Primary Master Hard Disk Error

I'm not sure what the problem is but all of the sudden my computer isn't booting. It was working just fine last night and nothing looked weird when it was shutting down. I came back from work not too long ago and turned on the computer and I was stuck at the very first screen with all the following displayed:

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AMIBIOS (C) 2005 American Megatrends, Inc.
ASUS KSU-X ACPI BIOS Revision 0703
CPU: AMD Sempron (tm) Processor 2600+
Speed: 1.60 GHz
DRAM Clocking: 400 MHz

Press DEL to run Setup
Press F8 for BIOS POPUP
Checking NVRAM..
Initializing USB Controllers..Done
1024 MB OK
USB Device(s): 2 mice, 2 storage devices
Auto-Detecting Pri Master..IDE Hard-Disk
Auto-Detecting Pri Slave
Auto-Detecting Sec Master..ATAPI CD-ROM
Auto-Detecting Sec Slave..ATAPI CD-ROM
Pri Slave: WDC WD450AA-00BA0 10-09K11
Ultra DMA Mode-2, S.M.A.R.T. Capable and Status OK
Sec Master: PLEXTOR CD-R PX-W1610A 1.05
Sec Slave: DVDROM 10X 41
Ultra DMA Mode-2
Auto-Detecting USB Mass Storage Devices..
Device #01: Seagate FreeAgentDeskt *HiSpeed*
Device #02: HP Photosmart C42801.0
02 USB Mass Storage Devices found and configured

Primary Master Hard Disk Error
No IDE Master H.D.D. Detected!
Press F1 to Resume
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So I pressed F1, and the next screen is this:

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Reboot and select proper Boot device
or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot devices and press okay
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Nothing happened after that. By the way, both my optical drives are "blind" (they still open and close but can't read anything). So anyhow, I re-started the computer and must have pressed F8 because a screen popped up and I was asked to choose a boot device. I guess both my primary and slave storage devices are Western Digital (I forgot what the slave was though) so when I saw the options, I picked the WDC one (I now know that was the slave). After I did that, I once again got to the "Reboot and select proper Boot device" screen and the next screen was just the "_" (the prompt?) going down line after line indefinitely.

I re-started the computer again and was stuck at "Auto-Detecting Sec Slave" while I hear something in the tower that literally sounded broken (like a grinding hiccuppy noise), and I assumed that was the primary hard drive... I turned off the computer.

I noticed something strange after that. The Num Lock light of the keyboard was turned on. It's never on when the computer's not turned on. I even have it set up so that the Num Lock is off by default.

After a few minutes, I started up the computer again. Once again, it got stuck doing the grinding hiccuppy thing and stuck at the "Auto-Detecting Sec Slave" part.

I re-started the computer again and this time, it went straight to the prompt(?).

I re-started the computer again and it went straight to the "Reboot and select proper Boot device" without me pressing F8.

I re-started the computer once again and it stopped at the "Press F1 to Resume" part of the first screen.

So... I'm assuming the primary hard drive (150GB capacity and almost full *sob*) is dead somehow. I hope it's not, in which case someone could perhaps help me to get my computer working again.

If it is in fact dead, is there a way to retrieve the data? Are there different ways in which it could be dead (i.e., if it's a non-crucial part that can be replaced and then it would be working again OR if it there's absolutely nothing that can be done)? I do have a 500GB external hard drive and have been backing up my data, but because it takes almost one whole day to transfer everything, I usually do it every couple months or so, so whatever I have backed up is not as current as I'd like it to be.

Anyhow, let me know what you experts think or if more information is needed. Hopefully someone can help. Thank you in advance!

 

That is not the sign of a full hard drive. The computer is telling you, for whatever reason, it does not see a hard drive.

Two things to try and fix this.
1. Open the computer up, and replace the gray ribbon cable. The cable may either have gone bad or loosened up over time.
2. Remove the hd from the computer and attach it to another computer using an IDE to USB adapter and see if the other computer sees the hard drive.
example of the adapter mentioned above:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ..._re=ide_to_usb_adapter-_-12-156-101-_-Product

Note: if the computer is a laptop, then of course you can not replace any cabling and the above adapter might not be good for 2.5" laptop hard drives but only 3.5" desktop hard drives.

 

That does not sound too good either........

Well it is possible to change the hdd's pcb with an identical one and get the drive going again. In this case, with the grinding noise in evidence, I would say that this sounds like an internal mechanical failure. The griding is probably due to the read/write arm scrapping on the surface of the disc. If that is the case then a professional outfit could salvage data.

Good Luck

 

plodr: Thanks. I'll try those two things.

risk_reversal: I've read about how other people have tried the freezing method. In the event that it doesn't work, would/could that make things any worse?

 

I've actually had luck just unplugging the machine for several hours/overnight and trying to boot. Something about absolutely no power to the machine seems to let things cool down enough for the HD to be recognized once in a while. I've never had to do the freezing method but I assume the trick is to wrap it tightly before putting it in the freezer. You may want to try putting the drive in a very cool part of your house before resorting to freezing.