squigglethecow

Hello All,

My family uses a Dimension 4300 with 512 GB of ram, 2 CD drives and a single hard drive. The computer has been lagging more and more over time, so I decided it was time for a reformat (using the XP disk that came with the computer).

Quickly I discovered that the bios did not like the HD. After each reboot the computer would say:

''Primary Hard Disk drive1 not found, strike F1 to continue''

In addition, the installation would go flawlessly until the reboot, then would not allow me to do anything but boot into the CD again (yes, I configured it in the BIOS and manually chose HD in the boot menu).

I found a few posts discussing the boot.ini file (which I tried to repair and such in recovery using fixboot, fixmbr and a few others I dont remember) all had no effect. So I took the HD out and formatted it 100% by making it a slave on my other desktop. This was uneventful, and a checkdisk showed no errors.

I also found that sometimes a BIOS will think another drive is there when it isnt, and skrew things up. Sure enough my BIOS did, and upon turning off the imaginary devices I continued.

The error seemed to go away (havent seen it since) but the installation loop is still there. No matter how I configure the BIOS (or manually select boot from HD with the boot menu) I cannot do anything but boot back into the install CD.

Since then I have tried switching the cables, unplugging the extra floppy and CD drive, fixboot again, and I have tried the install over and over.


Any suggestion or direction would be appreciated. If I have not provided enough information I apologize and please ask for any info you need. I'm out of ideas

Fren Banklin

'K. Bunch of things you can do.

First, download & burn a CD with the HD diagnostic program from the HD manufacturer's web-site and boot to it and check the HD. This will be the definative answer on whether the HD is good or not.

Second, consider the possiblity that one of your drives (like the two optical drives) are causing the problem. Disconnect them (both power & data cables) and see if that clears things up.

Also, if the CMOS battery is going dead, that could be causing BIOS to go wonky. They are available at Wal-Mart in a 2-pack for about $7.00. Pull the old battery and have it in your hand when you go to buy the new one.

Also, consider the possiblity that the HD's cable is bad, or not properly connected/seated.

And, check the BIOS Boot Order and make certain that the HD is listed first.

One important point is whether or not the HD is recognized reliably in the BIOS. If BIOS doesn't "see" it, XP will never boot to it. If it's seen sometimes and sometimes not, -AND- you have a good CMOS battery, you need to start looking at either:

The HD is bad
The cable is bad
The HD is not jumpered/configured correctly
The motherboard IDE channel is bad
The motherboard is bad.

Note, if just the IDE channel is bad, you can sometimes work-around a problem like this by connecting the HD to another channel, however, if it's the motherboard that's bad, you are going to be looking for some kind of replacement.

Another thing to consider is that the PSU is bad. It's lower on the list, but it's on the list.

What are the specs of the PSU ?

squigglethecow

I have tried finding a utility for the HD but have had little luck. Its a maxtor dimondmax 10 and it seems there is no disk utility specific to that product (or I havent found it). Is there just a basic maxtor utility I should be looking for? One that works on pretty much all their drives?

I have unplugged and switched the CD drives. I have also switched the cable and power from the CD to the hard drive. No matter what combination I use everything seems to work (minus the bios not reading the hard drive right).

The boot order is adjusted. The bios is keeping the changes I make to it, which makes me doubt the battery is dying. I did leave it unplugged overnight and the battery died (wouldnt turn on at first, gave me a low system battery warning after a few minutes being plugged back in).

The bios simply reads the HD as 'hard drive'

I'm not sure what the PSU specs are....I will get back to you on that.

squigglethecow

I also ran memtest and had no errors. I didnt think the RAM was an issue but just to rule it out.

simpswr

You can find Drive diagnostics here: http://www.techsupportforum.com/hard...utilities.html

squigglethecow

Thanks for the link to the thread.

I have downloaded seatools and booted into it. The 'long test' says the HD is fine.

I looked around and there wasnt much else to do with it, is that test the only one I need to run?

Fren Banklin

As far as the HD goes, yes. It's the "final word" on whether a HD is good or not. The HD is good.

squigglethecow

Well, I have solved the problem. By brother had an extra maxtor HD laying around (maxtor as well) and, out of desperation, I plugged it in to try it.

Lo and behold, it worked. Perfectly.

My guess is the bios just didnt like that other hard drive - I have no idea why. I'm going to plug it in as a slave (since the other is only 30 GB).


Thank you for all your help!

Fren Banklin

Check the first HD and make sure it's jumpered correctly.

squigglethecow

I tried the jumper in every config (even slave, just to be sure) no matter what it was on there was no change.

The HD that is currently working is using the same IDE cable, same power cord, same jumper setting (master) nothing else has changed.

Fren Banklin

Okay, so you have a HD that the diagnostic software says is good, but it won't be recognized by your computer's BIOS, but another HD can be recognized using all of the same hardware ?

squigglethecow

oddly enough yes,
it will not boot to the first drive but has no issue with the second one I tried.

Fren Banklin

It just simply shouldn't be that way. If the only difference between the two drives are the drives themselves, it HAS to be configured wrong on the cable.

Can you try the "bad" HD on another computer ?