Primary hard disk drive 0 not found
Turned on my Dell PC this morning, went to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee, came back to find this nasty note on my PC:
Primary hard disk drive 0 not found
Crap.
This is going to be a long, long day.
And to top that off, my iMac (which I'm currently on) is making some funny noises.
Crap.
Comment Information
I'm not buying Dell computers anymore.
Not becuse they're crappy computers (hell, they do work) but because of the proprietary nature of their innards.
If I find out I have to buy a new hard disk through dell, and the ones at the Big Box Store wont work, I'll be pissed.
Comment Information
Dec 7, 2006
8:18pm
Any IDE or SATA drive (depending on which your computer uses) should work fine if you have a Dell desktop computer. With very few exceptions, Dell systems use industry standard components.
If you have not already contacted support feel free to email me the service tag and I will be more than happy to check the warranty status, and send out a replacement if the system is still covered.
Larry
Customer_Advocate@Dell.com
Dell Inc.
Comment Information
Dec 7, 2006
9:42pm
In that case, if you wanted to purchase a replacement, the system uses ATA-66 or ATA-100 drives. Depending on the size of the hard drive you got you might need to update the BIOS (depending on what is installed) to read the entire thing.
The latest update for the Dim2200 is A04 (http://ftp.dell.com/bios/BD220004.exe) dated 9/13/2002. This file asks for a floppy disk, then formats it as a boot disk for doing the update.
If you needed other drivers they are all available from the Dell support website (http://support.dell.com then click Download & Drivers).
If you had any other questions on the system I'll be happy to answer them.
Larry
Customer_Advocate@Dell.com
Dell Inc.
Comment Information
Feb 13, 2008
9:46pm
Even i have the same problem. it was working until yesterday. all of a sudden its showing this error. what is the best way to approach this problem. i need to recover what ever i have in my hdd. please help me out.
Thanks in advance
Comment Information
Feb 16, 2008
10:35am
Hi ,
Also i have the same problems ,it is a Dell Dimension 4550 with Phoenix ROM Bios PLUS Version 1.10 A08
Bio A08 BNRZP0J is service tag
It says Strike F1 key to continue ,F2 to turn the setup utility.
Unknown Device
Hard drive is a Hitachi Deskstar ATA IDE
120 gb
1c35l120avv207-0
P/N 13G0224
SN VNVDO2G4GJ32LG
Is this the end of a hard drive or can you help me to solve this problem
Thanks in advance
Reind van der Laan
The Netherlands
#10Me too
Comment Information
May 19, 2008
4:17pm
I have an old dell dimension 1100 pc with a old 37gb harddisk so I went to computers plus to buy a new hard disk and the new one dont work... It says primary drive 0 not found. I dont get it I even tried changing the jumpers on it so i put my old one back in.
Comment Information
Me too,
What size is the new hard drive that you bought. It is very likely that your bios on your old Dell will not support the new capacity that your purchased. There may be a BIOS update available for your system that will correct this.
Best of luck,
Keith
#12BIOS OPTIONS
Comment Information
MAKE SURE THE HARD DISKS ARE ENABLED IN THE "BOOT DEVICES" SETTINGS IN THE BIOS!!!!
There must be a tick beside the hard disk, if there isn't - hit the spacebar key.
This should fix your problems. 
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