Second Hard Drive not recognized by Bios

[brianZ]

My bios (Award 6.00) won't recognize (maxtor UDMA 100) drive. I have the old drive (maxtor UDMA 66) mastered and the new one is the slave (jumpers o.k.). So I swapped the two drives and it still didn't recognize the slave (cable is o.k. Max-blast software 'sees' second drive). My other recent installation (Plextor 16/10/40A) is screwed up now too. I'm runnning the burner and a generic CDROM (acer 50x) on the secondary IDE. I was having problems getting the Plextor to work with the CDROM and finally got it by uninstalling the old VIA bus master. But, when I put the new HDD into the system it took the Plextor down with it. THIS IS CRAZY! Here's another wierd thing that I noticed. I did get the system to boot, and then the Plextor was listed as one of the partitions on the second HDD. I don't know if this is a windows setting or what? Thanks for taking the time to read about my dilemma!

-My Mobo is an Abit KA7.

[mjc]

Is the new drive partitioned and formatted? Is the partition set active?

Are the drives set to auto-detect in BIOS?



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mjc
Links list:Computer Links (http://www.fortunecity.com/skyscraper/highrise/11/index.htm)

[tjaymadison]

Welcome, Brian! http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif Sounds like you've got quite the royal snafu going on there. Having the Plextor show up as an HD partition is certainly a first for me! That is definitely not a setting you can change in Windows. Don't know your level of experience -- sorry if this is too detailed -- but here's my advice:

[list=1]
Uncable all drives except original Maxtor, set it as Master/Solo on primary channel
Power up, go to BIOS setup
Go to BIOS Features, verify Virus Warning is disabled.
Go to Integrated Peripherals, verify both IDE channels are enabled
Go to PnP/PCI Configuration, change Reset Configuration Data to enabled
Save changes and exit
Allow system to boot to Windows
Go to Device Manager, remove any duplicate devices
Shut down Windows normally, power off for a minute or two, then power up
Run some programs to see if system seems to be "normal" http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/rolleyes.gif
Close any open programs
Press Ctl-Alt-Del once
If anything besides Explorer or Systray is listed, select it and then End Task
Repeat as necessary until only those two are left.
Check for taskbar icons near the clock -- OK if there's just the speaker
If there are others, right-click each and close or exit
Install VIA drivers if necessary
Reboot/restart when prompted
Again verify "normal" operation
Check Device Manager for any conflicts or duplicates
Shut down, install new Maxtor jumpered as Master/Solo on secondary IDE
Power up, go to BIOS setup, verify both drives are set as "AUTO"
Save any changes if made, exit and allow system to boot
Check if new drive is accessible in Explorer (assuming it is formatted)
[/list=a]

If all is OK so far, I'd shut down, swap the drives, boot from a floppy, start FDISK and make the partition of the new (now the primary) drive active, remove the floppy and reboot. This assumes you have formatted and installed Windows, or at least DOS, on the drive. After that, I think I'd cable up the Acer on the secondary, probably jumpered as slave, then boot up and check things out. Same process for the Plextor, and you might also check their website to see if there's a firmware upgrade for your model. Good Luck! http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

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"When I nod my head, hit it with the hammer."
(Moe, holding nail, to Curly, holding hammer)

[brianZ]

Well,


Thanks for your help. It got me thinking about how to best solve the problem. I unplugged everything except the master HDD. Then I checked to see if there were any duplicates (didn't find any). But, I added the slave HDD in......worked. So then I put in the Plextor.....worked, added the acer.....trouble. Uninstalled Plextor slaved it. Rebooted w/ acer as master no slave yet. Shut down, reinstalled Plextor, reboot...sucess. Maybe the short spin up delay removed some device conflict, I'm really not sure, but what's important is it's running. Thanks for your help! I have one other question though. Is the first partition of the slave HDD always set to D drive? Can I change the drive letter (windows 98 won't allow)?

[mjc]

Short answer, without some third party drive management software, no. Unless the letter is already taken by another partition then it will default to D.


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mjc
Links list:Computer Links (http://www.fortunecity.com/skyscraper/highrise/11/index.htm)

[tjaymadison]

Glad the info helped, and your system is up and running! http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif Don't overlook the resources right here in The PC Guide. A quick search on drive and letter came up with this (http://pcguide.com/ref/hdd/file/part_Letter.htm). http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

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"When I nod my head, hit it with the hammer."
-- (Moe, holding nail, to Curly, holding hammer)

[mjc]

I guess my short answer was a little too short, I had run and put some tires on....

But essentially Tjay's link provides the easiest to understand info, Ixl does a great job with the info on the rest of this site.

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mjc
Links list:Computer Links (http://www.fortunecity.com/skyscraper/highrise/11/index.htm)