Getting Primary drive 0 not found error on Dimension 3000

[Kal-Ell]

I am having Dell dimension 3000 desktop computer. Recently I am getting the error saying primary drive 0 not found during POST and ask me to choose the function keys in order to run the setup utility. Thus when I press the suggested keys then I get two beeps. I thought that my hard disk have gone faulty, so when I connected it to another computer then there I was able to connect the same and even access the files on it. So please someone let me know why I am getting this error on my computer.

[pddaugusto]

This is the problem which is observed in many computers. In your case as you are able to connect your hard disk on your friends computer and also able to see the files in it. So I guess there must be problem in bios settings. So go to bios and check the boot order in the BIOS to make sure the IDE controller is enabled and also check that your hard drive is getting detected in the BIOS as it is necessary that it should get detected in order to pass the POST screen.

[Mindstorm]

If you have tried the above solution and suppose your hard drive is not detected then try connecting the hard drive to the other IDE controller cable. There may be a case that you have a bad IDE controller or it had just gone faulty. Or else try another cable and finally connect all the cables to the hard drive, put them back again firmly and reboot. I hope it would work for you and the error would get removed from your computer and hopefully able to boot the computer.

[samar69]

The other thing that you should try is to reset the CMOS by removing the cell found on the main board. This error is also the cause for the discharged CMOS battery. So disconnect everything, including power, then open the cabinet and remove the cell and then try to start the computer without this battery. It is also possible that the CMOS battery has failed and is the reason you are having trouble. Try a new one to see if that helps.

[Yitzchak909]

I have searched for the number of threads and read all of them related to the primary device not found error. The above solutions are worth trying because I found that all of the above may be the actual cause for this. The one more I can suggest you is if you are having only one IDE cable and all the devices are attached to it. I mean one would be having hard drive and other suppose DVD drive then sometimes the BIOS gets confused among the master and slave device. So try to put your hard drive as a master and other as slave. So that BIOS would recognize the same and would let you to pass POST screen.

[Aandaleeb]

You are getting the error because the BIOS is attempting to boot or detect the operating system but it is not able to find such so it is giving this error. So try to connect the primary device i.e. hard disk properly and then try to boot again. Also make certain that the boot sequence is correct for the devices installed on your computer. It would be better if you reset the BIOS settings by selecting the system defaults and then save the configuration.

[Kal-Ell]

I found a numerous replies on this problem. I tried the solutions given one by one. I went to BIOS and then loaded the default settings. Then I connected all the components again in order to avoid loose connections. Then I have looked for the master slave solution and at the start was bit confused about it, but then I tried putting the hard disk to master by changing the jumper setting and again connected the device and when I started it then the computer booted up normally. So I appreciate all of you to solve the problem and lots of thanks again for the same.