titude C610 no bootable device, strike F1 to retry boot, or F2 to enter setup

I have a Latitude C610. The 40GB HD started making a horrible noise and "no bootable device, strike F1 to retry boot, or F2 to enter setup." comes up on the screen while booting.

I ordered and replaced the 40GB HD with a compatible 80GB HD. I booted from CD and loaded XP, but on restart, I get "no bootable device, strike F1 to retry boot, or F2 to enter setup."

On the blue setup screen with the new 80GB HD, I can not move anywhere, no control or cursor to move. The primary HD, Service Tag#, etc fields are now all blank.

Please point me in the right direction.

Motherboard not touched. I can put the old 40GB HD in and see the info just fine. I still get the message about no bootable device, though. The 40gb makes a noise, too. And does not boot.

I dig, I dig. I hate that, but I dig.

How would I go about updating my BIOS if in fact it could be updated to run that HD? Can this be done by CD drive?

And, how do I find out if this drive does work on my C610?

I think my BIOS version is A05.

This is my chat with Dell. Please see my question after this chat below:

05/08/2006 03:46:59PMAgent (RTS Lajeanna York): "I will be happy to
help you today. Can you provide any other information on what is happening
with your system today? Please use details."

05/08/2006 03:49:25PMJason Lee: "I booted my computer the other day
and it came to a black screen saying No Bootable Device strike F1 to retry
or F2 to enter setup. The hard drive area was making a clicking/scraping
noise at that time as well. I ordered an 80 GB HD and installed it. I"

05/08/2006 03:50:34PMAgent (RTS Lajeanna York): "the hard drive is
fine, I will check and see what is a possible solution for you."

05/08/2006 03:50:58PMJason Lee: "thanks"

05/08/2006 03:51:35PMJason Lee: "also, while the 80GB HD is in,
my setup page F2 does not show any HD or my service tag # etc"

05/08/2006 03:53:06PMAgent (RTS Lajeanna York): "Okay, I will
check on that."

05/08/2006 03:56:59PMAgent (RTS Lajeanna York): "the reason
why the bios is not showing any thing(F2) and the hard drive is
not working is the mother board is going bad in the system it
needs to be replaced."

05/08/2006 03:57:38PMJason Lee: "I can replace the 80GB HD
with the old 40 GB HD and I can see the information fine."

05/08/2006 03:58:56PMAgent (RTS Lajeanna York): "The motherboard
still will see the hard drive correct? event the old one?"

05/08/2006 03:59:12PMJason Lee: "Only the old one."

05/08/2006 03:59:55PMAgent (RTS Lajeanna York): "Try this and
if it doesn't work the mother board needs replace. I will need just
a few to type it out."

05/08/2006 04:01:58PMAgent (RTS Lajeanna York): "Put the new
drive in and take out the battery and the adapter out of the system,
press the power button for about 30 seconds and then put the
battery and the ac adapter back into the system and turn it on.
If it doesn't see the drive it is the motherboard"

05/08/2006 04:09:19PMJason Lee: ""No bootable device....etc" And no
information about the 80GB HD in the BIOS."

05/08/2006 04:09:54PMAgent (RTS Lajeanna York): "The motherboard
will need to be replaced."

05/08/2006 04:10:56PMJason Lee: "No updated BIOS? Please........
I can't afford a new laptop....crying...."

05/08/2006 04:11:34PMAgent (RTS Lajeanna York): "I can try that
bios update."

05/08/2006 04:13:53PMAgent (RTS Lajeanna York): "I can give you the link
and you can print it out."

05/08/2006 04:14:08PMJason Lee: "That'd be great"

05/08/2006 04:14:11PMAgent (RTS Lajeanna York): "http://support.dell.com /support/downloads/previousversions.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&deviceid=1149&SystemID=LAT_PNT_P3C_C610&osl=
en&os=WW1&releasetype=BIOS&vercnt=13&typecnt=1&libid=1"

05/08/2006 04:14:32PMAgent (RTS Lajeanna York): "go the next
version up."

05/08/2006 04:15:00PMAgent (RTS Lajeanna York): "burn it to a CD and
boot for the burnt copy."

05/08/2006 04:18:22PMAgent (RTS Lajeanna York): "try all the version.
first if that doesn't work Then yes."

05/08/2006 04:18:58PMJason Lee: "OK, but do it in order? Why not just
updte to the latest one now? Impossible?"

05/08/2006 04:19:31PMAgent (RTS Lajeanna York): "Start with the next one
up and go from there."

I dl'd the .exe file and burnt it to a data cd. But, when trying to boot from this disk, it will not. Did I burn the disk right? Is there something I must do to make it bootable?

I got the bootable cd to work. But the BIOS did not upgrade. I know it opened the A prompt and did some things and scrolled very fast but I don't think it finished right. It scrolls too fast to see what it says and I don't know how to "back up" and see what it says.

I am still showing A05 and not A07 like I was upgrading to.

Any ideas?

Let me sort this straight for my own benefit if for no other reason.

Old 40 GB HD -
-I can see it in BIOS
-Makes scraping/clicking noise
-No bootable device etc..." message appears on boot up.

New 80 GB HD -
-does not show up in BIOS
-booted from Dell cd and all seemed perfectly fine. Process acknowledged the size of the 80 GB HD. Upon restart after installation prodecures using Dell cd, "No bootable device , etc " message appears.

I wish I knew more about these things.

I knew about the adapter. I just bought a used C640 2.0ghz. I'll play with them when it gets here.

Thanks and I hope someone sees this and says, "Hey. I had the same problem. This will fix it....."

If I do narrow this down to the motherboard, are they hard to replace? I mean, I'm good with my hands. Is this something I would want an expert to handle?

Is it hard to replace a motherboard in a C610? I'm sure the new one will not come with any recipe...right?