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Primary Hard Disk Drive 1 Not Found
The computer in question is a Dell Dimension. It has Windows XP, one
120GB IDE HD, 256MB RAM and a Pentium 4 Processor. It was purchased two years ago. A couple called me and said their Windows XP was not starting up. I went there and at first the BIOS found the hard drive (which is relevant later) so the BIOS *was* passing the torch to Windows XP. Windows XP's logon page would appear, they would type a username/password, it would slowly hang 20 seconds and ultimately become the Blue Screen of Death. I rebooted several times. This happened again, each time it still became the Blue Screen of Death. Then suddenly the BIOS would not find the hard drive. "Primary Hard Disk Drive 1 Not Found" was the prompt. I rebooted several times, hoping at least to get to Windows XP and see the BSOD, but each time the BIOS stopped at "Primary Hard Disk Drive 1 Not Found." Next I verified the CMOS battery was okay by making sure the BIOS time was accurate. Next I verified there were no floppy disks or CDs were in. Next I went into the BIOS and tried every imaginable BIOS tweak, nothing. In the BIOS, under 'primary drive 0', listed as 'hard drive', device type was set to AUTO (instead of OFF) and the CAPACITY was accurately being listed as 120GB. Under 'primary drive 1', listed as unknown device, device type was set to AUTO (instead of OFF) and the CAPACITY was listed as n/a. There was only one hard drive and I tried every configuration for these settings. Next I opened the case and powered up. I listened to the hard drive and I heard it spin and power up, it was not dead. Next I disconnected the hard drive and tested a replacement hard drive, figuring if the replacement hard drive worked this would isolate the problem. But the replacement hard drive also stopped at the same BIOS prompt of "Primary Hard Disk Drive 1 Not Found." I thought for sure the hard drive was the culprit...The replacement HD (which was a six-year-old 2GB IDE Maxtor) works fine so now I don't think it's the hard drive. The hard drive looked in good condition, it did not grind or make sounds out of the usual when it powered on, so I was not surprised. Nonetheless, I tried some other hard drive troubleshooting...The case had never been opened in all two years, so I doubted there was a master/slave conflict, but anyway I tried every jumper configuration and reconnecting every cable to see if anything was loose or misconfigured. I tried booting with the hard drive unplugged in hope the BIOS settings would miraculously change for the best. I looked at the IDE cable itself and doubt there is any damage to it. The pins were aligned correct. I resorted to trying to place the HD upside down in the drive cage but gravity did not solve the problem. I firmly tapped the outer casing with my knuckles (not enough to cause damage to it) but it did not free any stuck mechanisms. I did not freeze the HD in a water-proof baggie to do the quick copyover. I still could I guess, but I really don't think anymore this is a hard drive issue. The CD-ROM drive works fine when I boot to CD. I could boot to a Knoppix CD and recover the data but I don't see how Knoppix could detect the hard drive if the BIOS does not. This is a hardware problem I think, something on the board. I can take out the 120GB hard drive, bring it to my home and test it on one of my computers. This is what I will do if I don't get any suggestions here. But I think that the hard drive is in good condition and will work. Then what? My hunch is one component is faulty on their computer, and I don't know what to do. Maybe the power supply is not getting enough juice to the hard drive? The mobo does not have any cracks. They said the computer was not dropped or anything. The BIOS has some hard drive diagnostic utilities that I can access. I can try this eventually but I'm hoping a more experienced pro or two from this site can have a hunch as to another faulty component because I doubt it's the hard drive. Power supply is what I'm thinking. When I open the computer and run it, I feel the fan working, it's not chilly in there but it's not overheated. That's what I remember off hand. If I left anything out, or you do think it's the hard drive, your help is appreciated. I guess what this boils down to is can the error message "Primary Hard Disk Drive 1 Not Found" be caused by a component other than the hard drive? |
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#3
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-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1 brandon wrote: In the BIOS, under 'primary drive 0', listed as 'hard drive', device type was set to AUTO (instead of OFF) and the CAPACITY was accurately being listed as 120GB. Under 'primary drive 1', listed as unknown device, device type was set to AUTO (instead of OFF) and the CAPACITY was listed as n/a. There was only one hard drive and I tried every configuration for these settings. Normally, the 'AUTO' setting will detect the drives and skip any that are not present. Setting a non-existing drive to 'OFF' will sometimes speed the boot process a little as the system won't check for a drive at that location. isolate the problem. But the replacement hard drive also stopped at the same BIOS prompt of "Primary Hard Disk Drive 1 Not Found." I This would tend to point to one of / or two areas: The hard drive IDE controller chip and / or the power supply. The CD-ROM drive works fine when I boot to CD. I could boot to a Knoppix CD and recover the data but I don't see how Knoppix could detect the hard drive if the BIOS does not. This is a hardware problem I think, something on the board. Try booting to Knoppix anyway. If Knoppix can't mount the partition/s on the hard drive, or indeed even see them, the you likely have a mainboard issue. Also, while you have the machine open, check it thoroughly for accumulation of dust - both on top of and under the mainboard. I can take out the 120GB hard drive, bring it to my home and test it on one of my computers. This is what I will do if I don't get any suggestions here. But I think that the hard drive is in good condition Probably not a good idea. Although your intentions are good your 'client' may always have a nagging feeling that 'you did something' to their hard drive. Try to do as much of this as possible at their location. Do you have a laptop or a good computer with USB ports ? If so, pick up an external USB case for a hard drive. (This works most easily with a laptop.) Connect the drive to the external encosure and plug the device into the laptop USB port. You'll determine immediately whether the drive is good - and your client will be able to see it, as well. and will work. Then what? My hunch is one component is faulty on their computer, and I don't know what to do. Maybe the power supply is not getting enough juice to the hard drive? The mobo does not have any cracks. They said the computer was not dropped or anything. Some of these problems could point to a failing power supply - most likely a failure / failing of the 5-volt line. Since you can boot from the CD (have you actually tried this ?) the power supply may be working correctly. On the other hand the CD reader may be a little more tolerant of a low 5-volt line than the hard drive or the rest of the system. One issue with Dell (and some of the other manufacturers) is that they sometimes used non-standard mainboard connectors and color-coding on their power supplies. Unless you can get a technical manual or a service manual this makes it difficult to determine which lines to test for which voltage. You might be able to get some useful information from the Dell website by entering the computer's service code. The BIOS has some hard drive diagnostic utilities that I can access. I can try this eventually but I'm hoping a more experienced pro or two That might work. However, if the system can't supply a good 5-volt feed at the correct current to the drive, the drive's electronics won't correctly respond. - -- Ron n1zhi -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.2 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFA+lb1a9fyRcf4bIYRAh30AJ9mPy3HJjteJu0HrNhI3f WFI/hmkACeNhSp +IqI76cR4q5EyzpqJBPpraM= =iGDZ -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- |
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Thank you for your time and help. I am going back there tommorrow to
hopefully fix the problem. I have some follow-up questions, information. Ron Cook wrote in message ... -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 brandon wrote: In the BIOS, under 'primary drive 0', listed as 'hard drive', device type was set to AUTO (instead of OFF) and the CAPACITY was accurately being listed as 120GB. Under 'primary drive 1', listed as unknown device, device type was set to AUTO (instead of OFF) and the CAPACITY was listed as n/a. There was only one hard drive and I tried every configuration for these settings. Normally, the 'AUTO' setting will detect the drives and skip any that are not present. Setting a non-existing drive to 'OFF' will sometimes speed the boot process a little as the system won't check for a drive at that location. I thought maybe having both set to AUTO was confusing things, so once I had 'primary drive 0' AUTO and 'primary drive 1' OFF, then vice versa, which sped up the boot process, but was not the culprit. I have some follow-up comments. One thing that really confuses me is I remember having 'primary drive 0' as AUTO and 'primary drive 1' as OFF and still getting the "Primary Hard Disk Drive 1 Not Found" error. In the BIOS, 'primary drive 0' is listed as a 'hard drive,' which sounds encouraging, like the BIOS accurately detects 'primary drive 0' as a hard drive. Also, the BIOS also accurately detects it's capacity as 120GB. So I'm encouraged the BIOS has a good idea about what 'primary drive 0' is. When the BIOS prompts "Primary Hard Disk Drive 1 Not Found," to me, the BIOS is saying "You have 'primary drive 1' as AUTO but there is no 'primary drive 1' to detect." I remember hitting F1 to retry in hopes that after this advise 'primary drive 0' would boot as usual. I remember when I took out the hard drive, rendering no HD, also getting "Primary Hard Disk Drive 0 Not Found" in addition to "Primary Hard Disk Drive 1 Not Found." When I put the hard drive back in, the BIOS only says "Primary Hard Disk Drive 1 Not Found." It sounds to me the BIOS then is detecting the hard drive as 'primary drive 0,' it just is not booting from it like it should. isolate the problem. But the replacement hard drive also stopped at the same BIOS prompt of "Primary Hard Disk Drive 1 Not Found." I This would tend to point to one of / or two areas: The hard drive IDE controller chip and / or the power supply. I will look into the power supply and would like to bring one to their home for testing. I have little experience with power supplies. Quick question. Their Dell Dimension is a desktop. The only PSU units for desktops I have are for 5-year-old desktops. Say for example their current PSU is 400 watts and I bring over a PSU with considerably less wattage, is that a terrrible idea? Or is it adequate for some quick testing. I did not look into the hard drive IDE controller chip. Can I just go there and swap one from one of my old computer's controller chips, or are they really mobo specific? The CD-ROM drive works fine when I boot to CD. I could boot to a Knoppix CD and recover the data but I don't see how Knoppix could detect the hard drive if the BIOS does not. This is a hardware problem I think, something on the board. Try booting to Knoppix anyway. If Knoppix can't mount the partition/s on the hard drive, or indeed even see them, the you likely have a mainboard issue. Ok. I will try booting to Knoppix when I am there. Also, while you have the machine open, check it thoroughly for accumulation of dust - both on top of and under the mainboard. It seemed alright. I can take out the 120GB hard drive, bring it to my home and test it on one of my computers. This is what I will do if I don't get any suggestions here. But I think that the hard drive is in good condition Probably not a good idea. Although your intentions are good your 'client' may always have a nagging feeling that 'you did something' to their hard drive. Try to do as much of this as possible at their location. Good point Do you have a laptop or a good computer with USB ports ? If so, pick up an external USB case for a hard drive. (This works most easily with a laptop.) Connect the drive to the external encosure and plug the device into the laptop USB port. You'll determine immediately whether the drive is good - and your client will be able to see it, as well. I'm going to pick one up today. and will work. Then what? My hunch is one component is faulty on their computer, and I don't know what to do. Maybe the power supply is not getting enough juice to the hard drive? The mobo does not have any cracks. They said the computer was not dropped or anything. Some of these problems could point to a failing power supply - most likely a failure / failing of the 5-volt line. Since you can boot from the CD (have you actually tried this ?) the power supply may be working correctly. I did boot from the CD into the Windows XP CD to try and do a repair install and recovery console stuff. The CD booted fine. Since the hard drive could not be detected, I could not repair or recover anything. But the CD booted fine. On the other hand the CD reader may be a little more tolerant of a low 5-volt line than the hard drive or the rest of the system. That is exactly what I was thinking. I think the HD needs more juice than the CD-ROM. I could be wrong entirely but it was good to hear you suggest this as well. One issue with Dell (and some of the other manufacturers) is that they sometimes used non-standard mainboard connectors and color-coding on their power supplies. Unless you can get a technical manual or a service manual this makes it difficult to determine which lines to test for which voltage. You might be able to get some useful information from the Dell website by entering the computer's service code. The BIOS has some hard drive diagnostic utilities that I can access. I can try this eventually but I'm hoping a more experienced pro or two That might work. However, if the system can't supply a good 5-volt feed at the correct current to the drive, the drive's electronics won't correctly respond. Thanks Ron, your help is appreciated. - -- Ron n1zhi -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.2 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFA+lb1a9fyRcf4bIYRAh30AJ9mPy3HJjteJu0HrNhI3f WFI/hmkACeNhSp +IqI76cR4q5EyzpqJBPpraM= =iGDZ -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- |
#6
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-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1 brandon wrote: Thank you for your time and help. I am going back there tommorrow to hopefully fix the problem. I have some follow-up questions, information. The hard drive IDE controller chip and / or the power supply. I will look into the power supply and would like to bring one to their home for testing. I have little experience with power supplies. Quick question. Their Dell Dimension is a desktop. The only PSU units for desktops I have are for 5-year-old desktops. Say for example their current PSU is 400 watts and I bring over a PSU with considerably less wattage, is that a terrrible idea? Or is it adequate for some quick testing. A K6-2/500 isn't likely to have or need a 400 watt power supply; I wouldn't worry about that part. I'd be surpised if the Dell's power supply was listed at 200 watts or higher. Consumer-grade manufacturers make this stuff for profit -- not for the greatest benefit to the consumer. I would be concerned (a bit) that Dell may have used non-standard connectors or wiring on the mainboard power supply connection. If the connectors on your power supply match those on the Dell and have the same color codes on the wires, then you'll likely be okay. I did not look into the hard drive IDE controller chip. Can I just go there and swap one from one of my old computer's controller chips, or are they really mobo specific? Most machines have the controller chips soldered to the mainboard. Only in some of the really older machines (pre-IDE, as I recall) were they socketed. I did boot from the CD into the Windows XP CD to try and do a repair install and recovery console stuff. The CD booted fine. Since the hard drive could not be detected, I could not repair or recover anything. But the CD booted fine. That indicates (to me, anyhow) that the IDE controller is working correctly - -at least for the channel to which the CD reader is connected. I'm going to presume the CD reader is the primary device on the secondary channel. If it's working correctly then the primary channel should be, as well. On the other hand the CD reader may be a little more tolerant of a low 5-volt line than the hard drive or the rest of the system. That is exactly what I was thinking. I think the HD needs more juice than the CD-ROM. I could be wrong entirely but it was good to hear you suggest this as well. The more I look at this it's pointing toward a failing 5-volt line in the power supply. I'm aware this is circumstantial and has no objective measurement behind it. An ideal method would be to use a digital multi-meter and check the voltages with the hard drive installed and again with it removed from the system. At the moment I'm going with experience and educated intuition Thanks Ron, your help is appreciated. Hope it's of some value! - -- Ron n1zhi -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.2 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFA+vu2a9fyRcf4bIYRAjQpAJ4ooeF0OCFkj6HoopyNI9 RDiw+YqQCffHy+ UExHq10JhEXd2CHhcksIPcc= =/Z3G -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- |
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