its also quite common for it to ruin the pumps if it gets turned over a lot while its out of diesel
the diesel lubricates the pump so if its run dry then it ruins a seal inside and cant pull fuel thru
if it does this then it usualy means the pump is scrap,
i run a workshop for a hire drive company and unfortunately we have peple run them out of fuel all the time
usualy just fill the filter and crack an injector on a tddi and it'll fire up
tdci is fill the filter and turn it over
but definately fill the filter to the brim and try that