Will not reboot; says cannot detect hard drive

[arubalover]

I have a Dell Inspiron E1705 with Vista Home Premium 32bit. My computer has been shutting down without my doing anything. When I try to reboot, it says that it cannot detect my hard drive and my computer will not start up again. HELP!!!! Thanks

 

[stoneys-nutz]

Hello arubalover,
Go in to the Bios and see if the HDD is being recognised there.
Take a look and post your results, good luck.

 

[arubalover]

Sorry, but I do not know how to get into my bios.

 

[stoneys-nutz]

Depending on you PC, either F2 or delete should get you there.

 

[arubalover]

I really feel stupid. I pressed both keys both individually and together and nothing happened.

 

[Dwarf]

Here is a link to the manuals for your laptop: Documentation

Having had a quick read through these, the key required to enter setup is Del. Documentation

Check that your HDD is detected. Also, check the time and date to ensure that it is correct. If the time and date is incorrect, or if they reset themselves then it could be the CMOS battery is failing and needs replacement. See Documentation and in particular Documentation

 

[Timmah]

Adding on to what above poster said - You need to repeatedly press DEL immediately after turning the computer on. You should hear a beep and then you'll be in BIOS Setup Utility.