Desktop

Ask something
Discussion Locked

Primary Master HDD error

0 helpful
7 replies

by topcat8

Closed to new repliesThis discussion is closed. It stays readable, but it takes no new replies.

When my pc boots I get "Pri master HDD error;sec slave drive-ATAPI incompatible" press F1 to continue, then it will continue to boot, then it searches for a boot record but finds none so I push reset and then it says "sec slave-ATAPI incompatible",press F1 to resume", then it will finanlly start and winxp will load and run okay. Could someone try to help me with this, I have tried everything I know!
Thanks,
Dave

7 replies

by j_o_blair

By default most hdd's are set to cable select from the factory.
First thing I'd do is reset both your hdd and cd- hdd to master, cd to slave.
then I'd see if you can define the drives in the bios.
hope this helps

by mocha

I can suggest the alternative:
if you have only 1 HHD,1 CD-ROM and 2 IDE connector in the computer:
1)set the HHD to master and put it on the FIRST IDE connector on the board.
2)set the CD_ROM to slave and put it on the SECOND IDE connector.
(ifone device is malfunctionning, it should take down only its IDE bus and leave the other alone)
3)Boot the computer and enter the bios.
4)Set all IDE device detection to auto.
5)save and exit bios.
6)during the booting sequence, check if both drives are identified correctly.

If not, you can try some things:
-Bios upgrade (see your manual before proceeding)
-Changing IDE cable
-testing your hardware on another computer(<- be careful with that last suggestion however, try it on a worthless machine if possible)

Good luck!!

by b_pope

Sounds like your Master Boot Record (MBR) is corrupt or has a virus, if you tried using any third party boot disk software or boot speed up software it likely corrupted the MBR, I wouldn't totally rule out a virus although rare.

You can fix by inserting your startup disk & type "dir_C:" at the prompt then "fdisk_/MBR" this will create a new MBR & will not harm your disk or installed software in any way, infact it's the only way to fix your MBR.

_ = space

This discussion is closed to new replies.