HD fail message when booting Windows 98SE

[Jackdor]

I have removed the secondary hard disc from my computer because it was faulty. At the present I do not wish to replace it as I have sufficient storage on my primary C drive. However when I start up I get the message "Secondary Master Hard Disc Fail" and the screen pauses, After a couple of minutes I get the "Press F key to proceed "message. The computer then boots up to Desk Top and everything then works OK.
I have tried to remove this message by going to the Hard Disc Control Panel and choosing to delete the secodary drive. However the panel contains a message "This device is part of a multifunction parent. This will also remove any other devices that are part of this multifunction"

Question: Can I go ahead and delete without causing any problem with my
C drive? or is there a more correct way to remove the problem.

[Thong_Ispector]

You need to remove the drive from your cmos/bios setup...

Sorry I didnt see your post sooner...
Hope you got it fixed by now'

[Jackdor]

Thanks for your advice. Are you able to give step by step preceedure to remove drive from my cmos/bios. Thanks, jackdor

[Thong_Ispector]

All bios are a little different so I can only give you general instructions.

Usually you would enter the setup by pressing the delete key when you power up and see the memory test. DOnt hold the key just keep tapping it.

Some systems require hitting the F1 or the F2 or F10 ...
Some require tab to see the visual dispalay then the other keys...

Once in cmos/bios setup the first screen usually has master and slave for both primary and secondary IDE ....

Usually you just follow the on screen instructions (Arrow keys or tab) to highlight the drive in question then usually the page down or page up key to change the value. You want to set the drive type to Auto or None...

Save settings on exit and you should be fine.