Hard Drive

[goreyhill]

Hi all Im trying to install a 40gb hard drive on a Packard Bell Symphony - Multi Media. When I switch the beast on the message (press <esc> to switch to post or <f2> to run CMOS setup) appears, but when you press a button nothing happens. The hard drive is working as I have put it in my other pc and installed win on it fine. Please Help !!!!!
The keyboard works fine

 

[Mulga]

You say you have installed Windows on the drive in another system, have you reformatted it before putting it in the PB? If not boot from a floppy if you can and format the drive or remove it and format it in another system. All things are possible except skiing through a revolving door.

 

[gargouille]

Xcellent suggestion from Mulga...

Packard Bell....is it (most probably) as proprietary as Compaq and some others?
If so, you may have wiped out the BIOS utilities (like those on Compaq) in the format and have thus disabled the ability to get into the BIOS at all.
Did the system come with some discs?
Also, Packard Bell MAY (haven't looked) have downloadable replacements for the utilities if you don't have the discs.

 

[mudskipper]

As diplomatically as possible, I have to disagree here (although I have been wrong before ;-) ). Please hear me out on this one!!

In the original post, it is stated that a message comes up saying to press f2 to go into CMOS setup. I understand that this is not difinitive, but all of the packard bells that I have seen with this message are set up with the Pheonix BIOS--not a BIOS util on the hard drive.

*****Because of info posted in in the PC hardware category (goreyhill posted this question there too), my guess is that the hard drive is simply too big for that particular system.

Goreyhill states (in that other thread), that when he plugs in a smaller drive, it boots fine.

I could certainly be wrong, and welcome any other ideas out there!!! Just want to see if we can mesh these two threads together a little so that we can help goreyhill a little better! Mudskipper
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Groucho said it best- &quot;A four year-old child could understand this! Quick! Run out and find me a four year-old child: I can't make heads nor tails out of this!&quot;

 

[goreyhill]

Hi all, I now have the drive working after chaning the bios setup, The only problem I now have is that I can not use the OS and other programs that came with the PC because of PB stupid restore dics. Cheers All.

 

[gargouille]

Appreciate your diplomacy, mudskipper, and will assure you, too, that my &quot;feet are made of clay&quot;...and EXPECT anything I say that's in error to be corrected. (sometimes abrasively) Can't have thin skin when you stick your chin out.
Posting with the wrong info is the quickest way in the world to find that out!

 

[mudskipper]

thx, but it seems that we both misssed it! LOL LOL

In my search for the hard answer, I neglected to think about simply trying to detect it in BIOS! I think that it is funny that after so much troubleshooting, we tend to overlook the easy stuff!! Mudskipper
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Groucho said it best- &quot;A four year-old child could understand this! Quick! Run out and find me a four year-old child: I can't make heads nor tails out of this!&quot;

 

[apex1x]

You say you changed settings in BIOS, but in your original post you said nothing happened when you pressed a button. What happened there?
How do the restore disks limit your ability to get into the OS and other programs? ~Apex1x
Sattinger's Law:
It works better if you plug it in.

 

[goreyhill]

Hi, from memory the other hard drive had a OP allready on it and thats how I got it to work, as for the restore disk, they keep saying no info on drive press esc to continue. So they still dont work.

 

[apex1x]

Ok, I assume you mean &quot;OS&quot; and not &quot;OP&quot;. Does BIOS detect the correct size/specs of the new hard drive? If not, then its either a bad disk(not too likely if its new), or the motherboard doesn't support the size of the new drive. Look up and get in contact with your motherboard/system manufacturer to get info on the maximum capacity your hard drive can be. Also, if the drive is set on the &quot;cable select&quot; jumper mode, make sure its set to either &quot;master&quot; or &quot;slave&quot; depending if its on its own cable or not. ~Apex1x
Sattinger's Law:
It works better if you plug it in.