Boot Error: SATA Primary drive 0 not found

A short story to begin. I have two computers with sub-par performance. A dell and an HP. To make one slightly less crappy comp, I take the RAM and HD out of dell and put it into HP. All is well. I find out i need a second computuer. I return original parts to Dell. I get the following error:

Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS version 1.0 A08
COPYRIGHT ...(ETC)

Dell System Demension 4600i series
BIOS version A08

SATA Primary drive 0 not found
strike f1 continue, f2 setup

(Naturally pressing f1 repeats the same error. f2 brings me to BIOs. Drive configuration looks like this

(Notice, i have messed with these settings a lot, but here they are)

SATA Primary Drive ... Unknown Device
SATA Secondary Drive ... OFF
Primary Master Drive ... Hard Drive
Secondary Master Drive ... OFF
Secondary master drive ... CD ROM Device
Secondary Slave Drive ... CD ROM Device

Dell worked before removing hardware, and HD still works (tested in HP comp) So my assumption is that i have something connected improperly.

Any ideas?

 

Did you make any changes to the hd placed from the Dell into the HP?
At bootup, the Dell might be expecting to see something on the SATA drive that has disappeared.
It doesn't say SATA primary undetected, which might happen if a cable is off or the hd has died.

If you have recovery disks from Dell, you may have to restore the SATA to factory condition to get it "known" again.

 

No, the reason i took the HD from the DELL to the HP is because i wanted the data, so i wouldn't have made any major changes to the format or anything.

the HD is definatly good, after i got this error i tested it in the HP.

I wonder if the cable is off. As you can see, the bios recognizes the HD (in fact it even shows the available space if i go deeper), so that is why I ruled out the cable. Is there a difference between the cable I use to hook up the HD and "SATA"?

I guess Ill check the dell website and see if there are any recovery options. I sure dont have the disks! Fee free to throw out any other ideas!

 

Try removing the CMOS battery to reset the settings in the bios

 

A SATA cable is red with a black connector.
An IDE cable is a grey wide ribbon cable.