Like many posts on the forum pages, I've had little success speaking to Dell service providers over the past few weeks. I understand the problem with my out-of-warranty situation but the reps I've spoken with simply want either $129 or $289 up front to even start answering questions. I thought I'd turn to the community to see if any one might answer my questions?
During boot, prior to loading the OS (Win7 Ultimate x64) I receive the following messages ... SATA Port 4 ST_Mi13RFQBL 117F3393 S.M.A.R.T. Capable and Status BAD and a second message ... ANCI Port 3 Device Error. It holds until I press F1 to resume boot. After boot the PC works fine. My research indicates that a HDD failure is a potential.
My first thought is that I could simply purchase a new HDD to replace the failing drive. Unfortunately, NO Disks came with the PC to reinstall Windows, Office, etc. Plus, when I opened the case (just to make sure there were no loose cables) I discovered I have two physical HDD but only one volume (C Drive) on the PC. That seems to limit my ability to insert a new fresh drive and clone the current drive to it?
Anyone have a suggestion what my best option would be at this point since I can't get any advice or help from Dell support? Thank you.
