Hello, This problem started occurring recently. When my sister starts up her computer, she gets this: "NOTICE: The [primary/secondary/primary serial] IDE [master/slave] hard drive SELF MONITORING SYSTEM has reported that a parameter has exceeded its normal operating range. Dell recommends that you back up your data regularly. A parameter out of range may or may not indicate a potential hard drive problem" The computer runs fine after that notice. Plese find this problem

It's not hard to find, the system has detected that the hard drive is possibly failing - look here http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&... Backup any critical files, download the drive manufacturers diagnostics from the manufacturers site, if the drive fails any test replace it. Good luck

The system notice displayed on the screen comes from S.M.A.R.T. technology that monitors the hard drive performance in order to anticipate failures. If you think SMART is crappy, you can disable it in the BIOS setup. Otherwise follow the advice given in the post above. i_Xp/VistaUser