New Member, new problem4me

[pentup]

Good day Gents,

Intel board p4 2ghz, 80 gig Maxtor, 1gig ddr266Ram in two channel one per set, Asus 128 Vid card, sb live, LG 52xCD, and some other sh stuff.

I'm helping an older friend of mine and I can't seem to get TWO hard drives to show, I have attempted all different configes with IDE cables, even resorting to using only the secondary. It will only detect 2 items, not 4 or 6 that the enhanced bios setting allows. I have checked power on all outputs, and have replaced ide's , it unfiiching believable. Spent 34 hours any ideas.

Became a member because martin said
pentup

 

[wahnula]

Has the second drive been formatted? Put each drive on its own IDE channel, set both to master. Boot to boot drive *duh* and after PC is booted right-click My Computer select "Manage" then "Disk Management" and see if your drive is there, you should see a system disk and a raw disk. Right-click to create a new partion, quick format and give that sucker a drive letter.

Best of luck.

Tony

 

[kestrel1]

Can you get the drives recognised in the BIOS? If so, they will be visable as described above by wahnula. If not you have the jumpers set incorrectly. Re-check the settings. It may also be a faulty IDE cable.

 

[sumITguy]

The obvious has been stated

* Check jumper
* Try different combinations (CS, S and M or M and S)
* Try different IDE cables
* Connect each IDE HD to each port (take off the CD/DVD drive)
* Keep trying..

I've honestly sat for a hour changing and tryin the same combination again and again .. and BAM!

Dont waste your time loading into windows (if you are,..just check in the bios, once all good then bother with windows and disk management (right click>my computer>manage)

G'luck

 

[attrofy]

It is also possible something has failed. I have seen IDE controllers on Mobo's fail - where the Master channel works, but the Slave doesnt. I have also seen the secondary IDE work while the primary doesnt.

It is also possible on of the drives is shot. I would start from the basics - and ensure everything works. If you have a CDROM in the system, and it is showing in BIOS, I would move it to the Primary IDE, and set the boot drive as Master, the CDROM as slave. If they show properly, then you know the IDE is working. I would then do the same with the Secondary. And as many other IDE connectors as you have.

If at the end, everything is working properly, then begin reconfiguring the system as you need it. If the 2nd drive (presumably new) is not showing, then make sure you auto detect the drives in the BIOS - that sometimes is needed before it will show. If it still won't show, you could always try just the 2nd drive as a master - all by itself on the Primary IDE. If it fails to show - it is a bad drive (as it may not be new).

One last thought - I always have hit-or-miss luck if I use the Cable Select jumper. I find it better to designate a Master and Slave, and I try to keep the ribbon cables plugged in accordingly - although - it doesn't necassarily matter (in non-proprietary systems) - it helps visually later on.