Error loading operating system

haveu formmated your disk & installed an operating system ie Win7/Xp it seems u have not got an operating system.

One bad lead can cause a computer to continue on a cycle or to shutdown or fail to detect your hard drive
Test the leads that attach to your ((hard drive from the motherboard)) or replace all the leads that attach to your hard drive including electrical extensions + IDE,SATA and the ones that attach from your ((motherboard to hard drive))
make sure all leads that are attached to your drives dvd\cd 3 1/2 inch floppy have secure connections and are not faulty even the electrical extensions or just replace them they are probably old and faulty a computer needs its connections to have an end so any faulty leads will end up with a computer error


hope this helps

I'm not sure that there is an "Optimum" hard drive for your Latitude. If you are replacing hdds this quickly there is something else that is causing them to fail. Nearly all hdds have a minimum of 3 year warranty and many have a 5 year warranty. If you are having multiple failures less than 5 months out on every hdd then the issue is likely with the Latitude and not the hdd. Your power supply/brick may be the issue.

The fact that this brand and model of laptop were reviewed by laptop review back in 2006 tells me that this laptop is well past its life expectancy. IMHO it is time to upgrade and stop wasting your time on old (10 years +) equipment.

test the leads that attach from your motherboard to your hard drive or replace them there probably old and faulty
make sure that you have secure connections to all drives cd/dvd 3.1/2 inch floppy and hour hard drive one bad/faulty lead can lead to lots of probems ntldr is the software that helps your operating system load

this error usually is for hard drive issue. if an operating system reinstallation wont work, a hard drive replacement should resolve this problem.

the seagate HHD (secondary drive) need to be on the same cable as the primary HHD. unless you haev SATA. then it is need to be connected to the second SATA connector on the mother board.
go to BIOS setup and make sure the BIOS know there are 2 HHD.
you should be good to go.

To eliminate a software problem, I installed another hard drive with the same operating system, and the problem still existed.
I also flashed the BIOS with no results.


The most logical conclusion is that the problem lays with power supply.
A new power supply was ordered today.

If this is a usb external drive then it will be shown as a removable drive in My Computer. Just right click on the icon>Explore and you should be able to view the files on that drive. If you do not see a removable drive then please post back and I will help you determine the problem. Steve Medley

That particular Dell uses a power supply with non-standard wiring. The plug is the same size as an ATX plug, but it's wired differently. If you were to replace motherboard & plug in the standard power supply, it would damage the supply, or the motherboard, or both. Also, the front panel plugs (for power & power LED & hard drive indicator) are proprietary as well. Ideally you should replace it with another Dell Dimension 4600 motherboard. I've found replacements for reasonable prices on some of the auction places on the web. I recently replaced a failed motherboard in my Dimension 8300 with one I got from a popular auction site, I think my cost was about $59 plus shipping.

The other option would be to remove the hard drive, video card (if any), and optical drives, and consider a 'barebones' package from various sites such as geeks or newegg.

Try removing all of the hdds or just leave one that you think it works. See what happens.