Primary Master Drive – ATAPI Incompatible

I have a new computer (purchased around a year ago) that my dad bought. He didn’t stick around and when he left, I got the computer. Well, the computer never worked right because my father installed everything himself and let’s just say he wasn’t a tech guru.

So when anyone tries to turn on the computer we get the following error message:

Primary Master Drive – ATAPI Incompatible
Press F1 to Continue.

When we press F1, Windows loads for a brief second then freezes and the desktop never displays. I have a Western Digital Hard Drive (160 GB). Model number WD1600AAJS-00B4A0. WD Caviar SE.

At first, I thought this was a Windows problem but after some googling, realized I’m dealing with a hardware issue and maybe a secondary software problem (but that remains to be seen).

I have a DVD Writer that is being recognized as the hard drive at times. I unplug that and the computer then gives me an error message like it doesn’t have a hard drive at all. My dad was notorious for messing up BIOS settings.

Any clue how to fix this heap of junk? I’d really like to restore it as it’s still very new and use to run well (until my dad kept modifying it).

Any advice appreciated. At this point, the computer is just a very expensive paper weight so I figure I can’t mess it up too badly. 🙂

Side Note: Hard Drive has a note on it that reads: “Master/Slave jumper not required for SATA Jumpered pins 3 and 4 enable PIUS (Power Up in Standby)”

UPDATE – My DVD/CD Rewritable Drive has a host interface and a power cord but no jumper. Could this be causing my problem? If so, how do I fix it?

Specs for DVD/CD Rewritable Drive
LITE-ON IT CORP
Model DH-20A4P