Dell - Invalid partition table, media failure, no boot device found

minni

Hi, I’ve had nothing but grief since i unboxed a Latitude 3340 laptop that was shipped to me quite a long time ago.
It’s a REFURB (with label on underside stating “Refurbished to Dell Specifications by FedEx supply chain”

Then after I purchased an OEM battery and OEM charger, I thought i was finally out of the woods.
…But then in midst of playing a podcast on the Dell (which i’ve smoothly done for years with my Lenovo)
……the podcast kept stopping and stuttering.

So i turned off the Dell and put it aside out of frustration. Then today, when i tried it, it didn’t power on (black screen). So i reset it by pressing Power prolongedly (while battery+charger were removed).
I then reconnected the battery+charger.

Then, when i powered back on, at least there was nomore black screen.
BUT it failed to boot to Win-10. Instead, the below kept repeating in a Loop:

**Invalid partition table
(i pressed any key)
Initializing and establishing key
media test failure, check cable
exiting intel boot agent
no boot device found
press any key to reboot
(i pressed any key)

Then once again it looped:
Invalid partition table
yada yada**

Is there any fix to get back the Win-10 which this laptop came with?

urbanriot

The “refurb” status makes me question as to whether it has a recovery partition so instead I believe it will be up to you to manually reinstall Windows.

The good news is that it isn’t too hard, you simply need a USB flash drive and download the media creation tool on another PC. If the BIOS product key is keyed to Windows 10 then you should be able to get Windows 11 on there too.

However it’s possible you simply have a corrupt drive. Making the media creation tool would be helpful to evaluate that, I would boot to a command prompt and chkdsk C: /f

minni

Thanks, any best URL for simple instructions for all that?
I’d much rather put Win-10 on there. I prefer avoiding Win-11.

toolman1990

I would also check the computer has either a hard disk drive or solid state drive. If it does have one installed it would either be no operating system installed or a failed drive.

[deleted]

Before I did that, I’d probably try to load the BIOS screen and make sure that there is a hard drive selected. If you search for typical BIOS settings for that model, you may be able to see something there that is off, maybe due to improper shutdowns or battery dying whilst powered up. It is a stretch maybe, but something to try.

Search for how to boot into BIOS for your model, F1, F10, Del, etc. during Startup (try wikiHow).

toolman1990

[deleted] Before I did that, I’d probably try to load the BIOS screen and make sure that there is a hard drive selected. If you search for typical BIOS settings for that model, you may be able to see something there that is off, maybe due to improper shutdowns or battery dying whilst powered up. It is a stretch maybe, but something to try.

Search for how to boot into BIOS for your model, F1, F10, Del, etc. during Startup (try wikiHow).

I believe on Dell computers F2 is to access bios settings and F12 is the boot menu.

Somewhat-Reticent

Got firmware backup?

minni

I only have the Windows Key which i had jotted down months ago.

OK, here’s what I got in Boot Sequence. So what do i do next?

real_aurgathor

minni

minni It’s a REFURB (with label on underside stating “Refurbished to Dell Specifications by FedEx supply chain”

Hehehe, I have the same label on a Surface 3 tablet.

minni **Invalid partition table
(i pressed any key)
Initializing and establishing key
media test failure, check cable
exiting intel boot agent
no boot device found
press any key to reboot

I can think of 3 basic possibilities in order of likelihood:
1) the boot partition get corrupted somehow
2) the hard disk had died
3) there is a bad contact somewhere

Many Dells have a built in hardware test (often stored in a special partition, so it may not be accessible) – see if you can start that.

While it’s the least likely option, a cursory checking of #3 is the easiest. Open the back cover, remove the HDD, and look at the connector for obvious corrosion – if there’s none, put it back and test it again.

If it still fails, remove the HDD again, put it into USB dock connected to another PC, and see if the HDD is seen, or even better, it works. If you’re at that stage, I can give you some more advice on what you can do.

real_aurgathor

minni So what do i do next?

First, see if the boot HDD is shown somewhere.

minni

What do you mean about seeing if boot hdd is somewhere? Didn’t i just post a photo of the boot sequence?

Re: Corrosion - were you referring to this: https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/how-to-clean-the-corroded-contact-pads-on-the-hard-drive-pcb.3612092/

I’m not expert enough to tell what is a bad contact/connector. I couldn’t find the info thru various keyword searches.

BTW, looking back at my notes from months ago, the Latitude 3340 would claim my Ethernet isn’t connected (even though it was). The Ethernet cable was also difficult to remove, causing fingertips to kill. And the laptop would get hot, and with a noisy rattle, unlike Lenovo. And when playing Apple podcast, the speaker was quite lower than the Lenovo, and would also suddenly stop in midst of playing, and that happened continually. Research yielded that Apple podcasts are problematic if you have a “variable file” versus a “constant” one. Something to that effect. And on and on.

[deleted]

minni

None of what you posted is particularly reassuring. How long has it been since you first got the laptop, and why did you wait so long to address the issues?

minni

Maybe years. Sorry I got otherwise preoccupied, as often happens. Call me nuts. Meantime i opened the 9 screws of the base, but i’ve no clue what might be corroded. Some of the innards look worn to me.
Should i bother to post a pic. and edit-out identifiers?

Then saw the below vid., which looks way difficult for me to pull off. These companies design non-repair-friendly, for crying out loud, you have to remove both the keyboard, and the base, and connect some sorta cloth strip? I don’t think they ever wanted people to repair it, rather to keep buying new.

Somewhat-Reticent

minni
I don’t think they ever wanted people to repair it, rather to keep buying new.

No surprise there.

Dustyn

minni

minni Thanks, any best URL for simple instructions for all that?
I’d much rather put Win-10 on there. I prefer avoiding Win-11.

If you have 8 minutes of time to spare to watch a YouTube video, this one is pretty straight forward.

Then you can plug the USB you created into your laptop and choose whatever option your BIOS shows to boot from the USB Storage Device.

minni

Thanks Dustyn! Um, I heard him recommend a 64gb flash-drive.
I have some 32gb ones - can’t i use that?

Also, lets say i download Win-10 media via my Lenovo, and decide to then install that ISO onto, say, a future-acquired Lenovo and Dell, would that one ISO be installable onto both brands of future-acquired laptops?

Also, about halfway thru - he proceeds with Rufus, which he states is for the same purpose but with advanced options. So my Q is, whether Rufus is really necessary? Or is the first part of his instructions sufficient?

BTW, I don’t suppose there’s a rush to view your 2nd linked-video, so i can cross that bridge when needed.

Finally, below are photo’s of my sys. thus far (as of now 82% toward DST test completion).
Please await my last photo (not for awhile, as i have an appointment in a few hours)

PL1

minni I have some 32gb ones - can’t i use that?

Definitely. It only takes up about 5GB.

minni

Thanks! Also for Win-Media, if i select “Both” (instead of 64-bit) will that use up space?

OK, further down are some more in my series of Redacted system pics.
Can anyone here assess if it pays to fix it, based on the four pics?

Just now, I started viewing the Rufus section of the first video above.
Its confusing. I.E. was he putting NTFS on the same stick as his Win-Media download?
Also clueless re: MBR/GPT, as he didn’t clarify what’s meant by “newer” or “older” laptop.
I vaguely recall being confused by Rufus in my other BBB thread too.

Dustyn

minni You can select BOTH 32bit and 64-bit if you wish, but that would just take longer to compile the .ISO. Pick what you need for the systems you want to use this USB .ISO for. IF one is 32-bit and the other is 64-bit then pick both. Otherwise if all your systems are 64-bit just pick 64-bit. Also 32GB USB stick is just fine and you can use the same .ISO file you downloaded on the USB flash drive to setup both computers. You need to use Rufus to make the .ISO bootable. You don’t need to use ANY of the advanced options he is showing you in the Rufus part of the video. Just open Rufus and select where you downloaded the .ISO file on your PC. Just make sure your “Partition scheme” is set correctly along with your “Target system” settings.

Partition scheme: GPT (UEFI BIOS)
Target system: UEFI (non CSM)

NOTE: I’m not sure if you have UEFI enabled in your BIOS. Judging by your Boot Sequence screenshot, it looks like you have opted to use Legacy BIOS and not UEFI. Is that correct?

If you don’t have UEFI or don’t wish to use it and wish to use Legacy BIOS options, then you need to change the options if Rufus to the following:

Partition scheme: MBR (Maximum partition size is 2TB)
Target system: BIOS (or UEFI-CSM)

Filesystem in Rufus can be whatever it wishes to default to as that is just for the “USB file system”, not Windows 10 itself. Windows 10 will automatically set it as NTFS.

real_aurgathor

minni What do you mean about seeing if boot hdd is somewhere? Didn’t i just post a photo of the boot sequence?

That’s a boot sequence which does not confirm the presence of drive with 100% certainty.

At least in desktops, there is a “Drives” page that clearly shows the drives seen by the computer.

While the above doesn’t guarantee that the hard drive is usable, it indicates that the HDD is visible to the system and it is not badly broken.

minni I’m not expert enough to tell what is a bad contact/connector. I couldn’t find the info thru various keyword searches.

Just ignore it then – in most cases that’s the least likely possibility.

minni And the laptop would get hot, and with a noisy rattle,

What do you have in that laptop? HDD or SSD?

Lastly, this is one of the screen you posted, and there are at least a couple of things wrong with it:

1) there are two hard drive not founds/installed
2) the entries are not in chronological order, meaning that the CMOS may have lost power and lost all the settings at some point – on desktops this is usually a sign that the CR2032 needs to be changed, but laptops may or may not have a separate CMOS battery.