the older models from the D810 and I-9300 back that will use the drives larger than 120gb(137gb-), namely the

D510 and D810. The D610 will use one, but the BIOS will only show it as 137gb; Windows, however, will install it at full capacity. I guess this model needs a new BIOS Flash.