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Can't Find Hard Disc on PC (Desktop)

Last answer on Aug 7, 2009 7:49:30 pm BST Brian, on Jul 29, 2008 1:13:54 pm BST

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Hello,

I went to my PC this morning and there was system boot up wording all over my screen and the drive is making a funny noise. The bottom line of the screen on my monitor said Can't Locate Hard Disc. I went into BIOS and Primary Master Drive says Unknown Device. What happened? Any ideas? It worked just fine yesterday. I did download some FREEWARE (FTP client) yesterday so could it be a virus? can I save this thing?! If so how? Not sure I still have the original system software disc or not...If so, do I just put that into the disc drive and re install? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

Configuration: Dell Pentium 4
Windows XP
IE 7

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Log_in, on Jul 29, 2008 3:42:35 pm BST

Hello Brian,

Ive got the same problem 2 years ago ..

Tell me whether your bios is detecting you hardisk ?

If not try unplug and replug your hardware.

Perhaps your hardisk has been crashed or it is a physical error..

Do you often carry out some maintenance ?

Provide me all information about your pc i will try to see what i can do for you.

Reply to Log_in

hi, on Mar 12, 2009 6:51:20 am GMT

Sir when i trying to star my pc a error came no h.d.d master detect 2 day ago i am trying to install windows vista in my pc after that this problum came in my pc and my cd rom is also not work work proper

Reply to hi

, on Mar 12, 2009 6:54:32 am GMT

Reply to

buffalo, on Apr 27, 2009 9:09:05 am BST

Satellite pro L300-EZ1004X System unit says no device is found so i need to repair it please help me how can i repair it

Reply to buffalo

frustrated ken, on Aug 7, 2009 7:49:30 pm BST

I have same problem, dell 2400 on start up ...black screen saying cannot find primary drive??
took to repair shop said the hard drive "had worked loose?" took it home and guess what same problem.
when I reboot..black screen...option to press f2 / f12. if i press f12 it slowly goes to black screen and again states cannot find primary drive..leave for few seconds...option to press f1...press... windows appears to open up to load....desktop appears...but when i double click to go on internet or a program...goes to black screen and then the same process of f2/f12 etc f1...and round and round in circles , same happens if i click on my computer
search icon (torch) and tne back to square one????
admittedly its about four years old 2.4 ghz 256k memory, but its used just for internet connection mainly with no downloads so to speak and certainly not used for gaming..........can you throw any light on the problem would be most appreciative.

Reply to frustrated ken

Brian, on Jul 29, 2008 4:24:10 pm BST

Thank you much for your reply.

I did not unplug hardware. Do you mean the harddrive box itself?

The maintenance I use it Norton and it runs regularly I believe. I also run SpyBot for spyware. I know it ask to do a scan yesterday and i ignored it...Perhaps it detected something. I meant to run it later but then woke up to a machine that can't find the hard drive disc. Not sure if they're related or a coincidence.

Unit runs Windows XP. Its a Dell Dimension 2400 series about 5 years old. 512MB RAM, Service pack 1,
BIOS does not recognize a hard drive at this point. Not sure what else you would like to know. I do not know a whole lot about the thing. I not the most PC literate person but I learn quick....Sorry I am more of a MAC guy.

Is there hope for it?

Reply to Brian

Brian, on Jul 29, 2008 6:49:23 pm BST

Also...I tried to re install the system software from the installation CD but how do I get the hard drive to recognize the cd upon start up? I restarted with the CD in the drive but I just keep getting a message that it does not recognize the primary drive.

Reply to Brian

Shisty, on Jul 31, 2008 7:10:05 pm BST

I have the exact same problem, when i go to the boot up screen (f12) and try to get the cd drive to boot up first it says not installed, and it has no idea it has a hard drive in it. The comp recognizes the cd and starts the windows installation deal (the blue screen with the option to format disks and stuff) but before i can do anything after it loads all it wants or needs to it informs me there is no hard drive to install anything onto......i tried getting to my hard drive under my computers shell and i cant fukin find the thing..... I just hope that someone will know what to do..... because i love that computer it has stored many things on it, or in it....legal or not legal (mostly the second)

but it all started with a kernal blue screen error when i loaded my comp, it started freezing every ten min and then slowly but SURELY got faster at freezing, then it happened every 5, then 3, then right when my desktop popped up, AND THEN it froze right after the dell logo.... Anyone able to help?

Reply to Shisty

greigh, on Aug 12, 2008 7:35:48 pm BST

The same thing is happening to me. I received a virus and after restart my computer freezes right before loading the desktop. I tried different versions of XP and it says that there is no hard drive found. If anyone has found a solution to the problem please post!

Reply to greigh

Telicia, on Sep 3, 2008 8:40:32 pm BST

If you have the system disks and you can boot from CD, I would just follow the prompts to reload the operating system. If the computer cannot see the CD or HardDrive you need to reset the BIOS setting to factory default settings and that should restore the drives to be used. Note: Hard Drive should be Primary Master and CD-Rom, (not DVD-Rom if you have one) should be Secondary Master. If you have a DVD Rom drive I recommend unplugging both power and data cords from it and making sure the CD-ROM is set to Secondary Master, NOT Secondary Slave.

This should allow you to boot to a CD and reload the operating system. Unfortunately your files are lost.

Reply to Telicia

aclub, on Sep 10, 2008 12:36:12 pm BST

You could take the drive out of the computer, put it in a seperate enclosure and back it up on a buddies computer, your data may not be lost. i have the same problem where bios isnt detecting the HD, however i can boot from disk and install xp into it, but thats about all i can do so far, i know the disk is fine as i have been able to take it out and have my other computer read it. so all may not be lost!

Reply to aclub

Monbois, on Sep 21, 2008 11:07:20 pm BST

+13

My message: "Reboot and Select proper Boot device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device"

When I put in the Windows XP disk to repair, it said it could find no hard drive.

F10, F12, Fwhatever --> Nothing.

Reply to Monbois

tornado, on Nov 19, 2008 9:03:23 am GMT

Hey man we become 2....:) i have the same problem ......my pc freez @ windows logon,and it cant recognize any hard drive when i try to boot it from the dvd room...<i am unable to do format> is there any solution??!!1
i am worry ....is it mean that the spyware that has infected my pc had caused the destruction of my hard??no dont say yes plz ...reply

Reply to tornado

alya, on Dec 10, 2008 6:02:41 pm GMT

+11

I've alsosame proplem like u.my pc cannot open.it displays on screen rebooth.i did it. but cannot find the hard disk drive.please tell me a solution

Reply to alya

HelperInTech, on Jan 14, 2009 9:30:19 pm GMT

I had that same problem at a school computer and a friends computer. My friend pressed CTRL Alt Delete and it loaded, maybe you should try that

Reply to HelperInTech

shlok, on Jan 15, 2009 10:52:01 am GMT

Reboot and Select proper Boot device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device"

When I put in the Windows XP disk to repair, it said it could find no hard drive.

not ablt to detect hard disk on my primary IDE pls give possible solution

Reply to shlok

subhas Adhikari, on Jan 16, 2009 2:33:15 pm GMT

I have the same problem.I want solution when my system shows Reboot and select proper boot device

Reply to subhas Adhikari

joy, on Mar 24, 2009 6:52:22 am GMT

Messg: reboot the system or insert boot mediam and press any key what is the answer

Reply to joy

soja, on Oct 3, 2008 5:54:04 pm BST

Hi

i hae the same problem, can`t start computer, and the message is the same: Reboot and Select proper Boot device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device.
can`t install operating system and do anything. tried to change bios settings, but still the results are the same.
The disk is warm, but not making any noise.

i tried with another harddrive and computer starts. :S

so what are the chances to restrore the data?

Reply to soja

sno, on Oct 5, 2008 1:45:23 am BST

Sir,
After reboot the bios does not deduct my HDD Primary master. I tried it serveral times. How to solve it Kindly guide me.

Reply to sno

sno, on Oct 5, 2008 1:53:02 am BST

Sir,
I don"t find out my hard disc primary master. I reboot it several times. The bios can"t deduct the primary master. Kindly guide me.

Reply to sno

BMW, on Oct 5, 2008 11:48:34 am BST

I had the same problem with my DELL 8300, I tried it with a 320GB drive. No chance, now I am using an old 20GB drive and it seems to work. Most likely that the DELL does not accept a disk bigger than 120 GB.

Reply to BMW

Peremeee, on Oct 8, 2008 9:02:27 pm BST

Hi dears
i 've shop in the UK dear ur partition is unknown u check this cammend dear if u 've pratition ntfs or fat32 then us

chkdsk only write then work pc and finish ur problem dear bye

Reply to Peremeee

k4rt00n3, on Oct 9, 2008 2:19:46 pm BST

Same problem here, on my Toshiba Satellite M20, 512MB of RAM. You people can reboot with the disk, but i even cant do that, since the pc itself is not able to read any ram on the pc it will not let me install the disk. Any answers to this?

Reply to k4rt00n3

Master ICE, on Oct 15, 2008 9:00:30 am BST

Ok this not seeing the HDD isn't uncommon on Dell PCs especially when upgrading or if something glitches the BIOS.
In my opinion the various Dell BIOSs are absolute grap as they are so inflexible in comparison to just about everyone else's.

May I suggest that you try this possible fix.
With the PC powered off remove the VRAM back up battery from the motherboard.
There maybe a link near it (or somewhere on the board) showing on/off for battery back up. If there is put the link to off and leave the machine for a while then put it back to on.
Reboot the machine.
When offered the options on the screen click F2 for setup. This is the normal option.
On the set up screen scroll down to the first IDE option which is probably showing something like unknown or not present.
Hit enter and change the option to auto.
Exit (ESC) and reboot (maybe automatic depending on BIOS version)
Hopefully the PC will now see the hard drive and boot normally.
Against all practces replace the memory back up battery with the machine now up and running.

Now we get to the good bit.
You may need to do this a few times, including playing around with the battery and on/off link but eventually it should work!

I have had this problem on EVERY Dell machine that I have attempted to upgrade (or down grade from Win2000/NT) to XP.

Oh yes and if trying to install XP/Vista (why?) make sure you go into the boot option screen (F12) and select CD-ROM drive because otherwise, if it's a blank HDD you're installing the machine will constantly come back with a boot error.

Hope this helps.

Reply to Master ICE

hope is alway an option, on Nov 24, 2008 5:09:43 pm GMT

Thanks Master ICE,

I'm going to try this after I have already bought a new HHD just to see if it will work.

For all you conspiracy junkies; Do ever wonder if this is a planed obsolescence for the HHD business or aleast for service calls.

If it were my business I would want to keep selling HHD every 4-6 years or Services

Just a thought!

Have fun with it,

Again thank you Master ICE more advice than Dell gives out.

-g

Reply to hope is alway an option

singhee, on Jun 17, 2009 3:43:15 am BST

Hello Ice Master,

Thank you very much for the excellent post.

I was trying to virtualize one of our old Dell Servers - PowerEdge SC400. I removed the old hard drive and put in a new Seagate 1TB SATA Hard Drive. I changed the boot-up sequence to CD ROM. Upon inserting the boot CD, the system refused to recognize the CD. After various futile efforts, I opened up the server and looked the BIOS setting.

Under the boot sequence, it is showed CD-ROM not installed. When I looked under the installed devices, it showed the CD ROM as and unidentified device under Secondary Slave.

I looked for various solutions to the problem on the net, untill I found your post suggesting to remove the CMOS battery, boot the machine, save the settings, put the battery back, boot the machine again.

IT WORKED!!!!

Thank you once again. I had spent about an hour figuring out the issue. Your post solved it in five minutes.

Reply to singhee

Turaj, on Oct 22, 2008 11:13:25 pm BST

Thanks for the brilliant work. I searched all day for an answer to my similar problem. I have a PC with an MSI MB running XP. The system has worked for a few years and in Jan this year I decided to buy a gaming rig and put that system away until now. My wife asked me to set it up so my daughter could use it. So I hook it all back up today and fire it up, everything worked perfectly, I installed her Dora the Explorer software and did a test run before showing her and the game locked up. I tried to ctrl+alt+del and close out the program, but was unable to, so I just rebooted. During the boot process I got the message to the effect of "please insert a bootable disk or press a key to retry".

I decide to keep a closer eye this time during bootup and I notice that my HDDs are not showing up, so I enter the BIOS and find that neither of my 2 HDDs are being seen by the setup. I go and check each one, I was trying to manually enter them, and when I clicked on the master BIOS says it found a new drive and to reboot, so I save the settings and reboot. Needless to say every new restart it just goes back to not seeing the drive.

After visiting several sites the common answer was your HDD is bad. I refused to believe that and happened upon this post. What I needed to do was remove my CMOS battery, boot the PC, enter setup and make the setup see the drive, save the settings, reboot the PC and bam it got me into windows. From that point I decided to shut down and try again. This time it went back to not seeing the drive so I repeated the steps and got it working again. I then put the battery back in while the system was running and not it shuts down and comes back normally. I just felt obliged to show my appreciation for your post about how you fix your DELLs. I now only need to figure out why the Bios is not seeing my 2nd drive. Any ideas on that one?

Reply to Turaj

C, on Oct 23, 2008 2:20:11 pm BST

Hi there,
Excellent post. I'll try this on my laptop and see how it goes. I'm showing the 4gb of memory I have installed, which is nice to see - so I know the M board is working properly. And I'm with you on the HDD not being "bad" - I have two for petes sake and neither are recognized. Was it easy for you to remove the CMOS batt? What made you decide that removing the CMOS battery was the answer? Thanks for your input

Reply to C

Turaj, on Oct 23, 2008 3:01:45 pm BST

Master ICE was the post that got me to try the battery trick and it worked for me, altho i'm still not able to see my 2nd drive, but for the time being i'm fine with that

Reply to Turaj

sam, on Oct 27, 2008 10:20:02 am GMT

How do u enter into the BIOS of your pc

Reply to sam

Turaj, on Oct 27, 2008 11:40:07 pm GMT

On my system I hit delete while it is still testing the RAM

Reply to Turaj

lado, on Nov 23, 2008 10:21:36 am GMT

Help me solving my problems on my pc is not seeing hdd at tems dc rom how can i solve this problems

Reply to lado

Turaj, on Nov 23, 2008 12:02:26 pm GMT

Did you follow the instructions that master ice posted?

Reply to Turaj

forum admirer, on Nov 25, 2008 4:03:13 pm GMT

On disk management, right click on the new drive, click on "New Simple Volume". after a couple of prompts you should get the disk formatted. and then the new drive works fine.

Reply to forum admirer

rasi, on Dec 17, 2008 6:14:03 am GMT

I am getting this problem often and i solved it but yet to know the exact cause of the problem. Mine is ASUS mb with amd.

The solution iam follow is: Insert the mb cd and during start press "alt+f2" so it starts reading the bios from 1st floppy if not found from cd rom drive and copies.

After copying and the msg completed switch of the system and unplug and replug the cable bus of floppy or harddisk

then restart

its working !!!

the cause yet to determine may be i have try and remove kaspersky in my system.
am using kaspersky 7.0 AV
But some virus also cause this

Reply to rasi

papijelly, on Feb 27, 2009 3:45:44 am GMT

Hey um if u have not solve ur problem is cus ur hdd is dead . if uve had it for more dam 4 years its life time dises sounds funny but that what happen get another hdd man

Reply to papijelly

zx6roo, on Apr 13, 2009 9:17:42 am BST

I've got ASUS & AMD and had this problem in Feb after I installed SP 3 (was on XP). Someone told me the HDD and maybe other internals were stuffed so I have bought new quad core, 4G RAM and Vista 64. Everything is new except the box. I've gone from IDE to SATA and guess what? I turn it on this morning and it can't find the HDD again, master boot files missing again! I haven't even finished installing my programs.

Am trying your fix but so far not much luck. I don't want to reformat because I'll lose the files I put on there. And don't say I should have backed up because I haven't finished installing, then I back up... and the last time this happened it wiped out my back up drive as well. Stupid computers! I think the easiest way to solve this is to have a HDD with windows for the programs that need that and another with Linux which sounds more reliable and will work when the Windows HDD stuffs up again.

I've had a reply from Windows, as I sent them a complaint, and they admitted it is a known bug with their systems at present. If you turn the plug off at the wall, wait 10 mins and then turn it on and it works you are set but back up because it will go again. If it doesn't work, then the only thing I have found that works so far is formating and re-installing :( Not even my recovery programs recognise the HDD.

Reply to zx6roo

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