Primary slave not detected

  • Thread starter Thread starter Helene
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H

Helene

A friend of mine is getting the message "Primary slave not detected" when
she starts her computer. What would cause that message and what is the
primary slave? What needs to be done to fix the problem? Thanks for any help
you can give us.

Helene
 
Helene said:
A friend of mine is getting the message "Primary slave not detected" when
she starts her computer. What would cause that message and what is the
primary slave? What needs to be done to fix the problem? Thanks for any help
you can give us.

Helene
Click to expand...

if the machine does not have a second harddrive
then it's nothing to worry about.
if the message bothers you...you can set the primary slave option in the
bios
to "none"
 
Thanks for replying. I just talked with my friend again, and she says she
can't open Windows. After passing that message about the primary slave,
another message comes up, "Still Waiting." But it doesn't go any further no
matter how long they wait.

Helene
 
Helene said:
Thanks for replying. I just talked with my friend again, and she says
she can't open Windows. After passing that message about the primary
slave, another message comes up, "Still Waiting." But it doesn't go
any further no matter how long they wait.

Helene
Click to expand...

So do what Philo suggested then! Turn the PS off in the BIOS!
 
So do what Philo suggested then! Turn the PS off in the BIOS!
Click to expand...

LOL, Helene seems a lil slow on the uptake, give her a few hours maybe it'll start to click...or
maybe somebody could take a box of crayons and color the steps out for her. Reading is teh HARD,
yo! ^_^
 
A friend of mine is getting the message "Primary slave not detected" when
she starts her computer. What would cause that message and what is the
primary slave? What needs to be done to fix the problem? Thanks for any help
you can give us.

Helene
Click to expand...

Is she married?

If so, her husband has probably gone out for a beer. When he comes
back, the message should go away.


Have a nice week...

Trent

What do you call a smart blonde?
A golden retriever.
 
LOL, Helene seems a lil slow on the uptake, give her a few hours maybe it'll start to click...or
maybe somebody could take a box of crayons and color the steps out for her. Reading is teh HARD,
yo! ^_^
Click to expand...

How do you turn off the power supply in the BIOS?!


Have a nice week...

Trent

What do you call a smart blonde?
A golden retriever.
 
Helene said:
A friend of mine is getting the message "Primary slave not detected" when
she starts her computer. What would cause that message and what is the
primary slave? What needs to be done to fix the problem? Thanks for any help
you can give us.
Click to expand...

PC computers have two parallel IDE channels for connecting hard drives
and optical drives (CD drive and DVD drive), designated the primary
and the secondary channels. Each channel allows for a "Master" and a
"Slave," thus allowing up to four IDE devices in a typical PC
computer. Any IDE drive can be set as either Master or Slave or as the
only device on the channel (or as cable select, but there is no need
to worry about that setting).

The Master/Slave/Lone Device setting is selected by the use of little
plastic-coated connectors that are on pins on the back of the drive.
These connectors are called, "jumpers." Different manufacturers have
different jumper configurations for setting the Master/Slave/Lone
Device setting. Usually, the necessary jumper pattern is printed on
the drive somewhere, or embossed on the metal of the drive, near the
jumper pins on the back of the drive.

The usual boot drive is set to be the Primary Master drive. If there
is another drive on the primary channel, it should be set to be the
primary slave. There does not have to be a secondary master drive,
even if there is a secondary slave drive.

The most common cause of the problem you described is that two devices
have the same setting, for example, you may have two slave drives on
your Primary channel.

It would be best to check the settings of all your IDE drives. Note
that hard drives usually are set to a default of Master, and optical
drives usually are set to a default of Slave.
 
Or maybe I just don't understand much about this primary slave/secondary
slave business. Philo said if the message didn't bother my friend, but I was
explaining that it was a little more than just a nuisance. But I have a
sense of humor too, so I can understand how I sound like a bit of a ditz.
LOL

Helene

 
Yes, she's married. Husband doesn't drink, though. LOL. Actually, message
was still there the next day. Each time they shut down and power on again
the message just comes back and they can never open windows. We will
certainly try Philo's suggestion, but hope I didn't offend everyone on this
group by posting a second time.

Helene
 
Thank you Richard, we'll check the settings. Maybe if we can get into
windows (I will go up and try to run a scandisk to see if that repairs
anything) we will find, as Philo said, that the message is just there but
doesn't present a problem. Maybe it was there all along but they didn't
notice it until they started having trouble getting into Windows. At any
rate, I will check the settings and change any that seem wrong.

Helene

I really appreciate your help.

Helene
 
Here is my latest update on the problem: There is no second hard drive, so,
as Philo said, the "not detected" message means nothing. So, I guess that
has nothing to do with the problem she is having. She has a Gateway
computer. It goes to GoBack and then just sits at the window where it says
to hit the spacebar to make repairs. It says still waiting... and never goes
any further. I have tried to get to the c:\ prompt to run a scandisk, but
can't figure out how to do it on a Gateway. I have gone through the manual
and don't see instructions either. Could you please help me? I'm afraid my
friend doesn't have a startup disk either, which I know is dumb (before you
mention it first...LOL).

Helene
 
Helene said:
Here is my latest update on the problem: There is no second hard drive, so,
as Philo said, the "not detected" message means nothing.
Click to expand...

There may not be a second hard drive, but it is likely that there is a
second IDE drive, at least a CD-ROM.

BTW, you never did tell us... when did this problem become noticeable
to you? Did she just buy this machine, and it did this out of the box?
Or, did someone upgrade it or reconfigure it recently? For example,
did someone add or remove a CD-ROM drive (not the disk, but the entire
drive), a CD burner, a DVD drive or a DVD burner? Did anyone open up
the case of the computer for any reason at all before this problem
became noticeable?
So, I guess that has nothing to do with the problem she is having.
Click to expand...

As you can tell, I believe it does.
She has a Gateway
computer. It goes to GoBack and then just sits at the window where it says
to hit the spacebar to make repairs. It says still waiting... and never goes
any further.
Click to expand...

Nor will it.
I have tried to get to the c:\ prompt to run a scandisk, but
can't figure out how to do it on a Gateway.
Click to expand...

If this is caused by a Master/Slave conflict, you won't be able to get
to a prompt, unless Gateway has done something really wacky with the
BIOS (I can't rule that out). This is simply the behavior of the
parallel IDE system. When we all go to serial IDE (SATA), this won't
happen anymore, because SATA does not use jumpers.
I have gone through the manual
and don't see instructions either. Could you please help me? I'm afraid my
friend doesn't have a startup disk either, which I know is dumb (before you
mention it first...LOL).
Click to expand...

Below is an instruction guide for setting the jumpers on a hard drive.
The same idea works on optical drives, such as CD-ROM and DVD drives.
Note, again, that each manufacturer has their own jumper settings, so
don't just imitate the positions of the jumpers in the pictures.
Follow the diagrams on all your drives.

http://www.harddriveupgrade.com/jumper_pins.shtml

http://www.seagate.com/support/kb/disc/ref/jumper_settings.html
 
if the machine does not have a second harddrive
then it's nothing to worry about.
if the message bothers you...you can set the primary slave option in the
bios to "none"
Click to expand...

Set them to "Automatic" and let the machine take care of itself.
 
Richard Alexander's log on stardate 24 tra 2004
PC computers have two parallel IDE channels for connecting hard
drives and optical drives (CD drive and DVD drive),
Click to expand...

How come? I, for instance, have a PC and 4 ATA channels. :o)
 
How do you turn off the power supply in the BIOS?!
Click to expand...

Beats the hell out of me, why are you asking?

Free cl00, I'm entirely sure he meant PRIMARY SLAVE when he said PS...apparently Helene isn't the
only one not paying attention. ^_^
 
Or maybe I just don't understand much about this primary slave/secondary
slave business. Philo said if the message didn't bother my friend, but I was
explaining that it was a little more than just a nuisance. But I have a
sense of humor too, so I can understand how I sound like a bit of a ditz.
LOL
Click to expand...

And by top posting, you look like a ditz too! ^_^

And seriously, it isn't that hard to grasp. You have two IDE channels, a primary and a secondary.
And each channel has a master and a slave. So if you have two channels, each one with a primary and
a secondary, you can have a total of FOUR IDE devices.

Now most boards nowadays are designed to autodetect shit that you have plugged in, including IDE
devices. So if it's flashing a message that says 'whatever not found', it just means that it's set
to search for it when the computer starts up and if you don't have anything there it's gonna give
you that lil message.

Now you CAN shut that auto detection off in the BIOS and it might make it boot up faster...but
really, it doesn't have anything to do with anything. In most cases it's not a "problem" nor does
it need "fixing". What can happen is if you DO have a device attached and it's not working right,
cause then it'll get hung up trying to search for it. So if you go and disable the thing in the
BIOS, yeah, it'll probably boot up into Windows, but whatever the hell IDE device you had attached
won't be there (ie a CD ROM drive, a second HD, a zip drive, whatever).

Given your apparent lack of skill and knowledge and your friends deficiency in the area, you're
probably better off just taking it into a shop and having them fix it for you. *shrugs*
 
Here is my latest update on the problem: There is no second hard drive, so,
as Philo said, the "not detected" message means nothing. So, I guess that
has nothing to do with the problem she is having. She has a Gateway
computer. It goes to GoBack and then just sits at the window where it says
to hit the spacebar to make repairs. It says still waiting... and never goes
any further. I have tried to get to the c:\ prompt to run a scandisk, but
can't figure out how to do it on a Gateway. I have gone through the manual
and don't see instructions either. Could you please help me? I'm afraid my
friend doesn't have a startup disk either, which I know is dumb (before you
mention it first...LOL).
Click to expand...

....how do you figure that running scandisk is going to do...well, anything at all? o_O

No offense or anything, but you haven't even ISOLATED the problem yet...so what exactly is it that
you're trying to "fix" by running scandisk?

You keep shorting us out on the relevant info too. I mean, was this machine EVER working? And if
so, what did your friend do to **** it up? I mean they musta done something. I doubt that it just
suddenly decided to stop working for no apparent reason at all. Did she try installing some piece
of software? Was she deleting things she wasn't supposed to? Did she try putting in some new piece
of hardware? Until you answer all those basic questions, there's no point in trying to "fix"
anything. You need to isolate what the PROBLEM is first.
 
The primary slave would be a second hdd. If she doesn't have one the
message might be an error and you could go into the bios and change the
primary slave to none if there really isn't one. If there is one any number
of things could be wrong. To get into bios is different on many computers,
but is always done on boot. Sometimes you can see the message of what to do
as the machine is booting but it verys from hitting esc, to del, to f4, or
other keys. Once you are in bios you look to see what drives are listed and
if she knows for certain that she hasn't got one and you see one you hit
page up or down to make it show none.
 
It might be worth trying removing (disconnecting) the existing hard
drive ( easy enough to do) and seeing if you get the same message.
Also check it if correctly connected in the first place, ie it has
power and is connected to the wide IDE cable, it sould be on the
end of the cable, by the way, not on the middle connector
(is it has one).[Probably won't make any difference though]
Also maybe the cable is damaged and some electrical paint may
be in order :OP
Actually, just for fun, and because I have nothing better to do I
am going to disconnect my slave drive, and see what it says.
This will mean moving my swapfile and tempory internet
files back on to my master drive though!!!

Also maybe the BIOS has been 'forced' to detect it, but I doubt
it and I am not one who has ever had much need to mess with the
BIOS.
 
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