2nd hard disk won't stay put!

[KeyTech]

Hey all,

I have a strange problem with a Gateway 2000 pc.
It has one hard disk in it and everything was working
well till I tried to put a second hard disk in. Now
this second hard disk is from another PC where it was
also a second hard disk, the first one has failed so
now Im putting it into this PC with Win95...still with me!
ok...when I put it in it would not find it... all the IDE
cables are ok and the controller on the motherboard seems
to be ok too. So I went into the BIOS and found it was
password proctected and the user knows nothing of the
p/word or who could have put it in. So I had to take out
the CMOS chip and this cleared the password and the BIOS
settings.....by the way I only did this after all else failed!!
So what I have is the Primary hard disk set to master on
the end of the primary IDE cable with the CD-ROM on the
slave connection of the same cable set to slave....and on
the secondary IDE cable I have this second hard disk, set to
master. (I have tried alllll other possible combinations
with the cables and hard disks etc but this is the only way
it will work) SO when I booted up after getting the right
config I saw it found a slave drive and then it installed
the controller for the hard disk and it worked fine. I
explored it and copied files across etc and all was working
fine. Restarted a couple of times and still grand. NOW!!!
To the problem!! (at last!) when I turn of the PC, even
for a split second, and turn it on again, I look in the
device manager and see that the second hard disk controller
has one of those horrible yellow exclaimation marks over it
and I cant see the hard disk at all...what I have to do is
remove the controller and restart the PC, it finds it and its
there, and stays there even after re-boots, but as soon as
the PC is switched off it vanishes again! I dont know what is
wrong and I have tried everything I know...
so thanks for reading this far and if you can help please do...

thanks. Jay~

If its broken, just leave it and hope someone else fixs it!
~KeyTech

 

[werdnaf]

Wow.. what a message. It sounds like your connections are O.K. I assume that you have set up the second HDD in the BIOS. Have you tried looking in the BIOS after you switch back on to see if the second HDD settings are still there.

 

[mfulton]

It must have something to do with the BIOS because the BIOS is only read when the machine is powered off and back on again, and not at reboot. Check your BIOS settings as werdnaf has recommended and good luck. Michelle Fulton

 

[KeyTech]

Yea I have checked the BIOS over and over and each time it
tells me that the secondary hard disk is 'NOT INSTALLED'
When I go in to edit this I see its set to 'auto config'.
Which should...well..auto config my hard disk but it doesnt.!!
Could it have something to do with the fact I took out the
Lithium battery and reset the BIOS like that??? It still
remembers the time and date from the time I took it out
so the BIOS is not totally screwed!
Ive tried User Defined in the BIOS for the second disk
but it will only find it for the first time and then reset
its self again...I think its the BIOS alright, but I just
dont know what to do.! Jay~

If its broken, just leave it and hope someone else fixs it!
~KeyTech

 

[mfulton]

What version of BIOS do you have? Michelle Fulton

 

[werdnaf]

I don't know the answer but I still have some questions!
Where you say " when I booted up after getting the right config I saw it found a slave drive and then it installed the controller for the hard disk and it worked fine" it occurred to me it should have found Secondary master for your second hard disc and not slave.

How old is the second hard drive?

Since your second hard drive used to be a slave have you changed the jumper setting to master now?

When you say you set the BIOS to auto config, have you also been through the IDE HDD Auto detection, usually in a section on its own in the BIOS

 

[KeyTech]

OK first of all the bios version is 1.00.05.
the second hard drive is pretty old, dont know how old
but it has Win95 on it, its the same make as the 1st.
And I did change the jumper settings first of all, but it
didnt work, so I left it be at slave the way it was first.
Im not sure of the message but it finds the hard disk
and Im nearlly sure its found it as a slave. And it finds
it after it finds the 1st hard disk and the CD-ROM, and I
dont see that its found it till after the Win98 start up
splash screen.
I have gone into the BIOS and set it to auto allright,
and I went into the section for auto dectection in the hard
disk. There is Hard Disk C D E and F, C is the primary and
it has the volume name beside it, while all the others say
'not installed' where the C volume lable is...if I go into
each one they are all set to auto config.
The trouble with it is that it finds there, and then after a
hard shut down it looses it again...

dont know about you guys but Im lost! Jay~

If its broken, just leave it and hope someone else fixs it!
~KeyTech

 

[sodbuster]

Try this - go into the bios and set up the secondary master manually, listing the cylinders, heads and sectors. Also go on line and download the latest bios updates. if all else fails try loading Maxblast from maxtor and install the secondary master that way.

 

[twertman68]

have you tried changing the hard drive with the cd-rom.set the hard drive as slave on the first ide cable and the cd-rom as master on the 2nd ide cable.just a thought.good luck

 

[KeyTech]

Yea I tried setting up the Hard disk manually and tried
that config on the ide cables as I mentioned along with
every other possible way of doing it!!

Actually now the PC has gone back to site coz it can still
work with just the one HD in it. So I will try downloading
the upgrade for the BIOS and when I get the PC back I will
install it.

Thanks for your time and help guys. Jay~

If its broken, just leave it and hope someone else fixes it!
~KeyTech

 

[LadyH]

Are you sure the battery is good? If the BIOS is not saving the settings you put in it would be and indication to me that it isn't working. Maybe you should try to reseat the battery or get a replacement for it. I worked on a system not to long ago that had the same problem as well, turned out to be the battery. The system retained the hard drive settings I put in the BIOS until I powered it off, then I had to reset them again. I'd also consider having the second hard drive as the slave to the first hard drive, but thats a personal opinion there...Good luck



pcheather@yahoo.com

 

[Guest_imported]

After setting up your Bios for both of your hard drives. Boot-up with windows stat-up disk and use FDISK command to partioned the new drive or you can use partion magic for the same. I think this will solve your problem

 

[Repairs]

Have you tried setting up the drive in question as master on the primary Ide with nothing else but the video connected?

If it is recognized and boots, then the drive is okay, but destined to live its life somewheres besides in your machine with its current hardware.

Quit beating your head against the wall.