Hey guys,

My problem differs. I have a Dimension 8400 and at boot time I receive the following error,

"Loading PBR for Descriptor 2....failed."

I tried booting from the XP installation CD and running the "REPAIR" option but it was unable to find my hard disk.

Based on this thread it appears I can get XP setup to recognize my disk however my question is, when I [COLOR=Red]CHANGE THE SATA OPERATION SETTING TO "COMBINATION"[/COLOR] will I lose any data? All I wish to do is attempt to "REPAIR" the disk.

Can someone please clarify?

Thanks!

tyleryoungblood -- you are wonderful

I had the same problem and changed the settings in the system set up and Voila! success!!!!! thank you thank you thank you After spending most of yesterday in diagnostic mode only to have the hard drive finally just crash (guess it was beyond repair)--then to end up with this problem trying to install the new drive. Argh! You are a life saver. I too was getting no help from Dell or Microsoft websites and dreading trying to get any real live help, especially since we're two months past warranty.

Hope I'll actually be able to contribute something useful here.

Thanks again. Up and running. Yee haw!

I an trying to do this, and I do not have the options that you say I should have.

The only things with "drive'" on them are:
Drive configuration
Hasrd-Disk Drive Sequence
Boot sequence

I go into all of them and nothing comes uo with SATA or anything like that.

I have a Dell and am using Windows XP.

Thought I'd contribute to this very useful thread. I just got an XPS 600 and wanted to rid it of XP Home and put in Pro. Ran into the same problem being discussed here.

The bios does not have the autodetection setting in the setup under drives. However nVidia MediaShield drivers fix this problem and are available
here

Luckily I got a floppy disk with mine , Extracted the drivers and F6-ed during setup, copied over the drivers and was good to go.

Oh, and I must mention, Dell techsupp in India were very good - after some initial misunderstanding (we can't help with software suport...) they pretty quickly understood the problem and pointed me to the MediaShield drivers.

I received errors during the F6 process using Dell's floppy for my Precision 380, IaStor.sys unexpected error in blah blah.

I went to Intel's site and downloaded their F6 Floppy and all went smooth.

Hope this helps someone out there...



http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scri...Name=&lang=eng

[COLOR=Blue]Grats! I'm glad my post was helpful to you and to everyone else who have replied. I've been out of the country for months and therefore I have been unable to reply to anyone's posts. I hope everyone's dell is still working splendidly!

To Answer your question about being unable to change your dell back to the original factory settings as reccommended, I'd say if you can reboot and use your computer without any issue than don't worry about changing your settings back to their original state like Dell reccommends. Hope that helps.

- Tyler[/COLOR]

[COLOR=Blue] Since this was posted back in Dec 2005 I would imagine that you've already found an answer to this question (or you've tossed your dell out the window). But in case you haven't or in case others have the same concern, here's the answer. You shouln't lose any data by changing to "combination". Changing this setting to combination only changes the way in which your computer looks for / recognizes your factory SATA drive. Hope this helps, again sorry for taking months to reply - Europe called and i had no laptop.
- Tyler[/COLOR]

[COLOR=Blue]No problem. I'm glad my post was helpful to you. You won't be sorry that you registered for this forum. Techspot has helped countless people. Enjoy!

- Tyler[/COLOR]

[COLOR=Blue] A few questions:
What make/model/year is your dell. is it newer?
Are you sure that your dell came with a factory SATA drive?
- If it did not come with a SATA drive this might explain why you don't have the ability to configure SATA devices in you Setup screen. Other than that I'm not sure if I have enough information to help you out. Sorry bud.

- Tyler[/COLOR]

Hey tyler, i've seen a lot of the help you've given and i'm confident (cross fingers) that you can help me too!

This is the closest forum i've found to my problem. As with the last guy, my Dell is too old to have those setup options everyone else seems to have. I have a Dimension desktop 4300, circa 2002. 1.6 Ghz, 256DDR, 40gig hard drive that I wiped clean and set active partition...

Well my problem is, like everyone else, when i boot (even before winxp cd begins xp setup) the screen reads "Primary Hard Drive 0 Not Found... Press F1 to continue press F2 to enter setup" etc...

When i continue windowsXP Setup begins. If i allow it to load drivers, when we arrive at the screen that reads "Press Enter to set up a new Windows XP, Press R to start recovery" no matter which I choose the next screen is always the same. It reads "Setup did not find any hard disks on your computer and can not continue.

This is what found me to this forum. I tried the various drivers people posted in here to install during the F6 portion of XP Setup, but none prevailed!

In the setup menu of my dimension 4300, relating to hard disks the only options i have are

HARD DRIVE 0 - Auto (or OFF), and
HARD DRIVE 1 - Auto (or OFF)

Unfortunately, nothing about SATA or AHCI or whatever. I might be able to post a picture of it if that would help?

Any help would be more appreciated than you could know! I will eagerly await

[COLOR=Blue]Hi GQmancini -

There are a few things that you might try, but it's really hard to know what the problem is without being there to fiddle with the computer. Some of the things I want you to try are obvious and you've probably already thought of them, and some are not.

First off, you didn't specifically say that the drive you are dealing with is a SATA drive (although it probably is a factory SATA if you're getting a "drive 0/drive 1" mesage rather than "master/slave" message). However, if your drive happens to be an IDE drive, try step 1 below, if the drive is indeed a SATA drive, skip to step 2.

Step 1: IDE Drive -
There is a chance your computer shipped with an IDE drive for your C: drive. Just because your computer has the ability to support SATA doesn't necessarily mean it shippped with a SATA for your C: drive. (If the drive is a SATA drive skip this step since jumper settings don't matter for SATA). If this drive is an IDE and you pulled the drive out and popped it into another computer to format, than you probably changed the jumper setting to "slave" (because the computer that you used to format would likely have the C: set to "master"). Failure to set the jumper back to "master" when you put the newly formatted drive back into your computer may be the problem. Also, some older computers not only require the jumper setting to be set to master, they also require the drive to be plugged into the IDE cable in a specific order (but they often say "master" and "slave" on the IDE cable if this is nessary, especially if it's a Dell). Also, if your drive is and IDE and your boot sequence is set to boot from SATA drive 0, you may need to change your boot sequence to boot from "Primary Master" - your IDE drive. (Remember tho, if you change your boot sequence make sure that you boot from Floppy, then CD, then HD, that way you can always boot from a floppy or CD if necessary and bypass your HD boot sequence).

Step 2: SATA Drive -
Now that I've said all that above, chances are your drive is most likely a SATA drive if it is factory and you're getting "Primary Drive 0 Not Found". So the first thing I'd check is that your SATA data cable is plugged into the "Drive 0" slot on the motherboard (and also into the drive of course). Next, make sure that you are using the SATA Power cable OR the IDE power cable - NOT BOTH. I know that seems silly, but it happens and people burn up there drives that way.

Step 3: RAID Config -
It doesn't sound like you had this computer set up in a RAID configuration (IE RAID 0 or Striped with another drive). But you may want to check to make sure that there isn't a RAID configuration setting. I'm not sure how Dell handled RAID back then and I'm also not sure that you would have an on-board RAID controller, but there's a chance. If so, turn off RAID so the computer will recognize the drive as a non-RAID drive setup. As far as the Drive 0 / Drive 1 thing goes, your primary drive is Drive 0 and you would want to set Drive 0 to Auto or On. Drive 1 would be any secondary drive that you had installed. In other words, if you had 3 drives in your computer (C:, D:, and E: ) they would be numbered 0 (C), 1 (D), and 2 (E). So set Drive 0 to on or auto and make sure the drive is plugged into the Drive 0 slot on the motherboard.

Step 4: If none of these steps work, can you confirm that the drive is still functional? You may need to plug the drive into another case to make sure that it spins up and can be written to. It's unlikely that after formatting your drive suddenly decided to die, but there's always a chance. Can you hear the drive spin or power up when you try to boot?

Note: Since I've never had exactly the same problem you're having I'm kind of shooting from the cuff with some different things I would try. In other words, I'm not sure if I've helped you at all, but I hope so. As with most things, it's pretty difficult to diagnose and fix without being there (for instance, when was the last time a mechanic fixed a car w/o being there to listen and try things). The steps above are the first few steps I would take if I was sitting in front of your computer. I hope one of them helps, but as I said earlier, you may have already tried all of them. If so, please feel free to reply and we'll keep trying other steps to try to figure it out. As a last resort, you could always take the computer in to a professional. Most professionals could have the computer booting in 15 minutes. At $60/hour you could probably get the computer fixed for $15-30 bucks. But if you're anything like me you'd rather search forums for weeks and rack your brain trying to figure it out on your own. And that's ok too.

No matter what happens, please post what steps you took to get it fixed so others with your same error message will know what to try.

Good luck and let me know if anything I suggested helped. If not we'll keep trying other things. Who knows, I may wake up at 3 am with the answer and it will probably be the most obvious of all that I missed - if so I'll post it. Or maybe someone else will read this and the answer will jump out at them, if so hopefully they will post it.

In any case, sorry for the long post and good luck to you.

- Tyler [/COLOR]

I will try all the steps at home (i'm at work right now)

I think i tried something close to a few ideas that you had, but probably not the exact step correctly. It's always that one little thing you forget to do, so thanks very much for the quick response!

As a side note, i asked my company's IT tech guy today if he could help me with my Dell problem (we all have dells, he works on 1000's of Dells a month) and before I could even finish my explanation of the problem he said "buy a new one." Bum.

so needless to say, you are much more helpful thus far.


I will post back with results, thanks again!

[COLOR=Blue]Hi GQmancini -

I had to laugh when I read your reply. There is something to be said about buying a new dell versus spending the time, effort, money, and energy to fix your old one. Computers really only have a 2-4 year lifespan anyway. After that timeframe they are either so outdated that they aren't worth keeping or they are starting to have problems on both the hardware and software end. A few ways to postpone these two certanties is to buy the best computer available at the time (thus streching the useable lifespan to maybe 5 years) and to keep your computer impecably clean (compressed air works best for this, but do it outside and unplug fans prior to spinning them with the compressed air - they can create voltage by being spun by the air - kind of like a wind powered generator. You don't want to create voltage by spinning a fan and fry something on your motherboard). An even better option is to hold the fan stationary while blowing it off, that way it doesn't spin too fast for its bearings and it doesn't create any voltage. Also, use a can of compressed air rather than an air compressor. Compressors can have condensation in the air which can detremental to electronic components (obviously), and compressors can also be too forceful for the delicate parts inside the machine. The can of compressed air is ideal because it is moisture free and comes with a tiny straw to help direct the air into all the little crevices. But these are things to keep in mind when you purchase your next Dell. And for less than $500 you can have a brand new machine from Dell that's faster than your current machine. But again, I must remember that I myself still have an X86 and a 386 from over 10 years ago, as well as a first generation Data East laptop from the 80's with a monochrome screen (weighs over 15 pounds). So I understand how hard it can be to part with your old system for a "newer/better" one. Lets just hope that one of the steps I previously suggested helps. Good luck.

- Tyler[/COLOR]

Hi all,
Like others I too have the problem of "Primary Hard Disk Drive 0 not found". However, I think my drive may actually be cooked. Please let me know if you think I have options...

1. I have a Dell Inspiron 600m laptop, with the factory installed hard drive... 30GB Seagate... IDE I presume.
2. One day when I shut down and restarted I got a blue screen with "unmountable boot volume". After a few restarts and the problem persisting the error message changed to Primary Hard Disk Drive 0 not found". There is a faint clicking sound coming from the drive for a while then it stops.
3. I tried booting from the WinXP CD to enter recovery console but got the error "cannot find any hard disk drives installed".
4. I bought a USB Hard Disk Enclosure and plugged my busted HD into this device. But when I plugged in the USB cable into a functioning computer Windows Explorer doesn't see any USB device. The clicking sound continues to come from my drive. (there is also a faint burning smell... I don't know if I'm imagining things but if this is true then for sure this drive is cooked).

I presume this news thread does not apply to me as much since I don't have a SATA drive but I wanted to check anyway in the hopes that someone can help. far too much data is on this computer to be lost so I pray I'm not screwed. thanks.

arjun (amoorthy@gsb.stanford.edu).

Dear All,
Thank you for the valuable information on installing xp on my Dell dimension 9150. It was very helpful. After installing xp, when I try to change the SATA operation to RAID Autodetect/ACHI or to RAID Auto detect/ATA I get an error message saying missing NTLDR. Otherwise the computer seems to be functioning fine on the combination option. The hard disk I got is: DataSafe 160GB

Since my computer did not come with a floppy drive I did not include any special drivers.

What is NTLDR? Is it connected to the missing driver? Is it possible to include this driver after the installation? Can I keep using the computer as it is with the combination option in the BIOS? Will there be a problem in performance? Do you recommend getting a floppy and re-installing everything again?

Thank you,
Rinat

uniqueclone-- sata drives are not primaary or secoindary , there are Sata 0 and 1 depening on how many drive u have on the system . one SATA conroller can control 2 hdd . there are 2 cables for the hard drive . so for one controller there are 2 drives . new intel mobos have mostly 2 controller . there is no primary and slave, the system will boot from the hard drive which is set to SATA 0 or SATA 1 depending on the Bios

I have the same problem that everyone else is getting, only my problem is with a custom built computer. I wanted to try what he posted above, but my bios does not have anything like he stated. I can not find anything about setting a floppy to internal. Nor can i find anything about a "sata combination setting" the only thing i find about sata, is changing the IRQ#.... PLEASE HELP!!

I have the Asus PS800D-X Motherboard, Pentium 4 3.0ghz, 2gb of ram, DVD-rw, Floppy, and a 430w PSU. I can not find a way around this problem!!!

Hi,

I also have the same problem as many of you, my BIOS does not recognize the hard drive during set up. The problem for me is that i do not found the BIOS options you have given, i see "Primary Hard Dirve: None" buit i can not modify it anyway, no options related to hard drive settings, i think.

I have a Dell Latitude D600 (Pentium M, 1.4GHz, Win 2000), and several days of work in this HD, so i am quite worry about it. I would thank any help

Diego

[COLOR=RoyalBlue]Hi Amoorthy,

It does sound as though your HD is having some problems. Does the HD spin-up? You'll know if it is spinning because it will hum or vibrate and usually the spin-up makes a distinct whirring noise. The clicking is usually made by the arms inside the HD that actually read the data on the disk. You'll have several arms similar to the arm on a record player that reads the sectors off your HD. They move back and fourth across the surface (w/o touching) of the HD to access the data. Usually a "clicking" without the "whirring" of the spin-up of the drive means that the drive isn't working properly. A professional may be able to salvage your data using special equipment, but that will only be possible if you or the professional can get the HD to spin-up. The good news is you can always replace the HD. The bad news is it's typically more difficult to crack open a laptop and reinstall an OS, but not a lot more difficult. Hope that helps.

- Tyler[/COLOR]

[COLOR=RoyalBlue]Hi Rinat, here's the steps for reinstalling the NTLDR files:
1. Insert the Windows XP bootable CD into the computer.
2. When prompted to press any key to boot from the CD, press any key.
3. Once in the Windows XP setup menu press the "R" key to repair Windows.
4. Log into your Windows installation by pressing the "1" key and pressing enter.
5. You will then be prompted for your administrator password, enter that password.
6. Copy the below two files to the root directory of the primary hard disk. In the below example we are copying these files from the CD-ROM drive letter "E". This letter may be different on your computer.

copy e:\i386\ntldr c:\
copy e:\i386\ntdetect.com c:\


7. Once both of these files have been successfully copied, remove the CD from the computer and reboot.

more information on this can be seen by going to:
http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000465.htm

Hope that helps. Oh, and NTLDR is short for NT loader, NTLDR is a program loaded from the hard drive boot sector that displays the Microsoft Windows NT startup menu and helps Microsoft Windows NT load.

- Tyler[/COLOR]