Seting up hard drive

[Artd]

I reformatted the hard drive and now get the message: "fixed disk not present". Upon trying to use a bootable disk in my A:\ drive, anything I try to do with C:\ is not responding. The LED for the Hard drive is constantly lit when running. This is a very old Compaq Presario.

Suggestions?

 

[DragonQ0105]

Constantly lit Drive Light indicated that the cable is on backwards...did you touch the IDE Cables?

Is the drive recognised by the BIOS? Keep tapping F1 or Delete (depending on your computer - it may tell you what to press), when the PC is turned on to enter the BIOS.

Look around for a page that has something to do with Drives on (normally the first page or under "Standard CMOS Features"). See if it recognises the Hard Drive. If not, try an Autodetect. If it still can't find it, then the drive may be dead.

If it is recognised by the BIOS, try to get an updated version of FDisk (ftp://ftp1.fkkt.uni-lj.si/newfdisk.zip), and copy that onto a bootable floppy, and try that.

 

[Sparent]

Before declaring your HD "deceased" try playing around with the jumpers located at the back of the hd. Try the "Master" position instead of the "CS" or Cable Select which is usually standard when pcs ship from the assembly plant. A diagram of the various driver positions is usually printed on the hard disk.

With different jumpers position selected, try entering the Bios and checking if said Bios is detecting the disk.

If all else fails, go to you hd manufacturer's web site and get their hd diagnostic s/w. It is most often free and it fits on a floppy. It scan the particular hd and gives you a diagnostic. If the disk is at fault, this s/w will tell you. If the s/w tell you the disk is OK, then you know it's your IDE setup that is wrong. Verify tha you selected the correct IDE connectors and that they are oriented properly.

With all this, you should be fine, if not, feel free to post further questions.

Good Luck,

Simon

 

[edfair]

If you did nothing but reformat it appears that you wiped out something that allows the drive to be seen. Shouldn't really happen, but sometimes it does.
Try repartitioning, along with rebuilding the MBR. Or worst case do a zero fill with the drive manufacturer's diagnostic disk and rebuild again.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[tomaso11]

What is the model number Compaq have lots of info on their site.Think some compaqs hold bios info on a partition if you have formatted this that would be your problem.