Unable to boot from USB on Dell Inspiron 15R SE

WindowsLaptopGuy

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Oct 7, 2012
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Hi all,

I have a Dell Inspiron 15R SE laptop, running Windows 8, with a broken hard drive. It is going to be repaired soon, but I would like to retrieve the data from the hard drive. I have created a bootable USB with Linux Ubuntu. I have tried booting from this USB but am unable to do so. I know that it is not a problem with the USB, as I am able to boot from the USB on another Windows 7 system.

I have tried changing the boot order in the BIOS (the screen that pops up when I press F2 when I boot up the system), but am unable to do so. I was able to change the boot order on another Windows 7 system I had, but for some reason I am unable to do so on the Dell Inspiron 15R SE. I have also tried the screen that pops up when I press F12 as I boot up the system, but am still unable to do so.

I have provided links to three photos, one is a diagnostic screen that shows my hard drive is broken, another is the BIOS screen, and the final one is the F12 screen.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/lvl5005lbkv0cr3/Photo%2029-09-2013%2017%2053%2032.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0d428hsb6uc5xwy/Photo%2001-10-2013%2018%2004%2025.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/fux0w8tunjdn1xu/Photo%2001-10-2013%2018%2005%2031.jpg

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
~WindowsLaptopGuy
 

WindowsLaptopGuy

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Oct 7, 2012
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Diagnostics lands me in the diagnostic screen.
Enter setup gets me into BIOS.

I can't remember what Peripheral Device Setting and Change Boot Mode Setting do, but I have probably tried them at some point.

Could you advise me on what to do next?

Thanks,
~DarkEddy
 
the best thing would be to connect the drive as a external one in another system and retreive most of the data you could since it fail on smart even the recovery from linux could not be working . and it you change to boot from usb not warranty that it will work . see if someone else have a idea on this .
 

WindowsLaptopGuy

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Oct 7, 2012
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Unfortunately, I do not have a cable to connect the hard drive to another system. :(

Is there any possible way that I could make it boot from USB?

Thanks,
~WindowsLaptopGuy
 

WindowsLaptopGuy

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Oct 7, 2012
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Sorry, im not quite sure what you mean when you say 'if I could not access it from the system even if I boot from USB?'

Thanks,
~WindowsLaptopGuy
 

WindowsLaptopGuy

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Oct 7, 2012
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But how do I know if my drive won't give me access to my data?

Thanks,
~WindowsLaptopGuy
 

WindowsLaptopGuy

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Oct 7, 2012
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In the end, I finally managed to get into a usable operating system.

For some reason, I couldn't boot off USB or change the boot order in the BIOS.

Dell sent me a Windows 8 recovery disk, which I managed to boot from the F12 menu. It was a bit hit-and-miss, sometimes the disk didn't show up in the F12 menu.

From the Windows 8 recovery menu of the DVD, I was able to boot off of a removable device, in this case my USB running Linux Ubuntu.

From there, I was able to access my hard drive and backup my data. Ubuntu is pretty good as an interim operating system, and I may dual boot Windows 8 and Ubuntu when my hard drive finally gets replaced (and the technician makes it so that I can boot off of USB).

What I am confused about is if I was able to access my files from Linux Ubuntu, why won't my laptop boot normally? It just gives me BSOD

Thanks so much,
~WindowsLaptopGuy