Primary Master Hard Disk Error

When I reboot my laptop, the screen shows "Primary Master Hard Disk Error." It also says to press F2, which takes me to the Bios settings. I tried to run a memtest from a bootable CD, but even though I set the Boot drive to run the CD, it won't allow the CD to run. Please Help!

Hi, this failure generally is not good news. The first step is to enter the BIOS (often called setup) and see if the hard drive is being detected…if its not then set the BIOS to "autodetect" save the changes, exit and attempt a reboot. If you have no joy and the laptop won't boot, then next I would pull the hard drive out of the computer (take all usual personal safety and anti static (ESD) precautions) and install it as an additional drive in a desktop computer and see if the desktop computer can see the drive…if it can, then copy off any of your important stuff that you have not yet backed up to removable media… and copy it off quickly! Although it could be a cabling fault or a mobo controller fault, its often the hard drive itself that has failed, Sometimes if its a cabling fault, just removing the laptop drive and putting it back again helps! Post back if you need further directions on any of this, including personal safety and ESD precautions.with your results thus far. Regards paws

Hi Paws, Thanks for the reply. Yes, I'd like the personal safety and ESD precautions. Kind Regards, Byron

Here's the link;
http://forums.whatthetech.com/index.php?showtopic=103649
This is more focussed with desktop machines, however if you follow the directions but also make sure that your laptop is fully powered down, before you start (a full full shutdown, not a sleep/hibernate/standby) and the mains power cable is disconnecected (pull it out) and the battery removed, the rest of the directions should be helpful to you.

Did the BIOS setting to "autodetect" with a saving of the change and then reboot prove ineffective?
Removing the hard drive from the laptop is a quick and simple job (usually taking less than a minute to perform) and with often only one screw holding it into place.
Dont forget the full personal safety and ESD precautions when you come to fit the drive into your desktop machine!

It''s great to do things oneself, and save money and learn at the same time, BUT not at the expense of personal or family safety…If you are in any way unsure or cannot guarantee that family members or friends will keep away whilst you are performing the tasks then it would be better to entrust the work to a local competent technician…but get a fixed quote for the price first..
Regards
paws