# Solved: SATA primary hard disk drive 0 failure



## ilq36 (Dec 18, 2004)

Hello. Im trying to help my friend with her Dell Dimension XPS Gen5 running Windows XP.
It had been working fine and no hardware changes were made. Now, upon starting up, 
the Dell logo appears but Windows doesn't start.

This message comes up:
SATA primary hard disk drive 0 failure
strike the F1 key to continue, F2 to run the setup utility

If I strike F1 I get the message:
No boot device available. Strike F1 to retry boot, F2 for setup utility

If I strike F2 I successfully enter the setup utility but I dont know what to do there.

I dont know if this info is useful or not:
The service tag of this dell is 1LQ8981
The express service code is 349 062 724 9

Please help!


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## Rich-M (May 3, 2006)

Sounds like the hard drive is ****, try this and if it won't complete you will need to replace it.
http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/How-to-run-checkdisk-recovery-console-Windows-xp-t131922.html


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## ilq36 (Dec 18, 2004)

I am unable to perform the checkdisk. I successfully loaded the Windows install disk, but after choosing "R" to enter the Recovery Console I get the message: "Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed on your computer." I tried several times, had the same problem every time.
The following may shed more light on the problem. When the Recovery Console fails, Windows setup exits and tells the computer to reboot. And after the reboot I end up at the same old place again, namely with the message "SATA primary hard disk drive 0 failure." HOWEVER, one time, instead I got the (momentarily encouraging) message, "We appologize for the inconvenience, but"--you know, the message you get after a blue-screen crash. And then I was given the choice to boot up as normal using the last known configuration, or to boot in safe mode. I chose safe mode. But the boot failed, giving this message: "Windows could not start because the folowing file is missing or corrupt system32\drivers\ntfs.sys. You can attempt to repair this file by starting Windows Setup using the orifinal setup CD-ROM. Choose 'R' at the first screen." Well, I tried Windows Setup several more times, but it kept failing and giving the same message.
Maybe all this only strengthens your original opinion, Rich M?
Can anyone offer a second opinion?
Thanks


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## crjdriver (Jan 2, 2001)

You need to load the sata driver so windows RC can find the disk. Go here and download the sata driver. It is a self-extracting archive or you can extract manually. Either it will make the disk for you OR you can copy the contents ie the driver files to a floppy and load the driver via the F6 prompt during the first part of setup.

Here is a link to your driver files dell link


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## ilq36 (Dec 18, 2004)

thanks, crjdriver, for the link. a question: under SATA drivers, there are two choices: "Intel -- Application 15MB" or "Intel - Driver 286KB." I tried the second one; either it's the wrong choice, or it didn't work, or i did something wrong. There's no floppy drive on the "broken" computer so I put it on a CD-R. There were 9 files (after the extraction). I pressed F6 during setup and it did ask me for a "manufactured supplied" disk. I put the CD in, waited a moment, pressed Enter (as the instructions said to), nothing happened. maybe you see where my mistake is?
thank you.


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## Rich-M (May 3, 2006)

Chuck,
That is a 955 chipset, it should not need a sata driver. I think the drive has to be shot and needs replacing.


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## ilq36 (Dec 18, 2004)

If I install a new hard drive but also put back the old one designated as a slave drive, is it possible i'd be able to retrieve data from the old drive? are there tools on the internet that would help me retrieve data from the failed drive?


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## crjdriver (Jan 2, 2001)

XP must load drivers from a floppy. You cannot use a CD, flash drive, etc. This is one big improvement in vista; vista will load drivers from just about anywhere.

You might not need the driver; it often depends on what mode the sata controller is set to; ie achi or standard/native ide. Most of the time when the controller is set to standard ide, you do not need a driver.

Does the drive show correctly in the bios?


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## crjdriver (Jan 2, 2001)

As a test, why not download the drive maker's diagnostic and see if the drive checks out OK? This runs from bootable media; either CD or floppy so you do not need an os installed.

You download this from whoever made the drive ie WD, Seagate, etc.


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## Hughv (Jul 22, 2006)

I've seen Dells where the HD cable has become disconnected.
Open the case and double check the connection at both ends. Check the power connection as well.


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## ilq36 (Dec 18, 2004)

Re: "Does the drive show correctly in the BIOS?"
Yes, it does. It shows, and all the information (Drive ID, Capacity, Link Speed, etc) is correct.
On a whim, I connected the hard drive as "drive 1" instead of "drive 0" (and I made the appropriate changes in the BIOS). Again, the drive showed up correctly in the BIOS, but I was still unable to boot up Windows and I was still unable to run the Windows Recovery Console.

There is one thing I don't understand though. In the BIOS, under Boot Sequence, next to "Onboard SATA hard drive" it says "{not present}." There are five items listed under Boot Sequence. Four of them say "{not present}." The only one that does not say "{not present}" is "Onboard or USB CD-ROM drive." Is there something wrong here?

Also, I tried to use the drive diagnostic tool for the hard drive but was unsuccessful. The CD-ROM drive doesn't seem to recognize the CD as a bootable CD. (This is the same drive that does accept and run the Windows Setup CD.) I believe I burned the CD correctly. I downloaded the zip file, I extracted, which gave me an .iso file, and then I used Roxio CD creator to burn a CD containing only that one .iso file. But, again, the computer just seemed to ignore the CD.


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## managed (May 24, 2003)

You need to burn the ISO file as an Image, not just copy it onto the CD, try right-clicking the ISO file and then Open, if it doesn't open in Roxio try Open with and select Roxio, it should then burn correctly.


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## ilq36 (Dec 18, 2004)

thank you for your help, *managed*. i did as you said and it seems that the disc burned correctly this time. but the troublesome computer only began to boot up from the disc and then soon stopped. on the screen came "starting Caldera DR-DOS" but then the screen went blank and nothing happened. i waited like 5 minutes. nothing. i tried again and the same exact thing happened.
any idea what the problem might be?


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## ilq36 (Dec 18, 2004)

I replaced the hard drive and reinstalled the operating system. Everything is fine now. I installed the old hard drive as a second drive; it is recognized by the computer but it can't be read. The computer says it is unformatted. So pretty clearly the old hard drive is dead and its data inaccessible.


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## Rich-M (May 3, 2006)

Not necessarily. Go Run, diskmgmt.msc, hit enter and partition and format the drive there.


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## ilq36 (Dec 18, 2004)

thanks for your reply, rich.

just for clarification, if, as you suggest, i partition and\or format, i'd lose forever any data on the drive that might be rocoverable, correct?


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## Rich-M (May 3, 2006)

Yes that would be right.


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