Primary Driver Not Found

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by lori_mom, Sep 18, 2008.

  1. lori_mom

    lori_mom Private E-2

    Get the message "Primary Driver Not Found" Press F1 to Continue. I do, and it does. How do I fix this?
     
  2. Senlis

    Senlis Staff Sergeant

    when do you get this message?
     
  3. jlphlp

    jlphlp Master Sergeant

    Hi Lori,

    Are you sure of the error message. Could it be Primary Drive not found.

    Jim
     
  4. lori_mom

    lori_mom Private E-2

    I think I got it right, but I will restart & make exact notes.
     
  5. lori_mom

    lori_mom Private E-2

    OK, on start-up: black "DELL" screen, if you wait a minute or two it moves on to another black screen. That page has the notice:primary Drive not found
    Strike F1 to continue. Does not move on if you wait. I hit F1, then it goes on to the Windows opneing screen, the welcome screen, and the desktop. It does recognize the C-drive when you do a check. Also, everything seems to be available & working from the desktop.
     
  6. Senlis

    Senlis Staff Sergeant

    What is apparently happening is that the BIOS is trying to find a drive that is not there. This drive that it is trying to find is obviously not the hard drive your computer boots off of, because it can find it (it can boot off of it).

    Basically what you need to do is boot your computer and enter setup (press del, esc, F1 or F2 to enter setup depending on your motherboard.) Look at your device configuration and turn off all drives that you do not have connected including floppy drives.

    Once the BIOS is not set up to find drives that do not exist, you should have no problems.
     
  7. jlphlp

    jlphlp Master Sergeant

    Hi Lori,

    Sounds like Senlis is on to it. Weird that it can't find primary when it has evidently already found it. You must be booting from a secondary port.

    Good Luck, Jim
     
  8. lori_mom

    lori_mom Private E-2

    OK, followed your instructions, and it said the Primary Slave Drive was unknown. I figured out how to change it to OFF, and now it boots up correctly! THANKS!! Next step, back-up before it has trouble again that can't be fixed. Recommendations on the best way to back-up?
     

MajorGeeks.Com Menu

Downloads All In One Tweaks \ Android \ Anti-Malware \ Anti-Virus \ Appearance \ Backup \ Browsers \ CD\DVD\Blu-Ray \ Covert Ops \ Drive Utilities \ Drivers \ Graphics \ Internet Tools \ Multimedia \ Networking \ Office Tools \ PC Games \ System Tools \ Mac/Apple/Ipad Downloads

Other News: Top Downloads \ News (Tech) \ Off Base (Other Websites News) \ Way Off Base (Offbeat Stories and Pics)

Social: Facebook \ YouTube \ Twitter \ Tumblr \ Pintrest \ RSS Feeds