Hard Drive Problem or what?

disturbed12005 · 04-11-2005, 11:06 AM

The other day I shut down my computer and went to start it back up later that day and there was a clicking noise coming from inside it. Then it would give me a message saying that the primary drive is not found and under setup for hard drives it says unknown. So I took the hard drive out of my other computer, that is working and put in this one and it does the same thing. Is there anyway anyone can help me please

By the way the computer is
Dell Dimension 2400
it is running Windows XP

dai · 04-11-2005, 12:44 PM

try replacing the eide cable it may be faulty or loose
taking another drive from the other computer it will not boot up did you get the same result drive not found or it just did'nt boot

disturbed12005 · 04-11-2005, 05:34 PM

well at first it says not found, but then it says error press ctrl alt delete to restart. there is four lights on the back and they are suppose to be all green and when you hook up either hard drive you get 3 green and one yellow, that means their is a drive not connected, but everything is connected. What could that mean?

**waffleweed** · 04-11-2005, 09:41 PM

definitely use a spare ide cable. go out and buy one if you dont have a spare.

disturbed12005 · 04-12-2005, 03:50 PM

Thank you everyone for all your help

dai · 04-12-2005, 10:32 PM

is it fixed

disturbed12005 · 04-13-2005, 09:16 AM

I went out yesterday and bought a new cable and it is still doing the same thing. On the back of the computer it is still showing three green lights and one yellow, and dell says if that is happening then to make sure there is a connection from the hard drive to the system board. Everything is connected with the hard drive and it still does it. So I hooked the old hard drive up and all the lights turn green but now I get a message on screen saying that there is a disk error and that i should press ctrl alt delete to restart and I did that and the same thing keeps happening.

dai · 04-13-2005, 10:06 AM

it sounds like you have lost the drive,as long as the lights are on with the old drive
format it and install your op system to get up and running,then try slaving the crook drive to see if you can get it recognised and pull stuff off it

04-11-2005, 11:06 AM	#1 (permalink)
disturbed12005 Registered User Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 4 OS: XP	Hard Drive Problem or what? The other day I shut down my computer and went to start it back up later that day and there was a clicking noise coming from inside it. Then it would give me a message saying that the primary drive is not found and under setup for hard drives it says unknown. So I took the hard drive out of my other computer, that is working and put in this one and it does the same thing. Is there anyway anyone can help me please By the way the computer is Dell Dimension 2400 it is running Windows XP

04-11-2005, 12:44 PM	#2 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 39,502 OS: vista 32x ultimate retail	try replacing the eide cable it may be faulty or loose taking another drive from the other computer it will not boot up did you get the same result drive not found or it just did'nt boot __________________ Last edited by dai : 04-11-2005 at 12:46 PM. Reason: to add

04-11-2005, 05:34 PM	#3 (permalink)
disturbed12005 Registered User Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 4 OS: XP	hard drive well at first it says not found, but then it says error press ctrl alt delete to restart. there is four lights on the back and they are suppose to be all green and when you hook up either hard drive you get 3 green and one yellow, that means their is a drive not connected, but everything is connected. What could that mean?

04-12-2005, 03:50 PM	#5 (permalink)
disturbed12005 Registered User Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 4 OS: XP	thanks Thank you everyone for all your help

04-12-2005, 10:32 PM	#6 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 39,502 OS: vista 32x ultimate retail	is it fixed __________________

04-11-2005, 09:41 PM	#4 (permalink)
waffleweed Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 629 OS: winxp	definitely use a spare ide cable. go out and buy one if you dont have a spare.

04-13-2005, 09:16 AM	#7 (permalink)
disturbed12005 Registered User Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 4 OS: XP	not fixed I went out yesterday and bought a new cable and it is still doing the same thing. On the back of the computer it is still showing three green lights and one yellow, and dell says if that is happening then to make sure there is a connection from the hard drive to the system board. Everything is connected with the hard drive and it still does it. So I hooked the old hard drive up and all the lights turn green but now I get a message on screen saying that there is a disk error and that i should press ctrl alt delete to restart and I did that and the same thing keeps happening.

04-13-2005, 10:06 AM	#8 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 39,502 OS: vista 32x ultimate retail	it sounds like you have lost the drive,as long as the lights are on with the old drive format it and install your op system to get up and running,then try slaving the crook drive to see if you can get it recognised and pull stuff off it __________________