Primary hard disk drive 0 not found

Are you eventually able to get the computer to start by shutting down and restarting?  If not, hit the F2 key when the error message appears to go into the BIOS setup.  Change the Primary IDE dveice setting to "Auto" then hit the Esc key to save changes and reboot.  If this doesn't solve the problem, shut down the computer, open the case and make sure all cables between the hard drive and motherboard are securely connected.

Steve

Hi Steve,

After I push the power button the computer does shut down.  Then I push the power button again to restart the computer and it restarts fine.  All is well until I get that message again.  I say it happens on the average of once a week.

Thanks,

Tim

Message Edited by tc27407 on 05-25-2003 02:58 PM

Hi Tim,

You still might want to try Steve`s suggestions, too a loose connection can cause erratic behavior. You might try "Clearing the NVRAM"

Best Regards

---

the same thing happens to me but it doesnt restart fine it goes back to that primary drive not found thing...its like a cycle. i put it on auto and now it says Secondary Master: Cd-rom reader....or something like that....i really need help. i am completely stuck although i havent tried the opening thing. can you tell me how to open it and what the cables look like? i have a dell 4550 thanks.

Thanks for all the help so far everyone. 

I just opened the case and looked at everything and didn't see anything out of the norm.  I also unpluged and checked all of the harnesses going to all of the drives and going to the motherboard and all looked good and made sure all was pluged in good.

So now I wait and see.  I'll let everyone know if that took care of it or not.

Thanks again,

Tim

 

 This sounds like what happened to mine. I have to restart by either Ctrl+Alt+Del or pushing the power button, and when it comes up this is what it says:

 

 

 

                                                                       F12 Boot Menu

 

OptiPlex GX260 Series

BIOS Revision A03

 

 

 

then i hit F12 to go to the menu where it says:

 

 

Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS Version 1.10 A03

Copyright 1985-1988 Phoenix Technologies Ltd.

Copyright 1990-2002 Dell Computer Corporation

All Rights Reseved

 

Dell System OptiPlex GX260 Series

www.dell.com

 

Primary hard disk drive 0 not found

Strike the F1 key to continue, F2 to run the setup utility

 

 

but when i hit F1, it definately does not continue, it says the same message again every time. PLEASE help if you can. Thank you for your time.

 

 -LeeAnn

 

 

Refurbished DELL OptiPlex GX260 Desktop

Intel P4 1.7 MHz

256 GB of RAM installed

20 GB IDE Hard Drive

Windows XP Pro installed

IDE CD ROM Drive installed (various speeds)

1.44 Floppy Drive installed

2 DIMM slots

2 PCI slots and 1 half height AGP slot

2 PS/2 Ports

4 USB Ports (2-back, 2-front)

2 Serial Ports and 1 Parallel Port

Onboard Network and Audio installed

LeeAnnMoody

First open the case and check that the data cable is properly connected to the hard drive and motherboard. No difference, then it would seem that hard drive has failed and should be replaced. You need to buy a 3.5" IDE/EIDE 7200rpm hard drive, any size up to 120gb should be fine.

Bev.


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