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Hard drive installation problem...

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21 replies

by 3ple-chase

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What am I missing? I've installed hard drives easily in the past, using the formatting/installation disks that come with them, but this time my machine would not detect the HD even after setting up the parameters within my BIOS. I don't think that the drive is bad,how do I go about over-coming this problem? I have a primary and slave drive and I'm trying to replace the primary, any leads on this?

21 replies

by dmiles

Depending on the size of the hard drive you may have to update the bios,check to make sure all cables are connected.Set the BIOS to auto detect.
Try disconnecting the slave and setting up the primary by itself,when the screen comes up,hit F1 to continue and using the formatting /installation disk to format.
If this does not work,I would suggest that you use the OS to begin and use FDISK to format and set up drive.

by 3ple-chase

Drive size= 10.2Gig
All options for Answer1 had already been attempted. The system just won't recognize the drive,let alone try to format. When I reset the BIOS and reinstal the old drives (primary&Slave) everthing operates just fine.Cables & jumpers are(set) in order.

by aronya1

You might try connecting ONLY the new drive. Be sure it is jumpered properly & connected to the controller cable at the right place.

by 3ple-chase

Drive size= 10.2Gig
All options for Answer1 had already been attempted. The system just won't recognize the drive,let alone try to format. When I reset the BIOS and reinstal the old drives (primary&Slave) everthing operates just fine.Cables & jumpers are(set) in order.

by supermile

From the imformation that you have posted, it sounds like your Bios is not recognising the size of the Drive. So follow these steps and see whether it will get your Drive installed:
1)make sure you have the installation disk for the drive that comes with it (if you do not have it then you can download it from the drive manufacturer's site)
2)Set the jumpers on your new hard drive to Cable Select (CS)
3)Remove the cable from your old Primary drive and attach it to the new drive
4)Boot your system up with the installation disk (point 1). This should then guide you through the installation which will force your computer Bios to recognise your drive.
Good luck

by robert.brown

There is an easy way to troubleshoot this. If you add the new hdd, and when running the ide detectipon in the bios, if it finds the working hdd and not the new hdd then the new hdd is bad. If it detects neither then it is most likely both hdds aretrying to be the master or both are trying to be the slave. You can change this by swapping the jumper switches on the new hdd.

by tony beresford

I am sure one of the above suggestions will get you there.
Just a thought. Most PC's have a second IDE port (so that you could have 4 disks if you wish). Try putting the disk on the secondry IDE port. Don't know whay will happen, but it may give you a result that helps you understand what is happing.

by grantcom

Does this computer have a zip drive by any chance? If so take it out of the loop and give it another go.

by 3ple-chase

There is a zip drive (external) and does not affect the hard drive installation, whether attached or detached.

by tom_brown

OK. Depending on your operating system, BIOS date.
Bios: Do you have an updated BIOS that will recognize the larger drive?
OS: If you are using NT, you will need to partition the drive into 4GB partitions as NT will not install ont anything largerthan 7.85GB partitions.

If this is a Maxtor drive, download the MaxBlast program from their website.

by 3ple-chase

OS=win98,current operating drives:
primary= 4Gig (Western Digital)
Slave = 13Gig (Maxtor)

Attempting to replace primary with:
WD - 10.2Gig.
My issue is the innitial drive recognition to commence any relative process for HD installation.

by tony beresford

Try the HDD in another PC. If that fails to detect it, then at least you will know when the prolem lies, and get it replaced under warrenty.

If it does detect it, note the properties, and try entering them manualyon the original PC.

by mark a wipfler

This has worked for me, replace the IDE Controller Ribbon. If that doesn't work, do what I did in another case: replace the entire Power Supply, this was a problem that I had and fixed. You just have to find a Power Supply that has the same type of Motherboard plugs and the Power Button type for the front of the Case. Try It!

by ssmalls

First i would check ide cables, and then remove all ide devices, connect hard-drive alone and more sure jumber are set properly, if that doesn't work then try same configuration with a new cable.

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