When my PC boots it says "Primary 1 not found Secondary 0 not found Secondary 1 not found" How can I fix this?

Question

It also won't recognize my secondary hard drive and CD drive in windows so this is very annoying.

Answer 1

Change the primary device to hard disk from the BIOS and it will fix the problem

Answer 2

Primary 1, Secondary 1, and Secondary 2 represent your IDE connected devices. IDE connected devices are those devices like your hard drives and CD-Roms that are connected to your motherboard by a flat ribbon cable. Generally the Primary cable has a blue end on the connector at the motherboard where the secondary one has a black end. When connecting these cables to the devices, you will find one of the edges of the ribbon cable has a red stripe on it, that side of the connector should always be connected to the device with the red stripe closest to the power connector. The end that connects to the motherboard will generally have a notch which will only allow the cable to be connected one way, if it doesn't use the same rule of thumb, the red stripe should go to the side of the connector closest to where the main power feed attaches to the motherboard as well. Check to make sure the leads are connected properly to each device on the cable and to the motherboard, once confirmed press each connection to make sure they are fully inserted into each device and the motherboard. If you are using SATA hard drives, these have different connections to the motherboard and will not show up as Primary 0-1 or Secondary 0-1. Try restarting your computer after adjusting any or all the connections I mentioned above, if the bios still does not recognize your devices that are attached by flat ribbon cables, you probably need to replace the cable(s). These cables have been a standard in computers for many years, but they don't tolerate heat buildup well and can burn out internally if the heat in the case is not properly disappated.

Watch your Bios posting during the reboot, if the bios doesn't pick up the devices attached to your IDE cables, windows won't recognize them either.

Answer 3

It is possible to get a bug from a burned CD from someone else. that is why you should check them for bugs before ever running them. The technology they have now The know if you are copying as well and can do damage with bots. However The first answer is what I would do if this is the first time you have had this problem. otherwise open the case pull the cable or flat ribbon from the motherboard and the drive and see if it's loose it may be a fluke so check that next. If you went into setup in cmos #1 says to reset it by unplugging power first and pulling the cmos battery, it may work but if it does not then check the cable before closing the case.

Answer 4

Go into the bios and set IDE devices to Auto, then restart the computer. If that does not help try to remove all power one from all the devices one at a time till the devices start to show up the check the jumpers.

Answer 5

Above are good answers.
One thing also; Unplug the computer and remove the side panel. Remove the CMOS Battery, it be the only battery you see on the Motherboard. Wait about 5 minutes and reinstall the battery or a new one. Plug the computer back in and Boot.
You will need to reset your clock and whatever.

Answer 6

you could tighten the attachment of the ide cable of the hard disk. there is something at the back of the hard disk where you can configure whether it is primary or secondary and that is by jumper sequence.

Answer 7

goto BIOS settings, check which is your first & second boot drives.
also check your jumper settings on hard drive, set it on primary if you dont have more than 1 drive.

Answer 8

To get proper answer for you problem you should mention what you have been doing with hardware or software i.e. have you tried to install new hardware or software or it appeared suddenly.

Answer 9

check you jumper setting on you hard drives and also check your power connection and your ide cables

Answer 10

if you did not get a rescue disc with your computer, you need to take it in, likely a trojan has disabled your boot commands