4550: Primary hard disk drive not found

Question

On my Dimension 4550, I get an error message saying that both primary hard drives are not found.  This is not a problem with the slave as that one could very well be lost for good.  However, I just got a new 160GB HD and put it into the master slot, and after many successful boots, this happens.  Knoppix 3.9 can read the disk perfectly fine, but the BIOS can't find it.  I've upgraded the BIOS from A03 to A08 and still no result.  After having just started over after the HD that shipped with my Dell failed, I'm not in any mood for this sort of thing.  Can anyone figure out my little dilemma?

ejn63 · Answer

The batteries are usually good for 3-5 years.

ejn63 · Answer

Check the jumpers on the drives. Everything should be set to cable select.

If you have never replaced the CMOS battery, do so now. Then clear the CMOS (enter setup, illuminate num, caps and scroll lock, and press alt-E until you hear a tone; reboot).

Tathar · Answer

Well, my CMOS battery isn't that old yet, and wouldn't the system time be impacted if the CMOS battery was dead?So far, I haven't had any issues with the system time being incorrect or anything similar.  So the issue is with jumper settings?  Considering that the setup that I'm having this issue withhas worked just fine on the current jumper settings before, are there any other possible causes to go through if this doesn't remedy the problem?

Tathar · Answer

Ah, I had the primary set to the primary jumper settings, and the slave to the slave settings.  Also, how long does a CMOS battery last?  I was going to assume I hadn't had the IDE cable plugged in fully if it wasn't for Knoppix 3.9 being able to read the data with no problems.

ejn63 · Answer

All Dells since about 1997 or so, use cable select - that is the way they ship from the factory.

A CMOS battery that's marginal can produce all sorts of strange symptoms. Try the jumpers first, the battery second.

If you still have problems, connect the drives one at a time. One dying drive can render the others invisible to the system.

Tathar · Answer

Hmm, seems I should do all three at once.  Considering that my CMOS battery will go in a half to two and a half years and that I have a slave that's probably dead by now, I'll just remove the slave altogether and replace the CMOS battery.  I'm still not sure if I can recover the data from my already problematic slave considering that Win XP thinks it's a FAT file system instead of NTFS.  I'll probably have to hope I have what I need backed up or available for download easily.  But then again, nothing's easy to download with 56k.  :smileymad:  Also, what type of battery is a CMOS battery?  Is there more than one type that will work?  If so, is any particular type better than another, and for what reason?

shesagordie · Answer

Tathar    You need a 3-V CR2032 coin cell, it can be purchased from a Radio Shack, WalMart, etc.   Bev.

jaybird8365 · Answer

THANK YOU!!!  This was exactly the problem I've been having after doing some upgrades to my PC.  I've scratching my head at what the problem was because I had a brand new drive, returned it because I thought it was bad, and then tried a 2nd new drive.

Storage, Drives & Media

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