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Win 2k not seeing hard drives

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by machina40

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I scanned the forums and found similar postings - but I am running 2k, and my drives aren't visible at all. I will try the registry suggestions, and testing the IDE cable again... but I can't even boot from CD because it doesn't recognize the drives at all. So even if I want to reinstall the OS, to XP - a clean install, it won't boot from the CD.
The drives aren't shown in the Bios - but in Computer Management, it says they are working properly. I downloaded the drivers and reinstalled them, but it doesn't make a difference.

i have Norton running with auto update, Adaware, SPybot (which don't seem to do much at all) and Microsoft anti-spyware which catches at least three trojans a day. This is also why i want to clean install - to get rid of these trojans and popups.

thanks

4 replies

by gralfus

The Technical forum is a better spot for questions like this. You might also include more info about your setup and what the issue is. For example, you say the drives aren't visible at all, but then say that you can see them under computer management.

by ramonr

If the drive isn?t properly recognized by the Bios then the operating system can?t communicate with any device that the Bios can configure.

Does this drive share the same cable with the master you're booting from? This still sounds to me to be an error in the way it's connected or configured. You've convinced me it's not a problem with either drive or the computer or software. There must be some tiny little detail you're missing that makes all the difference.

Maybe disconnect any CD Rom devices etc. so you have just these two drives, connect one to each IDE cable singly, jumper in master position on each. This method has to work. Then you can re-connect any CD rom (s) one at a time as slaves test each as you go.

Also, reset BIOS by taking battery out for 5 minutes.
If they are not being shown in the bios then the problem is most likely with the the power supply. How old is the system same with the drives did they come with the system or did you/someone install them later, and if so how old are the drives?

Also when you disconnected them did you unplug all the wires even the molex power plug?

You can also try to use another power plug to see if the problem is with the power supply. I have had a power supply have one or two power cables go bad for some reason.

Hope this help let me know please.

by mikevjr2

Ok, Pull out your cd drive, and on the back there will be some pins and a jumper make sure its set on Slave (assuming you want this cd drive to be the slave) or if you want it to be Master set it to master. this is a common problem found when people add a new cd drive or hdd to their system.

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