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start up error


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#1
TheBorgs

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My dad's computer "died" so I took it to work and had our IT guy fix it. The two small hard drives originally in the computer were bad so the IT guy installed the 1 large hard drive that my dad got to use to fix the computer.

When I brought it home to install my dad's software, ISP, etc. I turned on the computer and this error message came up:

"Primay hard disk drive 1 not found. Strike F1 key to continue, F2 to run the setup utility."

F1 - starts Windows 98, I pressed this and went ahead and installed all software except ISP b/c now experiencing modem problems (thought it might be related to first error.)

F2 - system set up screens, one does time/date, etc., the other sets up whether or not to display error messages for keyboard, etc during start up.

Everytime the computer is restarted I get the same message w/ F1 & F2 options. :tazz:
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#2
gerryf

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sounds like it may not be recognized 100 percent correctly...

What make and model on the computer? Do you know the original drive and the current drive?
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#3
TheBorgs

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Computer: Dell Pent II, OptiPlex GXa (from a sticker on the outside)

Original Hard drives: Maxtor (1-model 82559A4, 1-model 83240D4)

New Hard drive: Western Digital 40.0 GB model WD40088(or BB)-18DEA0 (I think - trying to read while mounted in computer)

Thanks for any help! :tazz:
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#4
gerryf

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I'm thinking he perhaps did not change the bios to reflect the one harddrive has been removed.

Do you have a screen that says ENTER SETUP with maybe a DEL or f2 or f1 after it?

Hit that, and see how many drives are recognized.

This is an old machine and it may not be able to autdetect the removal of a drive. Setting the missing drive to none, or auto, may clear the error.
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#5
TheBorgs

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Thank you so much! That fixed it.

I had two ways of entering system utilities - either by clicking Ctl-Alt-Enter before the error message appeared or by pressing F2 after the error message.

I changed the "2nd" drive to "None" b/c it was set to "Auto" already and this fixed the problem.

Thanks again!
I will definitely keep this website in my favorites.
:tazz:
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