Two hard drives - Urgent Problem

Jokah

Hey, not sure if this is the right forum.

I bought a 2nd hard drive recently - a Maxtor 20gb 7200 IDE. I already had an original hard drive in, Barracuda 7200 40 gig(main drive) IDE.

I Followed the instructions for installing the 2nd drive. That is - disconnected the Barracuda (main drive) as normal. Removed it from the top bay, and put it into the 2nd empty bay.

Then I put the Maxtor in the top bay. I reconnected the black plug to the Barracuda and the power plug. Then I reconnected the Grey plug and power plug to the Maxtor. I did everything the instruction book (DELL) told me to do.

Now I restarted the computer (with the two drives in) and I heard a funny noise immediately. Got into windows and the layout looked different on the desktop and it then froze when I Double clicked on My Computer to see if the 2nd drive was added. I did this 4-5 times then gave up...

Now, 5 minutes ago I took all the drives out, put the original one back in as normal and when I get past the Windows logo login in stage and it goes system error and blue screen. This is with the original drive now.

What the hell has happened????????????????I followed the instructions as normal and didnt omit anything....

Why can't it be as simple as it is in the book?????

Any help is appreciated......please..

Thank you.

SickBoy

Ok, here's what you do.
If the drives are on the same channel(both on the same cable) then make sure that;
both drives have the jumper set to CS(Cable Select) and that the drive with the operating system is on the end of the cable.
Or
Set the jumper on the drive with the OS to MS(Master) and the other drive to SL(Slave) and the position on the cable doesn't matter.
I prefer the cable select method but that's just me.
The jumpers are located between the power connector and the IDE connection.

If the drives are on seperate channels then make sure the drive with the OS is on the primary connection. The motherboard should have these marked with IDE1 and IDE2 or something like that.

Jokah

Ok Sickboy,

The drives are on the same Cable/channel. There is a black and Grey plug on each one. The black plug was attached to the Primary Drive. The grey one to the new drive. I don't know what u mean by Cable Switch????

I attached the Power plugs also.

Now I see that there is a space in between the power and IDE connection, but there was nothing attached to that.

The connection in between the IDE and power connection have 8 pins, 4 on the top four on the botton.

Now on the Barracuda there is a small device attached 2 pins in from the left and on the Maxtor there is a small device attached on the first pins on the left.

Is this Master/Slave? It says in the manual that "my computer uses cable select drive cables.

Sorry about the trouble. I must be thick.....:D

Thanks for your help.

MarkR

Check to see if the second drive is detected in the bios, and that the bios is set to auto detect it. Not sure what would change the look of your desktop though. Maxtor drives come with software to help you set it up, it runs from the floppy, and will also allow you to test the drive. Also available for download from maxtor's site.

Good luck.

Mark

Jokah

Ok,

Im figuring this out......I stupidly didn't look on the diagrams on both Hard drives. I think I will set both to cable select.

However........even with the original drive in on its own..why the hell wont it recognise it? I didn't change anything....

This is what is worrying me now...

Jokah

Ok now I don't understand.

Why the hell isn't my primary drive working as normal? I mean damm!t, why when you follow instructions things go to Sh!t.

Now I have to reinstall everything.

How the hell do I test the drive I bought????/

Thanks to the guys who helped me.

OfflerCrocGod

Have you found the jumpers on your old drive?, if you have set the jumper to 'Master', if you are having difficulties removing the little jumper from it's place use a twezeers. Once your old drive is set to Master plug it back in turn on your computer and go into the BIOS. The BIOS, in case you dont know, is accessable when your computer is first turned on, to get into it you usually hit delete over and over again. So flick on your computer hit delete(could be diffrent key, insert is another possibility) constantly(not just once) until the BIOS screen comes up. Once the BIOS screen is up go through the 'Boot' options to see if your HDD is showing. If it does not come up do not panic just try and set it manually as an option, set the Primary Master to 'User HDD' (it could be called something else). Tell us what happens then.

Jokah

Hi. I removed the jumper and figured all that part out.....

I'll follow your instructions,


But B4 I D0, i'll tell you....when the old harddrive is set to cable select...like it was when the computer was first bought.......and attached normally to the computer...like when it was first bought....it gets past the BIOS stage....gets past the Windows XP loading screen, then the screen goes blue and says error C000021a and 0xc0000005.

This is when the old harddrive is on its own...

The old harddrive is not loading...


what you think?

Mutant_Fruit

Put the drive with your operating system on the Master end of the cable (usually the connector at the very end) and the new hd in the Slave position. Then remove the little jumpers from the drives completely (thats the jumpers that select master/slave). Thats what my setup is like, and it works. Try it.

Also, by the sounds of it you may have to do a windows reinstall. So long as the drive is recognized by the bios you know its installed right.

Jokah

Thanks guys.

I'll try the Master/Slave positions now with the jumpers......

But I don't understand why the old harddrive needs a new OS installation........dammit......

So annoying....

OfflerCrocGod

Your HDD does not - I repeat - NOT need a new OS installation it will solve nothing, if its having problems Booting the HDD you installing Windows again will not help fix the prob you still wont be able to get the HDD to boot - no matter how clean and shiny the OS installation is.

Jokah

So a harddrive, barely a month old, is now corrupt because I installed a 2nd hard drive...

How can a Harddrive just fail like that?

Sir Random

Edit: thought it was 2nd hand drive...

Btw, it makes no difference what bays the drives are in, so choose bays based on convenient cable positioning and best case airflow.

Jokah

Hi,

The 2nd harddrive does not have an OS on it.

The primary drive just stopped responding the first time I added the 2nd drive.

Now I cant get past the windows Xp loading screen. The screen goes blue and errors come up.....

So....I'm screwed..Haven't a clue how to continue....how do i test it?

Sir Random

Try installing 2nd drive only and install WinXP.
Then attach the old drive as SLAVE and you should be able to copy off any important data (like savegames) before wiping it.

Jokah

Ok,

Thanks guys for all your help...

I'm just wondering what happens if the Old drive is dead...even though its brand new...

Sir Random

Just exchange it. I never had any probs getting Maxtors replaced, it's like they're expecting you back...

Mutant_Fruit

I know that i screwed up my windows install before, by putting in a new hard-drive. Admittedly, it had an old version of linux on it, and that probably did it, but i think it is well worth a try reinstalling windows.

Now I cant get past the windows Xp loading screen. The screen goes blue and errors come up.....

That sounds like a dead windows, NOT a dead harddrive. You have nothing to lose by reinstalling windows (except 1 hour of your time). As if it still doesnt work, you're screwed. BUT if it does work, you've just saved yourself time and effort in getting a replacement.

if its having problems Booting the HDD you installing Windows

By the sounds of it, he;s having problems with WINDOWS booting, not the HD. Windows seems to have gotten bugged by the new hd (possibly cos the new hd was put in as a master drive, and windows didn;t like being moved to slave, and consequently killed itself). Try a reinstall, let me know wht happems

OfflerCrocGod

AHH I totally misunderstood what the prob was so WinXP is corrupt and the HDD is booting OK then all you afto do is what Sir Random says, it is an easy operation. Sorry for giving you wrong advice:o.

Mutant_Fruit

Erm... if windows XP is corrupted, why should he be replacing teh harddrive. I can (practically) guarentee you the harddrive is in ful working order. Its just windowsXP buggered up.

EDIT: I just realised you weren't talking about sir random's last post which was to return the drive, you were referring to the one before, saying to reinstall on the new HD. my mistake :-p.

Jokah

"Windows seems to have gotten bugged by the new hd (possibly cos the new hd was put in as a master drive, and windows didn;t like being moved to slave, and consequently killed itself). Try a reinstall, let me know wht happems"

Yeah, so maybe it did go after all......so It was an error on my behalf......

Ok, thanks guys.....I Appreciate all your help...

I'll let you all know how it pans out.

Bed time....:o

Jokah

Ok,

Just for sh!ts and giggles I tried putting in the 2nd Drive I bought and set the jumper on Master.

Low and behold, BIOS said they could not detect a harddrive....what the hell???

Now, The old harddrive will need a new OS install, so I'm happy to do that, but have to go throught it all again....

So is there anyway I can get the 2nd hard drive tested to see if it is ok?

Also, when I connected the 2nd hard drive up as normal, it started making a weird sound - a very fast whirring sound....like it was struggling....

Jokah

Hi,

When I did the above, i.e., connect the second drive on its own, it started to make really weird sounds and noises like it was struggling.

It makes the same sounds when I connect it in with the old drive.

The person who formatted the drive and sold it to me said this.

"hey,i formatted the drive by putting into slave mode (its in master atm) and using it as a second hard drive within windows, then i formatted it to a FAT32 file system."

The original drive is NFTS.

The noise it makes is the problem. Also it is not recognised in BIOS. BIOS says there isn't a hard drive present.

Please help anyone...

Mutant_Fruit

if i was you the first thing i'd do is go straight back to where you got it, and don't leave til you get your money back. If it's making wierd sounds, thats NEVER good. Don;t risk it.

Jokah

Thanks Mutant Fruit.....