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need help with hard drive installation

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by lisa24n7

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gateway processor with win xp installed. i just put in a new hard drive- western digital 320 gb caviar se...and the install disk comes up but when I go into the part to set up my hard drive i cannot highlight the drive- it shows only a secondary master as the hard drive and i cannot click on it. I have been in bios several times-- set up my boot items to boot from hard drive then cd then removable then mba and finally network boot...plug and play o/s setting is no...reset config data is no...peripheral config: serial port a is auto serial port b is disabled parallel port is enabled mode is bi-directional base i/o address is 378 interrupt is irq 7...ide config is: ide controller: both, hard disk pre delay is 6 secs. primary ide master is wdc wd3200aajb etc... primary slave is none, secondary master is fx322m-sm and secondary slave is none...floppy drive is totally disabled...I am sooooo lost and would sure appreciate any help i could get. I know when i put in the install hard drive disk and boot up the computer, i hit tab and see that there is no hard drive detected in either master nor slave for primary nor secondary....this is a brand new out of the box hard drive. I have set up the jumper as the master so have taken off the little piece totally as it shows on the label and too, have tried the ways in the site diagram too...please help ....thanks :)

37 replies

by thumbsup2

One thing I see for sure is that you need to set the boot sequence to (1) removable, (2) CD (3) hard drive. Plug n Play needs to be set to YES.

How old is the computer? Your BIOS may not see this size of a drive even though it recognizes the "model" of the drive.

by lisa24n7

changed the boot order and now it won't bring up the cd...don't know how old this is- would guess about five years ....don't know what to do now...please help- thanksz4

by thumbsup2

Have you tried it in another system? Does it give you an error when it attempts to read the CD? Is this an original CD, or a copy?

by lisa24n7

the cd is brand new - it came with the hard drive. the cd player does work- was using it earlier today before I switched hard drives. no errors when reading cd. Any suggestions? thanks!

by thumbsup2

Are you trying to ADD this hard drive to an existing Windows XP system, or are you trying to put this drive in as your master drive and REINSTALL Windows fresh from a Windows XP installation CD?

If you are trying to install Windows fresh, you don't want the CD that came with the drive to boot from. You want to boot from the Windows CD.

If you're trying to ADD this drive to your system, the jumper must be set to slave if there is already another IDE hard drive in the system already.

So, I guess I'm confused about what it is you're trying to do. This thread will probably have reached it's limits, so go back and reply to your original post and try to explain again what you're trying to do.

by lisa24n7

sorry I wasn't clear.
I am trying to put in a new hard drive- took out the old one- i only want the new one in and a new windows install - i have the xp disk and key to reinstall windows. thanks again.

by thumbsup2

Ok, fresh install of WinXP on a new drive. The computer is "about" 5 years old. This is an IDE drive plugged into an IDE cable. You THINK you have the jumpers on the drive set to master.

Ok, then next step is to see if your BIOS can detect the drive as the master. If it does not, your jumper settings are not correct. In your original post, I believe you said that booting to the CD that came with the drive showed the drive was a slave and you couldn't click on it. Unclickable slave is normal when you don't have a master showing. So, it appears that your jumper settings are not correct.

Is there anything else on that same data cable with the hard drive, like the CD ROM itself? If so, double check the picture on the hard drive itself. The hard drive should be set to master and the CD should be jumpered to slave. Some newer systems have a "cable select" option, but if your motherboard doesn't support it, you'll have to use master/slave.

If the hard drive is on one data cable and the CD ROM is on another data cable, the hard drive can be set to Stand Alone and the CD ROM on the other cable should be set to master.

Once you get the BIOS to see the hard drive as master, you can TRY booting up with the Windows XP CD. If it can not see the entire capacity of the drive (320GB), you'll need to boot to the manufacturer's CD and allow it to prepare the drive for Windows XP.

Hope this makes sense.

by lisa24n7

thank you for your time and patience! I am going to try to do what you said and will post back with any questions...thanks! :)

by lisa24n7

the cd came up with no problem...that is a good thing....but when i went to reformat the drive it didn't detect one....said to use the one with the hard drive ...sooo i tried and again it reads only a secondary master when i try to install drive....

by thumbsup2

Is this an original version of Windows XP, or is it SP1 or SP2, the versions subsequent to the original release of the OS. The original XP won't detect drives larger than 137GB. WD's Data Lifeguard Tools must be used to initialize the drive to get the old WinXP set up on it.

The DLT's instructions say you should see an Advanced Installation button shortly after you press (1) I agree, (2) Yes to the question if you want to run DLT and (3) select the WinXP operating system and click NEXT. Do you see the Advanced Installation button?

by lisa24n7

when i put in the cd...i get four options and i select 1 for running the dlt cd and then i get a user agreement and click yes to agree....then i get a page that says user manual, set up hard drive, utilities, maintenance, and something else...I click on set up - we go to another page to select the drive...it says primary-none primary slave-none....secondary- there's a hard drive pictured and secondary slave-none...then it says to click your hard drive- it won't let me.....there's no place to click and without a selection of course you can't continue....i am now trying it again....

by lisa24n7

in the bios it does detect the hard drive as the primary master...it is on the install windows xp disk that it doesnt find a drive installed....and when i use the western digital disk to install the hard drive it doesn't detect anything under the primary...but does show a picture under the secondary master, but even that i cannot click on to continue the install program...there's nothing under slaves and nothing under primary master so there's nowhere to click...

by thumbsup2

Ok, let's go back to the BIOS. For this drive, you must set the BIOS to auto detect the drive and enable the LBA. Is this what you did?

by shiney69rr

You need to right click on the my computer icon and choose manage and then goto disk management. You will see the drive in the right side under the active drive. highlight the drive and choose format.

by lisa24n7

I have to reinstall windows...so i cannot do this yet.

by thumbsup2

It's a RAID drive? Are you sure of the model number?

by rob miners

I found the IDE and now we have RE IDE. When you are in the BIOS and have followed ThumbsUp2's advice for the settings check the drives Capacity.

by lisa24n7

western digital
eide hard drive
320 gb
wd caviar se
8 mb cache
7200 rpm

ok, I have it to auto and enabled as I was told...

by thumbsup2

I asked further up in the thread, but you probably haven't seen it. Is this an original version of Windows XP, or is it one of the subsequent versions with SP1 or SP2 included already on the CD? It's acting as if it's the original version. The original XP won't recognize drives larger than 137GB, so WD's Data Lifeguard Tools MUST be run first to prepare the drive for XP. Below are the instructions from WD.

Question
How do I use the Data Lifeguard Tools 11 CD to partition and format a drive larger than 137GB (128GB binary) for Windows 2000/XP.

Answer
The Data Lifeguard Tools 11 CD will allow you to partition and format an internal hard drive larger than 137GB. To set up your hard drive using the Data Lifeguard Tools 11 CD, please follow the steps below:

Please Note: You may need to set your BIOS to boot to your CD-ROM drive first (before your hard drive).

1. Boot your computer and insert the Data Lifeguard Tools 11 CD into the CD-ROM drive.

2. You will be presented with a menu, choose option 1 which is Run Data Life Guard.

3. Left-click on I Agree to accept the License Agreement.

4. You may see a message telling you that the drive is not set up for use in your system. If you receive this message left-click on the YES button.

5. On the next screen select the operating system you plan to install and left-click on Next.

6. Select Advanced Installation and left-click on Next.

7. Read the warning messages and select I'm certain my system supports drives larger than 137 GB. and left-click on Next.

8. Left-click on the Add button.

9. Select the partition size you want. If you wish to use the whole drive for one large partition, leave the partition size at 100%.

10. If you wish to make a smaller boot partition then adjust the partition size accordingly.

11. Once you have set the partition size the way you want it, left-click on OK.

12. Left-click onNext.

13. You will see a window showing how the drive will be set up, left-click on Next.

14. Data Lifeguard will partition and format the drive based on your previous selections. When it has finished left-click on the Done button.

15. Left-click on the Exit option.

16. Select choice 4 which is Quit.

17. Remove the CD from the CD-ROM drive and press any button to continue.

18. The drive should now be ready for you to install your operating system.

by lisa24n7

i don't know what happened...many times I didn't get the little box saying that the drive is not set up for use in your system...nor the option to pick which windows i wanted to install...but for some reason this time I did and I am now reinstalling my windows xp...thank you both soooo much :)

by rob miners

Capacity that the BIOS reports? Does it show up as 320Gb?

Select the drive in BIOS and press enter it should bring up another screen with information about the drive.

by thumbsup2

In the original post, she said she removed the jumper per the instructions. According to WD, that sets this particular drive to "Single" (standard installation). One other option is to put the jumper sideways across either 3-5 or 4-6 pins to set it as "neutral". What do ya think of this option? Should we have her try it? After all, nothing is making any sense except the jumper positions. The BIOS sees the drive as primary master. DLT says it's secondary master. I'm just about out of tricks in my bag.

by thumbsup2

DLT says there is no primary at all, yet the BIOS does detect it as primary master and even gives you the model number? And, you have Windows XP SP1, which SHOULD be able to detect drives larger than 137GB so you shouldn't need to run DLT at all.

Hmmmmmmmmmm........ gotta think a bit.

OK, let's drop DLT for now. Put the WinXP CD back in the CD ROM and boot to it...

WD says to do this for WinXP. You might need the motherboard CD/floppy, if you have it. But, XP SP1 might do it for you too. Only way to know is to try.

When starting the Windows installation process, watch the bottom of the screen for a prompt that asks you to press the F6 button to install SCSI or RAID drivers. At this point you should press F6 and install a floppy disk containing the drivers for the EIDE controller on your motherboard. (This is where I think XP might take over and do it for you, if it can find generic drivers.) The Windows installation process will install the drivers for your EIDE controller and recognize the hard drive so it can finish the system installation process.

by thumbsup2

Finally! Glad you got it this time, because I was just about out of tricks! :( :D

Happy computing!!! And, don't forget to install SP2 and then the tons of other critical patches that come after that! And antivirus, and... and.... ;)

Be safe! :)

by lisa24n7

again thank you so much- I was really beginning to think I wasn't going to get this done...wow! Yes, I sure will do the updates and all the other installs necessary. Hope you have a wonderful holiday!! :)

by thumbsup2

Now, go have a hot toddy and relax while Windows installs..... You've earned it!

Happy Hollidays to you too.

by rob miners

that your efforts have finally paid off. RTFM has always worked for me. One more thumb and you've caught me.

by thumbsup2

Yeah, dang... that was a tough one! Whew! Now I can go finish my dishes! :(

Don't worry. I've got X-Mas parties to attend for the next couple of days. So, you've got plenty of time to get back out in front... way in front! Run fast! :D

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