Hard disk drive not found????

If this post is in the wrong forum please feel free to move it...so here we go.

The last two days when I have been logging on to my Dell 8200 laptop running Win. xp in the middle of the boot-up I have been getting the message:

"Primary Hard Disk Drive Not Found.
Fixed Optical Drive Not Found.
Not Bootable Devices-Strike f1 to retry reboot, f2 for setup utility"

So I hit F1 for reboot...nothing...it says something to the effect there is nothing to re-boot. Hit f2 and it takes me to the setup screen, which I dont mess with as I am not sure what the problem is yet. So I do a hard reset and without fail the second time I boot it up it is fine and goes right to my desktop after I enter password etc...

I try to re-create the situation, but after the first failed boot and the second successful boot it seems to boot just fine every time afterwards except when I wait several hours to boot up again.

Another wierd thing that has been happening is that when my desktop screen does appear I have to hit "enter" in order for all my icons to show up and for the computer to continue booting from that point on.

I am not incredibly computer savvy, I can make my way around it alright, but a problem like this I am not sure how to diagnose and repair. Anyone's help or suggestions would be wonderful!

Thank you!

 

I would recommend that you run through the malware removal thread to start things off. This may or may not be the cause, but it will at least establish a baseline to begin troubleshooting your problem.

Another thing: when you do go into setup (hit F2), what does it say under boot sequence? What does it say for primary and secondary IDE master and slaves?

Has there been any hardware changes? (I would assume not...)

 

Thank you, I will give the steps in that thread a try.

 

I went through the seven pages of setup and did not find anything referencing a boot sequence, IDE or slaves? Am I looking in the right place?

 

There WILL be these options there. Look carefully and read every screen thoroughly. Its sometimes easy to miss, and is rarely named the same thing. It could be boot order, or boot device select, or something similar. If you STILL can't find it, copy all the menus and each of their options, and post them here, and someone will be able to help you.

 

This could be a cmos battery failure.