I just recently bought a new Western Digital Caviar WD2000BB Hard Drive for my Dell 4600. Problem is I was installing windows xp and everything was going good but it then froze.. so i rebooted and tried again. now however it won't let me format so i cant even install xp. when i try to format it either stays on 0 or gives me a error saying my hd could be connected improperly. help would greatly be appreciated. oh and by the way i replaced my old hd completely with the new one beacuse my old one was dying on me.
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Xp wont install on new HD
- Thread starter brysg2
- Start date
ski
Technical User
- Oct 11, 2000
- 2,467
Did you partition the HD?
If so, then check the HD and MB for any bent IDE pins, make sure the HD's IDE and power cables are fully inserted(check the IDE cable at both ends), the IDE cable connectors are connected in the proper locations, the HD is jumpered as Master, the colored stripe along the one edge of the IDE cable is next to the power lead on the back of the HD and next to pin 1 at the MB connector, and the IDE 1(primary) controller is enabled in BIOS.
If those are ok, then jumper the HD as CS.
If no luck, then connect a different power lead to the HD.
If still no luck, then install a different known working IDE cable.
If still no good, then disconnect all drives from IDE 2, and connect the HD to it as Master or CS.
If nothing works, then the HD may be defective.
If so, then check the HD and MB for any bent IDE pins, make sure the HD's IDE and power cables are fully inserted(check the IDE cable at both ends), the IDE cable connectors are connected in the proper locations, the HD is jumpered as Master, the colored stripe along the one edge of the IDE cable is next to the power lead on the back of the HD and next to pin 1 at the MB connector, and the IDE 1(primary) controller is enabled in BIOS.
If those are ok, then jumper the HD as CS.
If no luck, then connect a different power lead to the HD.
If still no luck, then install a different known working IDE cable.
If still no good, then disconnect all drives from IDE 2, and connect the HD to it as Master or CS.
If nothing works, then the HD may be defective.
If all connections ok, try the WD diagnostic - to check if the drive is ok.
PS. It is fully recognised in the bios? (as its 200GB, some bioses can't recognise disks that big - or treat them as smaller). XP's partitioning utility - how big does it say drive is? XP, pre-SP1 also has problems with drives/partitions > c. 128GB (137GB in manufacturer size - where GB = 1000000000 bytes).
PS. It is fully recognised in the bios? (as its 200GB, some bioses can't recognise disks that big - or treat them as smaller). XP's partitioning utility - how big does it say drive is? XP, pre-SP1 also has problems with drives/partitions > c. 128GB (137GB in manufacturer size - where GB = 1000000000 bytes).
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