Primary Hard Disk Drive 0 Failure: How to Fix the Error?

Many people report that they encounter the primary hard disk drive 0 on their PCs. This error bothers them a lot. When this error occurs, they can receive the error message like these:

• “Primary hard disk drive 0 failure Strike the f1 key to retry boot, F2 for setup utility.”
• “SATA primary hard disk drive 0 failure. Strike the F1 key to continue, F2 to run the setup utility.”
• “Primary hard disk drive 0 not found. No bootable devices–strike F1 to retry boot, F2 for setup utility”

Here is an example from the answers.microsoft.com forum:

I have a Dell Dimension 4550 with XP ...When I went to restart it today, I received the following error "Primary hard disk drive 0 failure Strike the f1 key to retry boot, F2 for setup utility. Striking F1 does nothing.  F2 goes to the setup utility, but then I'm not sure what to adjust to try to get it to boot.  Any ideas?  Thank you.https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/primary-hard-disk-drive-0-failure/4ecb3af6-b9b2-4f63-a999-4820ae838829

Causes of Primary Hard Disk Drive 0 Failure

After investigating extensive user reports and posts, I find the primary hard disk drive 0 failure error always occurs on Windows XP and can mainly be caused by physical hard drive failure, such as read/write head crash, electronic failure, actuator arm damaged, spindle motor crash, platters’ misalignment.

In addition to this reason, a low COMS battery, the interferences of peripheral devices, loosened connection between disk and PC, and wrong boot order are also related to this error.

How to Fix the Primary Hard Disk Drive 0 Failure Error?

# 1. Remove the Unnecessary Peripheral Devices

Sometimes, the peripheral devices that you connect to your computer may cause the primary hard disk drive 0 failure error. In this case, you can try removing all the unnecessary peripheral devices, and then check if the error has been resolved.

# 2. Check the CMOS Battery

Low CMOS battery is one of the reasons for the primary disk hard drive 0 failure error. So, you can check if the CMOS battery is working. If not, replace it.

# 3. Check the Disk Connection

Loosen disk connection is also responsible for the primary disk hard drive 0 failure error. So, you can open your computer case, and reconnect the cables of the disk. Then check if the error is fixed.

# 4. Check Disk Errors

Disk errors can also cause the primary disk hard drive 0 failure error. In this case, you can try to run a disk check for your disk. To do that, you can use the CHKDSK utility to check and fix errors. Here’s the guide:

1. Click the Start button and click Run.
2. Type “cmd” in the box and click OK.
3. Type the drive letter of the drive you want to check and press Enter. For example, to check drive D, type “d:”.
4. Type “cd\” and press Enter. This takes you to the root directory of the drive.
5. Next, type the chkdsk command, such as “chkdsk /f /r”.

# 5. Check the Boot Order

If the boot order is wrong, you can also receive the error message “Primary hard disk drive 0 failure Strike the f1 key to retry boot, F2 for setup utility”. In this situation, you can check the boot order of your PC. If the disk 0 isn’t in the first order you need to reorder them.

# 6. Format Hard Drive

You can also try formatting the hard drive to fix the SATA primary hard disk drive 0 failure error. However, formatting a hard drive may erase all the data on it, you’d better make a backup before you try this way. Once you back up the hard drive successfully, you can continue to format the hard drive and recreate partitions.

# 7. Replace the Hard Drive

If there are physical damages on your hard drive, you can also encounter the SATA primary hard disk drive 0 failure error and receive the error message “SATA primary hard disk drive 0 failure. Strike the F1 key to continue, F2 to run the setup utility.” In this case, you can try replacing the hard drive to fix the error.

Further Reading:

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Bottom Line

Here comes the end of the post. It provides 7 ways to help you get rid of the primary hard disk drive 0 failure. You can try them one by one until the error gets fixed.