Problem Booting Up, Requires Clicking F1 Key

[Sam]

I have a Dell Dimension 8200 computer with windows XP Pro (SP2) installed,
and two internal WD HDs. The primary HD has been making noticeable noises
when booting up for the day, a rumbling noise and a high pitch sound. Dell
sent me a replacement HD yesterday and I installed it today. I use the
Symantec Livestate Recovery program for image backups. I installed the
primary replacement HD without any problems, jumbered HD setting to CS, and
disconnected the power and data cables for the 2nd internal HD. I then
accomplished the image restore without any noted errors.

However when the computer booted up after the image restore, and after the
bios information, an error appeared and is as follows:

"Primary hard disk drive 1 not found. Strike the F1 key to continue or F2
to run the setup utility."

I clicked on the F1 key and the computer booted up with any difficulty. I
tried two more times for rebooting and still received the same error
message. I checked the device manager, event viewer, and Disk Management
and all the entries appear to be okay. I am not too familiar with the
BIOS, but checked there and the settings were for Auto for HDs. I don't
know if makes any difference, but on the failing HD, there is a Dell Utility
partition. However, on the replacement image restore file, the Dell Utility
partition was not included. I was wondering though if the boot records are
messed upon because of this. I went into the Recovery Console and ran the
Fixboot command and it appeared to run okay. I also tried to run the Fixmbr
command but received the following message:

"This computer appears to have a non-standard or invalid master boot record.
Fixmbr may damage your partition tables if you proceed. This could cause
all the partitions on the current hard disk to become inaccessible. If you
are not having problems accessing your drive, do not continue. Are you sure
you want to write a new mbr. - " I selected NO and exited the recovery
console.

I also looked at the boot.ini file and it appears to be okay as far as I can
tell. The following list the contents of the boot.ini file from the
original HD, and then for the replacement HD.

a. Original HD
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows Recovery Console" /cmdcons

b. Replacement HD
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows Recovery Console" /cmdcons


I should note that I have not used any programs that changes partition sizes
such as partition magic. I would very much appreciate any suggestions and
comments for resolving my computer problems. Thanks, Sam.

P.S. the noise level for the replacement HD is so much better compared to
that of the original primary HD. I have to get very close to the tower, and
even then can only barely hear the replacement HD running. Maybe I waited
too long to replace the darn original HD!!

 

[arthurbk]

Go into BIOS and under the HD section highlight the Auto option and
hit enter to change that value to whatever drive shows up as the
second choice.

 

[arthurbk]

Go into BIOS and under the HD section highlight the Auto option and
hit enter to change that value to whatever drive shows up as the
second choice. Make sure to save the changes and then exit.

 

[Sam]

Many thanks for your reply. I finally got THE computer working by
connecting the second HD. I thought by leaving the BIOS setting for the
second HD at AUTO would be okay when I temporarily disconnected the HD, but
this definitely was not correct!! Thanks again for your reply, Sam.