Hardware failure?

Google fails me right this moment. I'm trying to determine if I need to go out to a site and replace a hard drive, or hopefully just remote install an OS.

A user at one of our remote sites said that the computer crashed, and on startup got the following message:

No media in remote boot device
install media in remote device or reset target

This confuses me, because the OS is on the machine's hard drive. These aren't dumb terminals. They are supposed to be able to access a number of network resources, but they don't boot from the network.

All my research just keeps telling me what to do if no boot device is available. Here, it looks like the boot device IS available, but there's nothing on it? Am I looking at OS or HD failure here? =\

 

Looks like a HDD failure to me but that message does not make any sense. Can you get the remote user to load BIOS defaults ?

 

No, sadly. They're they definition of computer illiterate. Really hard to walk people through anything without remoting into their desktops and *showing* them.

Goes back to writing class, I suppose, where showing is always more effective than telling.

 

Then get on the phone & get the user to set BIOS to default. You may also get a clue to what's happening in BIOS.

 

Got a hold of the end user. They attempted to restart the computer before I could call. The original error message is no longer present, but instead stops on the manufacturer's splash screen where it shows the logo and the BIOS version. Attempts to access the boot order and BIOS settings (F2 and 12) were unsuccessful - the boot process never goes far enough to prompt for these options.

On the idea that it might be like a KVM switch problem I had a while ago, where the connection simply wasn't being recognized, I prompted the user to unplug everything from the computer. In order, I had her plug the monitor cable back in, the PS/2 keyboard and the USB mouse, with each device requiring its own reboot. The screen continued to freeze on the splash screen.

User reports no sound of a hard drive spinning, and minimal fan noise after approximately 10 seconds. But she reports hearinf fan and hard drive noise at power-on.

(a) Something is either preventing the BIOS from handing off to the HD, to get the OS up and running, or (b) The hard drive is no longer functioning in some capacity, despite initially spinning up.

 

At startup the drive LEDs should flash, get them to watch the LEDs (HDD, CD/DVD and FDD). [Get them to check there are no disks in the removable drives.] Keyboard LED should flash as well.

Get them to start tapping the F2 key from startup. Even holding down a key may result in going to the BIOS with a keyboard error.

It could be as simple as needing to remove and reseat the drive cable/s. It might be due to any one of the devices (PCI cards?). Hopefully it's not a motherboard problem.

Matt

 

F2 does nothing. We get hard drive activity light flashing on the tower until it hits the splash screen, and then it just stops.

Just to draw from what you were saying... If the cable were loose or disconnected, we wouldn't get that light at all, would we?

 

I don't see what other advice we can offer as it would most probably involve opening the case & disconnecting the hard disks etc. or reseating the cables.

Better to call your service people.

 

Put it this way, it's better than no light

Did you get them to try tapping the F2 key, if gets to the stage where it freezes in the BIOS, F2 won't work. Did you try them holding down a key from startup? No luck?

Matt