Primary Master Hard Disk Error

JasX

Guapa1 wrote: »

I'd have to buy a new OS too as it was pre-installed.

not sure why you'd think that? doesn;t it have a license sticker on somewhere? also if you get a dell disk from somewhere Dells have a few tricks built in to auto activate

Guapa1

JasX wrote: »

not sure why you'd think that? doesn;t it have a license sticker on somewhere? also if you get a dell disk from somewhere Dells have a few tricks built in to auto activate

I just assumed that XP would be on the hard drive and as that wasn't working the OS was lost. I've just had a look and there is indeed a microsoft certificate of authenticity sticker.

So I can stick in a different hard drive and XP will work?

JasX

Guapa1 wrote: »

I just assumed that XP would be on the hard drive and as that wasn't working the OS was lost. I've just had a look and there is indeed a microsoft certificate of authenticity sticker.

So I can stick in a different hard drive and XP will work?

IF (emphasise IF) your hard drive is broken and you need a new hard drive you will need to reinstall windows XP, you can borrow a suitable disk off a friend/neighbour or download an image online for free as the license you paid for is tied to the number on the sticker on the side of your PC (keep that safe/secret, thats the bit you've paid for).

It'll be an OEM license tho so tied to your PC hardware and not transferrable to another machine (at least not legally)

ukcarper

If the cd and hard drive don't work could it be a power supply or ide problem in which case you might be able to get some data off hard drive

Donnie

Guapa1 wrote: »

Oh maybe it could be fixed then. It's a Dell Dimension 4500. I'd have to buy a new OS too as it was pre-installed.

**edit** I've just remembered, I have an old Dell Inspiron 6000 laptop with a fried motherboard. could I switch the dvd drives?

No, but you could buy a caddy in order to turn it into an external optical drive. £8

If the drive has a SATA connection, this caddy will be needed.

Donnie

Oops! It looks that you may have missed my eBay pick.

Guapa1

JasX wrote: »

Your drive is completly untested, I've seen little firm sentiment either way.

1. Have you tested it in another machine?
2. Have you looked for it being detected in BIOS? (not so far)
3. Have you tried it in another hard drive slot?
4. Have you confirmed its getting power? has a rail gone on your PSU?
5. Have you downloaded and run the drive manufacturers low level diagnostics?

1. No as there is not another machine for me to test it on.

2. I'm not sure how to do that, I'll google it in a mo.

3. Yes and it's the same.

4. Well it switches on to tell me it's not working and the power light comes on so I assume so. Rail?

5. No.

GunJack wrote: »

errmm....yes, it was actually :cool:

OK maybe not none, but definitely not all 5 points!

*slight vent*
I've told them a million and one times how to look after the thing and they didn't listen, so to be honest I don't really want to spend my money on trying to retrieve things they should've been looking after. I don't mind spending money to get them back online, as that means they'll leave my laptop alone.

I know that sounds bad, but if you check the amount of threads I've started because of that PC maybe you'll understand. I upgraded the RAM and gave it a very thorough virus clean more than once. I gave them an external HD to back up their things regularly and as far as I'm aware, it's not been touched.

*breathes*
That's better

So if someone could walk me through the above points, I'll appreciate it. I'll google point 2 in the meanwhile to try and help myself.

Cheers everyone. :beer:

Guapa1

Donnie wrote: »

Oops! It looks that you may have missed my eBay pick.

eBay pick?

Ah gutted! I was too busy writing my long rant on this thread, thank you for looking.

Donnie

I guess that you have to press F2 on Boot up to get into the BIOS. You can take a look in there to see if the HDD and optical drive are even recognised in there.

Next, you can reboot and hit F12 on start up...this should get you into 'Diagnostics'. Hit Enter at that point and let it run the tests.

KillerWatt

Donnie wrote: »

I guess that you have to press F2 on Boot up to get into the BIOS. You can take a look in there to see if the HDD and optical drive are even recognised in there.

Optical drive recognised according to >THIS< post (HDD not found though).
Quite an old drive so probably just worn out.