My laptop (it's actually my sister's that i'm using for a few months, and it's a few years old) isn't starting right sometimes.

When I press the power button, instead of going to windows I'll get a white and grey screen that says:

Dell Computer Corporation
dell.com

The device in the system modular bay cannot be identified.
It may not be completely inserted or may have some other problem.
Please read and complete the following steps.

1) Press the device completely and firmly into the bay
2) Press the ESC key -- wait for the system to power down
3) Press the power button to retry detecting the device.


So I press Esc, and sometimes after a few tries it'll come back on..... but tonight I've been trying and trying and it's not working.

Anyone seen this before? Is it dead?

If so, this bites because I use this laptop everyday for a class i'm taking, and I really need it. :hmm:

thanks!
cc

shoot, my roommate let me use her computer, but she just came home. so i might not be able to come back online until tomorrow....

Sounds like the CDROM is on the fritz, is that in a 'removable bay.' Try removing it. Try then readding it.

Yeah, the "modular bay" is probably either the hard drive or the CD Rom (or floppy if it has a removable floppy). Kinda like manu suggested, I'd say pop out any removable drives and boot to see if it clears up the problem, if it does try firmly replacing the drive and see if that magically clears up the problem.

Thanks you guys. I thought it was dead last night, but it started working again this morning. My friend said she used to get the same screen, and at first it would come on after a couple restarts, but then it would take more and more, until it finally died.

But if it stops working again, I'll try what you said. Thanks again!

I think my computer may have just died. :hmm: (I'm on my roommate's laptop)

It was working fine for a while, but today when I went to start it, it didn't at all. Not even that grey Dell screen I was talking about before.

Not that I expect anyone to be able to help with this... just sayin. But I guess i'll take it to the computer lab on my campus to have the guy see if it's fixable.

dang computers! :nonono:

That's what I do when I have a computer problem as well. lol
The lab technician is now "my computer guy"
Well I hope it can be fixed since you have info on it for school.
I have bad luck with computers so im always backing up data.

Thanks, Kim! :)

Ok, this is very strange but this computer really did look as dead as a doornail for most the day today, but then later is started working again!

This has already happened a couple times before, and each time it breaks and I think it's the end, it comes back. :p

I'm going to have to name this laptop Lazarus! :P