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I am trying to install windows me and after puting in the start up disc it states the following: Cover previously remove...Primary hard disc (1) not found...In the bios setup there is a primary drive (0) listed which states the following:Type Auto..Size 4326 however drive 1 states Type Auto and nothing else is listed for drive 1....Any suggestions or can I change the (0) drive to a (1) in the bios...Would this solve the problem or can it be done this way? ...Thanks

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Building on 's BIOS-focused advice and 's follow‑up that a second drive entry was involved, here are concise, practical checks and fixes for the "Primary hard drive not found" symptom that other readers can apply.

  • Check power and cabling first: reseat the drive's power connector and the data cable. Swap the cable or try a different Molex/SATA power plug. If the drive is PATA/IDE and uses a 3‑connector ribbon, make sure the blue end is on the motherboard, the black connector goes to the master device and the grey/middle connector to the slave.
  • Verify jumper settings on PATA drives: confirm one drive is set to Master (or both to Cable Select only if the cable supports it). Two drives configured as Master or both as Slave will cause detection failures.
  • If the BIOS lists a controller entry but no size for a drive, test the drive in another machine or an external USB adapter to rule out a failed disk. A drive that spins but reports no geometry in BIOS often needs testing on a known‑good system.
  • Watch for BIOS capacity limits on older boards (the 137 GB/28‑bit LBA boundary). If a large drive is involved, update the motherboard BIOS or use a controller card whose BIOS supports larger disks.
  • For Windows ME installs on systems with SATA controllers: set the controller to IDE/Compatibility/Legacy mode while installing, or supply the controller drivers via the installer if you have the means; older installers sometimes lack native SATA/AHCI support.
  • Finally, do not initialize or repartition a drive until important data is backed up. If the problem persists, note the motherboard model, BIOS version, drive make/model, cable type (PATA or SATA) and exact BIOS messages—those details make targeted help much faster.

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Member Avatar for DMR

Giving us specific info about the computer and its configuration would really help it wouldn't be a Dell by any chance, would it?), but here are a couple of general thoughts:

1. "Cover previously removed" is just a warning message that some computer's will give you to indicate that the case has been opened before. The "warning" is harmless, and you should find a place In your BIOS to turn that notification off.

2. If the computer only has one drive installed, it will be "Drive 0". Again- look in the BIOS for anything related to detection of a second (possibly SATA) hard drive. If you find such an option enabled but have no second drive installed, disable that option.

3. It is perfectly normal for the BIOs to identify installed hard drives as "Auto" or "Auto detected".

Member Avatar for compaqguy200

Thanks so much for clearifying this issue for me. There was a second drive listed and now Windows is installed and up and running...Thanks again for the help..

Member Avatar for DMR

Glad we could help you get it sorted out. :)

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