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March 10, 2006
Dear CNET members,
I don't know about you, but I'm fairly particular about the everyday operations of my home computer. If something changes in its behavior that I didn't knowingly create, it makes me crazy, even when it's not an indication of a serious problem. Gretchen G. might be in a similar situation with this week's question. She's still able to use her computer, but now she has to hit F1 whenever she starts up her PC. While this may indicate the start of big trouble, like hard drive failure, it sounds more like a simple configuration change should correct the annoyance. Some of you may be able to live with that. I, on the other hand, would have to get this corrected as soon as possible. Which is why I would start with this week's winning answer, submitted by Miguel. If you're comfortable changing settings in your computer's BIOS, Miguel's answer is a great place to start. But there's clearly more than one possible solution to your problem, so be sure to check out the honorable mentions and other suggestions. Thanks for all the answers submitted this week and have a great weekend!
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Member Question of the Week
Every time I boot up my Dell Dimension desktop, I immediately get an error message that says "Primary drive not found." I then have the option of hitting F1 to continue, or F2 to go to a configuration utility. If I hit F1, my computer almost always starts up as usual. I've made sure all the drive cables are totally connected, I only have one hard drive (so it must be finding the "primary drive"), I've even reinstalled Windows XP, yet the issue remains. Otherwise, my computer runs great, but it's a pretty alarming error message that I would somehow like to fix.
Submitted by:
Gretchen G. of San Francisco, CA
While the error message sounds ominous, the solution to your problem might be quite simple. In fact, the most likely cause of the error message is that your computer's BIOS is set to boot off a hard drive that isn't there. Let me explain.
When you turn on a Dell Dimension (or any other computer, for that matter), a set of coded instructions known as Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) prepares the hardware so that your operating system and other programs can take over. One of the things that happens during this "booting" process is that your BIOS looks...
Submitted by:
Miguel K.
For
Miguel's
efforts, we're sending him his choice of any
Help.com Learning CD.
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Check out next week's question:
Hello. When I try to shut down or restart my desktop via the standard buttons on the start menu, my computer goes through what appears like the normal shutdown or restart routine, but it never actually powers off or restarts.
The screen goes dark and then the monitor even goes into power-save mode since it's getting no signal from the computer, but the computer fans, lights, everything else remain on. I have to hold down the power button to turn it off or hit the reset button to restart. What is causing this and how can I fix it? I'm using Windows MCE. Thanks.
--Submitted by:
Scott G.
If you have the answer,
e-mail us at messageboards@cnet.com.
If we choose your response, you'll get a
free Help.com CD.
Have a question?
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How often do you change your BIOS settings?
(Please click on button to vote) |
 At least once a month (tell us why)
Only in extreme situations (like what?)
Never! Are you crazy?!
Every time I brush my teeth (really?)
What's BIOS?
| Member Profile of the Week |
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User name: Hacim
Location: Montreal, Canada
Member since:
February 28, 2006
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About me: About me: I'm an inveterate news junkie. Not happy till I have more news to read, watch, or listen to than any...
(read more)
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Simple question, simple answer
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