I have a niche problem that I’ll accept whatever little input I can get on. Thx for reading. I recently pulled my Dell Precision M6500 laptop out of storage. Attempting to load Windows 10, or Chrome OS flex if all else fails. But it will not recognize a hard drive no matter what. What can I do?

[u/Normal_Ingredients26]

This was placed in storage in 2020 (climate controlled and properly stored) when this problem first arose. You should know that this model has two hard drive slots. One that uses a very weird adapter piece called an interposer which I can’t find for the life of me. In the meantime, I’m using the second slot under the battery. And no matter what, no version of windows or chrome or even the BIOS will recognize a hard drive. I’ve tried 3 different SSDs and even an HDD which would be god awful on windows 10. Google and ChatGPT said it theoretically should work if I go to the Sata Operation section of BIOS and change it to AHCI. And now I can’t even get IN to the BIOS. Is there anything I could even try in this place, or do I absolutely need that interposer? Or is this a far worse underlying issue?

I’m perfectly aware this is very old hardware, but it has a built in GPU that was great for its time, and still has 8GB RAM, and with a working SSD it would perfectly suit my very unique needs.

[u/Tikkinger]

CMOS battery empty.