Hard drive not always booting.

[elbiegal]

I just built a amd Duron 1.2 gig computer and installed a maxtor hard drive. I was not able to partition the H D with my Windows start up disk. The H D was not recognized all the time. When it was, I couldn't run fdisk or anything from the floppy. Always bad command or no fixed disk present. I copied the Maxtor maxblast disc to a floppy and then was able to partition and format using their software. Now when I shut down the computer, it won't reboot when I turn it back on. Then I have to go in and unhook and reconnect all the drives. I even tried master/ slave, then tried cable select on the drives. Doesn't seem to make a difference. Why is this happening? Can I fix this problem or do I have to wipe it all clean and start over?

 

[SYAR2003]

Look in your computer BIOS
if you have an option to delay IDE init by 2-4 seconds
and enable it.

SYAR

 

[Snickle]

If you don't have the delay feature in your BIOS, find the Fast Boot or Quick Boot entry and Disable it. It gives a memory check 3 times which allows the hard drive to spin up to its operating speed.

 

[elbiegal]

Where do I find quick boot entry? So far, the only thing I can do to reboot the hard drive is to clear the jumper on the motherboard and rset everything. Wat a pain

 

[SYAR2003]

Whats the motherboard vendor and model name , and i'll
check it .