[The Skeptic]

Have you tried bringing the computer to it's original state, meaning removing entirely the new disk and installing the old one as a sole disk, like it was before? It should work well or else, i think, we are facing a bios problem. If it doesn't work well try to reset bios to default values.

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Have you tried bringing the computer to it's original state, meaning removing entirely the new disk and installing the old one as a sole disk, like it was before? It should work well or else, i think, we are facing a bios problem. If it doesn't work well try to reset bios to default values.

Skeptic - sorry for the delay in responding. I reinstalled the old "C" drive and still get6 the message "Secondary drive 1 not found." The BIOS is set as it has been all along. Still confused. Don S.

[Impala1ss]

Have you tried bringing the computer to it's original state, meaning removing entirely the new disk and installing the old one as a sole disk, like it was before? It should work well or else, i think, we are facing a bios problem. If it doesn't work well try to reset bios to default values.

Skeptic - sorry for the delay in responding. I reinstalled the old "C" drive and still get6 the message "Secondary drive 1 not found." The BIOS is set as it has been all along. Still confused. Don S.

[Impala1ss]

To all who helped - In my continuing research (and education) went back to Dell help desk. This time they advised that even though my service contract is expired they can help with problem diagnosis. This time I learned something new which has seemingly SOLVED my problem. They had me clear my NVRAM through a series of keystrokes; basically sets the BIOS back to DEFAULT levels. This cleared up the problem so it seems> I have rebooted a couple of times and everything loads. HOOREY!

[weAponX]

About a month ago I bought a new 200G Maxtor HD to replace my "C" drive. UNfortunately, I used the Maxtor MaxBlast 4 software that came with it to copy the old "C" to the new "C". The software allows this. Unfortunately in doing so, the new HD had a DDO installed on it; it should have only done this if I had an old OS, since Windows XP Pro recognizes drives larger than 137G. There appeared to be no way to remove the DDO without basically starting over and erasing all data from the disk. Also, many Norton files like Go Back and Ghost wouldn't work with the new HD.

After 3 weeks, I decided to bite the bullet and reinstall the New "C" drive; I still had the old "C" drive sitting on my desk. I used the Maxtor utility PowerMax to do a complete low level format of new drive, and then used the MAxtor MAxBlast4 to copy old "C" drive to the new drive. It seems to have worked except - when I restart the computer the BIOS loads and sits there for about 30 seconds. Then I get 2 beeps and a screen which says "Primary drive 1 not found. Strike F1 to continue, F2 to run setup. I hit F1 and the windows program (on the new disk, the only one connected) starts and the disk loads just like the old "C" drive. I can load programs, work with them, etc. Hitting F2 simply loads the BIOS setup. My Computer reports the new drive has 189G Total Size; Free Space 172G.

I turned off the computer and restarted it only to have it do the same thing BIOS hangs, I hit F1 and Windows starts and everything works.

Anyone have any idea what is going on? Is there a way to eliminate having to hit F1 everytime I reboot? Can I continue to use the new drive realizing I have to hit F1 each time the BIOS tells me it cannot find the disk?

Let me get this straight: You installed a 200 gigger, and used Maxblast to transfer your old drive right?

What happens with Maxtor drives, and the software that comes with them, is that, sometimes a motherboard has a limit on the SIZE of the hard drive you can install, computers made before 2000 are pretty much limited to 30 or 40 GB. from 2000 on, it is touch and go: Certain Proprietary MB's made for "Brand" systems are deliberatley designed to NOT allow you to just go out and buy a new hard drive.

So, when you installed the maxtor, if the drive is too large to be detected by the motherboard, the Maxblast software actually automaticically SETS your IDE for you (like you do when you hit DEL when the computer starts up)- Maxblast sets the IDE for a certain size drive, and then, what is actually happening, is that Maxblast installs a DISK MANAGER.

So in other words, the disk manager fools the computer into thinking it has a hard drive within the parameters it can handle. What the disk manager actually does, is make a partition. So, then the computer starts, it sees a smaller partition with the disk manement software on it, pointing to an NTFS of FAT32 "Dynamic Disk" or other extended partition.

What you need to deal with this, is Partition Magic 8.0 (and not above... cos Norton took Partition Magic and wrecked it- Johanna deleted the offer made here to share software. GeekstoGo does not permit illegal activities.
Also, and why you have to press F1, is that you probably have the IDE set to a USER hard drive. Go in to BIOS SETUP (Delete key as you boot) ) and go into the are that deals with your detected hard drives... And if your BIOS can autodetect your hard drives, then do that. But before you do, write down the settings for your hard drive that work.

Cos if you hit autodetect, and it does not detect your hard drive, then the hard drive is too big for the MB.

Nut also, make sure you have the hard drive jumpers set for "CS" or Cable Select and make sure that the 200 gigger is the first drive on that cable- Cos sometimes, a MB will have problems detecting a hard drive if you do the "Master-Slave" jumper thing. I know Western Digitals do not like to be set as "master" or "Single" - They prefer the CS jumper settings.

Also, watch out for Maxtor drives, they have a high crash rate. You may just wanna buy a WD 200 gigger.

This is now a commercial for WD hard drives, of all the HD's I have used, I still have some WD hard drives that still work. But I have several of those slim Maxtor hard drives from about 2001, and they just stop working, no S.M.A.R.T. warning or anything... just one day, no detection,

[dsenette]

weaponx....why do you keep replying to resolved threads with advice...? did you not read his last post...he said his issue was resolved

[weAponX]

To all who helped - In my continuing research (and education) went back to Dell help desk. This time they advised that even though my service contract is expired they can help with problem diagnosis. This time I learned something new which has seemingly SOLVED my problem. They had me clear my NVRAM through a series of keystrokes; basically sets the BIOS back to DEFAULT levels. This cleared up the problem so it seems> I have rebooted a couple of times and everything loads. HOOREY!

Well, that is great... I basically responded to the post as if there were no replies.

So this is a DELL PC? Well, it SHOULD see a 200 gigger... If clearing the NVram did it, then your BIOS got locked into some strange setting.

But keep in mind that stuff with the Maxblast software: You really do not wanna use any drive management software on your hard drives, it can cause you severe problems. Also, sometimes the partition that has ALL your data will dissappear. That happened to me once, and I had to use Powerquest Lost and Found to recover the files.

[weAponX]

weaponx....why do you keep replying to resolved threads with advice...? did you not read his last post...he said his issue was resolved

What is your problem? You think nobody else will ever have this problem in the future?

A problem may be resolved for one person, but someone else may just be beginning to have headaches. Why not let people read through the posts and try to find the best solution.

That's what led me here as a matetr of fact.

[ScHwErV]

weAponX

One fix-all approach does not work. If someone else has problems, they will post and ask for help. Reviving threads where the original posters question has been answered is considered rude and I recommend that you follow dsenette's directions.

ScHwErV