Primary Drive 0 Not Found

[jturner388]

I have a Dell Dimension 4600. I recently reformatted the hard drive, and everything worked fine; however, the next morning the computer would not load Windows and simply said "Primary Drive 0 Not Found," and then, "Strike F1 to retry boot, F2 for setup utility." Because I thought that I had a virus, I reformatted the computer again. Once again, everything worked fine until the next morning. I got the same error again, but this time, when I loaded the windows setup cd, I got this message: "Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed on your computer...Setup cannot continue." Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Kathys999]

I had this same exact problem with a Dell computer I was working on for a friend.

The only thing I could come up with was that it was a faulty Windows installation, some files did not get loaded. Your cd good? clear of scratches and smudges? If you have to reinstall Windows again, make sure you clean the cd good before you use it.

Kathy

[quickpcrepair]

It sounds like you may have a failing hard drive, that is not detected by BIOS, and therefore not bootable. As a hard drive fails, it can become less and less responsive - some times it may work some times it may not. The fact that the windows setup disk cannot detect it means that is not likely to be a software problem/scratched disk. If this system is still under warranty, I suggest contacting Dell to have the drive examined/replaced. Can you hear any odd sounds (repetitive clicking/griding) emanating from the hard drive? If you enter BIOS (press F2 right as you turn the computer on), can you see whether the drive is detected in BIOS? One last (simple) thing to check, but that causes a lot of frustration with computers - are the cables plugged in tightly? Sometimes, during normal operation (due to vibration), or when a computer is moved around, cables can come loose - try unplugging the hard drive's cables, then plugging them right back in snuggly.

-Matt
Quick PC Repair (serving the San Diego, CA area)
www.quickpcrepair.com

[jturner388]

I opened up the computer and messed with the plug running into the hard drive. It works fine now. Thanks for your help though.

[XFILESFMDS1013]

If you enter BIOS (press F2 right as you turn the computer on), can you see whether the drive is detected in BIOS?

I have the same exact problem, except that the drive isn't seen in the BIOS. I tried with a new drive, but same deal. Plugs are all fine. Any suggestions?

[jbennet]

its a dell problem.

i have a one year old 5150 and ide drives randomly dont get detected like that sometimes. i have to unplug all the cables and reattatch them for them to work

[Mogwhy]

Matt, I have exactly the same problem as the issue you helped solve. However mine started only after I opened the desktop up, because I wanted to change the 'watch' battery inside. It made a click as i opened it, and I assume this was the cable unplugging from the Hard drive.
However I am completely useless at this - how do I identify which is the hard drive to be able to replug the lead - i.e. what does it look like?
A stupid question I know, but would it be beneath the DVD player?

many thanks

It sounds like you may have a failing hard drive, that is not detected by BIOS, and therefore not bootable. As a hard drive fails, it can become less and less responsive - some times it may work some times it may not. The fact that the windows setup disk cannot detect it means that is not likely to be a software problem/scratched disk. If this system is still under warranty, I suggest contacting Dell to have the drive examined/replaced. Can you hear any odd sounds (repetitive clicking/griding) emanating from the hard drive? If you enter BIOS (press F2 right as you turn the computer on), can you see whether the drive is detected in BIOS? One last (simple) thing to check, but that causes a lot of frustration with computers - are the cables plugged in tightly? Sometimes, during normal operation (due to vibration), or when a computer is moved around, cables can come loose - try unplugging the hard drive's cables, then plugging them right back in snuggly.

-Matt
Quick PC Repair (serving the San Diego, CA area)
www.quickpcrepair.com

[caperjack]

not likely you pulled the cable off the harddrive just by opening the case ,this is what a harddrive looks like .
http://buildyourowncomputer.zuics.com/img/harddrive.jpg

[Mogwhy]

Hi Thanks for the note. Amazingly it was the cable that had disconnected from the drive - pushed it back on and it worked.

Thanks again. Phil.

not likely you pulled the cable off the harddrive just by opening the case ,this is what a harddrive looks like .
http://buildyourowncomputer.zuics.com/img/harddrive.jpg

[caperjack]

Hi Thanks for the note. Amazingly it was the cable that had disconnected from the drive - pushed it back on and it worked.

Thanks again. Phil.

your welcome

[shafi_uddin11]

what is defrence of primery drive to logical drive

[borufus]

I have a Dell Dimension 4600. I recently reformatted the hard drive, and everything worked fine; however, the next morning the computer would not load Windows and simply said "Primary Drive 0 Not Found," and then, "Strike F1 to retry boot, F2 for setup utility." Because I thought that I had a virus, I reformatted the computer again. Once again, everything worked fine until the next morning. I got the same error again, but this time, when I loaded the windows setup cd, I got this message: "Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed on your computer...Setup cannot continue." Any help would be greatly appreciated.

repeated your problem, found I had purchased a bad hard drive. installed another hard drive and all went as described in the manual. I have found dust is the biggest killer of a hard drive I do the ninety day dusting and Cleaning on all my computers. You would not believe how much dirt will find its way into the computer. Caution when blowing out the dust use a respirator in a well ventilated area. the first D&C put me into the hospital. You been warned so do as you please. After I started this program no crashes

[Bimmer boy]

I installed some software on my dell optiplez gx260 and when it tryed to boot back up it didnt. Just said it couldnt find the hard drive or disket drivr. I checked all the cables and mobo is fine. What happened? Thanks!

[caperjack]

I installed some software on my dell optiplez gx260 and when it tryed to boot back up it didnt. Just said it couldnt find the hard drive or disket drivr. I checked all the cables and mobo is fine. What happened? Thanks!

hi,see if you can boot to safe mode and uninstall said ,some software.
hit f8 on bootup to boot to safe mode ,or maybe not ,some Dells have f12 for boot options ,if so chose "enter setup "

[rapht20]

my computer does not boot instead keeps on complaining press f1 to continue f2 setup. Even after pressinf f1, it then says No Boot Device Available. kindly hlep me out of this
thank.

DELL

[caperjack]

my computer does not boot instead keeps on complaining press f1 to continue f2 setup. Even after pressinf f1, it then says No Boot Device Available. kindly hlep me out of this
thank.

DELL

hi hit f2 to enter bios/setup, see if it recognizes you hard drive ,if not then you have serious hard drive problem that needs professional attention

[rapht20]

It does not recognise the Hard Drive.
thanks

[caperjack]

It does not recognise the Hard Drive.
thanks

hi, if this a tower computer ,you could open the case [unplug comp first]and unplug cables from the hardrive and where it connects to the motherboard , plug them back in to make new connection ,i had a few that,that was all they needed

[rapht20]

thanks. i will try that again

[bonniestbbs]

blue screen of death, on my dell demision 2400, i tried everything unplug and replug all cables, made sure the fan were working, did a diagnostic on it, it said
primary IDE dianostic drive 0 st380011A
1 no drive
secondary
drive 0 no IDE device
drive 1 no IDE device
primary device not found
secondary device not found

i can book to where you put a cd in for reinstalling the computer but my computer did not come with one, it was built into the computer and hiting the f 11 or f12 don't work any more, i tried both of them