hard disk not detectable

  • Thread starter Thread starter dh
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dh

When my WinXP boot up, I got "Detecting Primary Master: None."
However, the slave harddisk is detectable.
I have tried to boot from CDROM, but failed.
The message is "No Emulation"
The BOOT->primary HDD is ST340014A
The MAIN->primary master is AUTO.

I havent changed any hareware configuration.
This happens right after loading a word document, the machine hangs.
Then I reset the computer and find the primary master not detectable.
Thanx a lot
 
If I understand correctly; Winxp boots with err msg "Detecting Primary
Master: None."
HD is detected in bios?
If so perhaps its failed
Download the hd checking utility from hd manu site, create the floppy and
test.
 
Hi, dh.

If you tell us the make and model of your computer (or your motherboard, if
you built it yourself), some of us might be able to give you some specific
advice. Until then, all we can give is "generic" tips, based on our
experience with our computers, which may be different from yours. How many
HDs to you have, what interface (IDE? SCSI? SATA?) do they use and how are
they partitioned? Where is WinXP installed? (It might help if you post a
copy of your C:\boot.ini file.)

When the computer power switch is turned on, the very first (white text on
black) screen should list the HDs that the BIOS detects. These might flash
by so quickly that you can't read them. If so, you'll have to quickly hit
whatever key (Del? F1? F10?) is appropriage for your machine to enter the
BIOS setup utility. On the first or second page of this, you should see the
HDs and CD/DVDs that the BIOS recognizes as currently attached, and which
connector (primary or secondary IDE; master or slave) each is on.

But I'm confused. If your main HD is not even recognized by your computer,
then you should not be able to boot at all and you would never be able to
get to the Word document you mention. And I have no idea where the "No
Emulation" message might be coming from!

You need to tell us a LOT more before we will be able to help you very much.

RC
 
A master hard drive NEEDS to be detected in the BIOS for the PC to be able
to boot from a hard drive. You can not normally have a slave harddrive used
to boot the system.
 
The motherboard is Asus P3V4X.
I have 2 IDE interface harddisk.
The WinXP is installed in C: at the primary master disk which is a Seagate.
I cannot even get boot from CDROM, so cannot post the c:\boot.ini
When the computer switch is turned on, the very first screen list the HDs
that the BIOS detects.
It shows
Detecting Primary Master ... [Press F4 to skip]

Then it times out and start detecting the other HD and CDROMs.
Then the screen turns to a table showing
Pri. Master Disk: NONE.
Pri. Slave Disk: 40020MB, UDMA 4

The secondary boot is set to be the CDROM in BIOS.
The primary boot is failed and it switches to the CDROM where the WinXP is
in there.
It shown an error message "Boot from ATAPI CDROM: No Emulation"
And long time hasnt anything comes up.

The BIOS setting:
BOOT->1. IDE HDD is ST340014A
MAIN->primary master is AUTO.
MAIN->primary slave is ST340014A

Thanx a lot
 
Now the problem is, the master harddrive cannot be detected with an unknown
reason.
How can I fix it?
Thanx
 
Your hd is not detected in the bios,
Therefore either it has failed or the cables have come adrift (unlikely)
As I said before you need to visit hd manu site for the "ST340014A"
Download the checking utility, create the boot floppy for this, then pwr up
using this.
Or if you cannot do this take it to a repair shop
 
Important supplementary information:
Primary Master HD model: ST320420A
Primary Slave HD model: ST340014A
How come the BIOS BOOT order would put my Primary Slave HD as the first
option?

Finally, the setup can run from CDROM.
I select the Recovery option, and it complains that the HD is not found.
It suggests to check the power of the HD, and the HD installation.
However, I havent changed the hardware configuration.
Where should I start the checking?
Thanx



dh said:
The motherboard is Asus P3V4X.
I have 2 IDE interface harddisk.
The WinXP is installed in C: at the primary master disk which is a
Seagate.
I cannot even get boot from CDROM, so cannot post the c:\boot.ini
When the computer switch is turned on, the very first screen list the HDs
that the BIOS detects.
It shows
Detecting Primary Master ... [Press F4 to skip]

Then it times out and start detecting the other HD and CDROMs.
Then the screen turns to a table showing
Pri. Master Disk: NONE.
Pri. Slave Disk: 40020MB, UDMA 4

The secondary boot is set to be the CDROM in BIOS.
The primary boot is failed and it switches to the CDROM where the WinXP is
in there.
It shown an error message "Boot from ATAPI CDROM: No Emulation"
And long time hasnt anything comes up.

The BIOS setting:
BOOT->1. IDE HDD is ST340014A
MAIN->primary master is AUTO.
MAIN->primary slave is ST340014A

Thanx a lot



R. C. White said:
Hi, dh.

If you tell us the make and model of your computer (or your motherboard,
if you built it yourself), some of us might be able to give you some
specific advice. Until then, all we can give is "generic" tips, based on
our experience with our computers, which may be different from yours.
How many HDs to you have, what interface (IDE? SCSI? SATA?) do they use
and how are they partitioned? Where is WinXP installed? (It might help
if you post a copy of your C:\boot.ini file.)

When the computer power switch is turned on, the very first (white text
on black) screen should list the HDs that the BIOS detects. These might
flash by so quickly that you can't read them. If so, you'll have to
quickly hit whatever key (Del? F1? F10?) is appropriage for your
machine to enter the BIOS setup utility. On the first or second page of
this, you should see the HDs and CD/DVDs that the BIOS recognizes as
currently attached, and which connector (primary or secondary IDE; master
or slave) each is on.

But I'm confused. If your main HD is not even recognized by your
computer, then you should not be able to boot at all and you would never
be able to get to the Word document you mention. And I have no idea
where the "No Emulation" message might be coming from!

You need to tell us a LOT more before we will be able to help you very
much.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
dh said:
The motherboard is Asus P3V4X.
I have 2 IDE interface harddisk.
The WinXP is installed in C: at the primary master disk which is a
Seagate.
I cannot even get boot from CDROM, so cannot post the c:\boot.ini
When the computer switch is turned on, the very first screen list the HDs
that the BIOS detects.
It shows
Detecting Primary Master ... [Press F4 to skip]

Then it times out and start detecting the other HD and CDROMs.
Then the screen turns to a table showing
Pri. Master Disk: NONE.
Pri. Slave Disk: 40020MB, UDMA 4

The secondary boot is set to be the CDROM in BIOS.
The primary boot is failed and it switches to the CDROM where the WinXP is
in there.
It shown an error message "Boot from ATAPI CDROM: No Emulation"
And long time hasnt anything comes up.

The BIOS setting:
BOOT->1. IDE HDD is ST340014A
MAIN->primary master is AUTO.
MAIN->primary slave is ST340014A

Thanx a lot
Click to expand...


dh:
1. Your basic problem, of course, is that your boot drive, the Seagate
connected as Primary Master, is not being detected in the BIOS. We'll assume
it's connected/configured properly to its IDE cable connector and power
plug, right? You're *absolutely* sure of that, right? And you've make no
hardware changes involving your hard drives, right? As you said,. the
problem surfaced after you "load(ed) a word document". You also said that
after this you "reset the computer". What do you mean by this? How did you
"reset the computer"?

2. I'm assuming your second drive, the other Seagate, is not a bootable
drive, right? Just contains data for storage and/or backup, right?

3. Go to Seagate's website and download their HD diagnostic utility. I
haven't checked it lately but I assume it's still available to freely
download. Assuming the disk checks out OK...

4 Access your BIOS and make sure your CD-ROM is first in the boot order.
Then boot to your XP installation disk and perform a Repair install. *NOT*
THE FIRST "R" UPON BOOTUP!. If you don't know how to perform a Repair
install do a Google search for "xp repair install".

Assuming you haven't made any hardware changes affecting your primary drive
and further assuming it's properly connected/configured, it sounds like a
defective disk. But maybe not. So go through the above and see what happens.
Anna
 
Thanx very much for your reply.
1> I reset the PC by pressing the reset button, so it is equivalent to power
off and on.
2> Yes, the second HD is not a bootable drive.
3> Yes, I am trying.
4> The CDROM setup application finally boot up the PC.
It complains that the HD is not found with the recovery option.

With the information above, will u guess it is a Disk crash?
How to recover the disk data if it is a disk crash?
Thanx
 
dh said:
Thanx very much for your reply.
1> I reset the PC by pressing the reset button, so it is equivalent to
power off and on.
2> Yes, the second HD is not a bootable drive.
3> Yes, I am trying.
4> The CDROM setup application finally boot up the PC.
It complains that the HD is not found with the recovery option.

With the information above, will u guess it is a Disk crash?
How to recover the disk data if it is a disk crash?
Thanx
Click to expand...


dh:
It certainly sounds like a defective disk, but it may be not. Hopefully the
Seagate diagnostic will let you know if it is.

Forget about the Recovery console. I assume that's what you mean when you
say "the PC.
.... complains that the HD is not found with the recovery option". Can you
get to the Repair option that I mentioned above in 4.? If you can get to the
Repair option as I described above, do so, and undertake a Repair install.
Anna
 
I'd give up Anna, he was told to use the hd checking utility in the first
response - he seems unable to take that onboard
 
The seagate diagnostic tool is performing full surface scan.
It is more than 100 bad sector and it is still scanning.
Do u think it is a defective disk?
Should I try the Repair install with WinXP CD-ROM?
Thanx
 
dh said:
When my WinXP boot up, I got "Detecting Primary Master: None."
However, the slave harddisk is detectable.
I have tried to boot from CDROM, but failed.
The message is "No Emulation"
The BOOT->primary HDD is ST340014A
The MAIN->primary master is AUTO.

I havent changed any hareware configuration.
This happens right after loading a word document, the machine hangs.
Then I reset the computer and find the primary master not detectable.
Thanx a lot
Click to expand...

Go to the drive manufacturer's web site and download a drive diagnostic
utility. That will create a bootable floppy or CD. Boot from that and
check the hard drive. It may have failed.

If it has failed and the drive cannot be detected in the BIOS, then your
recourse to get data from the drive is to contact one of the speciality
houses such as ontrack or drivesavers. Know that this is very costly.
Mucho less costly to have regular full backups for this eventuality.
 
dh said:
The seagate diagnostic tool is performing full surface scan.
It is more than 100 bad sector and it is still scanning.
Do u think it is a defective disk?
Should I try the Repair install with WinXP CD-ROM?
Thanx
Click to expand...


dh:
Certainly sounds like it is defective. Try the Repair install as a
last-shot. It's very iffy at best but you've got nothing to lose at this
point.
Anna
 
dh said:
The seagate diagnostic tool is performing full surface scan.
It is more than 100 bad sector and it is still scanning.
Do u think it is a defective disk?
Should I try the Repair install with WinXP CD-ROM?
Thanx
Click to expand...

You have a very sick hard drive if there are 100 bad sectors. If you're
lucky, you may be able to get some data off of it, but even if you could get
the bios to see it, I wouldn't trust it after this.
 
Then, there's something you're not telling us. The diagnostic tool will not
find the HD unless its detected by the bios.

If accurate, that many defective sectors indicates a bad HD. Don't waste
your time with an XP repair install attempt.
 
dh (and Lil' Dave):
First of all, it *does* certainly sound to me like the HD is defective and
will need to be replaced. But at this point we are not *absolutely* certain
of that. The fact that the BIOS does not detect a drive upon bootup is *not*
an absolute assurance of a defective drive. Also, it is possible that while
the BIOS does not detect the drive upon bootup, the HD manufacturer's
diagnostic utility *will* have no problem doing so. As a matter of fact, in
this situation, hasn't the OP stated that the Seagate diagnostic utility is
doing just that?

As far as the Repair install, I would agree that based on what we now know,
it would be quite surprising if that would cure this drive's ills. But
what's the harm in performing such a install? There's really little to lose
other than a possible waste of dh's time in doing so.
Anna
 
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