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Hard Drive Boot Problem


asubaseball727

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So I installed a new HD, but in order to make it to the spare dock, I had to switch out the cables with the ones that came in the box. So it wasn't a big deal, but now after I tried to boot I got the "primary drive not found. Secondary Drive not found" Is there a way that I can make it boot up the other drive that has windows on it first?

Thanks with any help.

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asubaseball727 ;Probably should check FallowEarth's link .On my IBM the double beep means it want's the BIOS administrator password.If you use the BIOS user password you really can't do anything. Dell may be different.These are completly different from Windows passwords.

You last post came up when I was posting.

Are you in your BIOS ?

You don't even need a HD for BIOS. It is all on your CMOS chip I think.

It should have Something about HD,s it should be in the same area as floppy,cd,dvd drives.

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Well I guess it doesn't have anything to do with finding the master drive. I unplugged the cords to the slave drive, and it still doesn't boot. Does anyone have an idea of what could be causing this?

I have even replaced the OLD chord, and unplugged the new HD, so it is how it WAS(workin) but now it says no primary drive found!

So frustrating.

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Sense you didn't say so,I'm going to assume that the hard drives are ide.

First make sure you have the cable going to pin 1 on the hard drive to pin 1 on the ide connector,pin 1 is the one on the red stripe on the cable,this is for the master hard drive.

Try this first and let me know if the bios recognizes the hard drive.

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I'm not quite sure what you mean but It looks like this http://www.newegg.com/Product/ShowImage.asp?Image=22%2D144%2D122%2D06%2Ejpg%2C22%2D144%2D122%2D07%2Ejpg&CurImage=22%2D144%2D122%2D07%2Ejpg&Description=Western+Digital+Caviar+SE+WD800JB+80GB+7200+RPM+IDE+Ultra+ATA100+Hard+Drive+%2D+OEM

I have the ATA cable connecting to the right spot on the mother board, and in that location + the power supply plugged into the right spot.  I really hope something didn't break

Thanks

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Ok, here is the BIOS menu + options that I think have to deal with the HDD.

Drive config:

    Sata Primary Drive: (auto or off)

    Sata Secondary Drive:  (A o O)

    Primary Master Drive: (A o O)

    Pimary Slave Drive (A o O)

    Secondary Master: (A o O)

    Secondary Slave (A o O)

 

    IDE Drive UMDA

    Hard Drive Acoustics Mode = Bypass

Under Hard Disk Drive Sequence:

    1. System BIOS boot Devices

    2. USB Device (not installed)

And under boot sequence:

    1. Hard Disk Drive (not installed)

    2. Diskette Drive

  3. CD-ROM Device ( not installed)

_______________________________________________________

All of that is with JUST the old drive in, attached as it was before I tried to install the slave drive. P.S. I had both the slave and the master working at the same time before I decided to move it into the bay for protection to overheating.

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I'll go through a quick rundown.

I'm not too good in describing it with the techincal terms. But there is the cable with 3 ends that each have a set of pins. The one with a blue end goes to the motherboard, the black end goes to the master drive with windows. And I did have the grey ended one to the slave drive.

It's called an IDE cable.

Sense you didn't say so,I'm going to assume that the hard drives are ide.

First make sure you have the cable going to pin 1 on the hard drive to pin 1 on the ide connector,pin 1 is the one on the red stripe on the cable,this is for the master hard drive.

Try this first and let me know if the bios recognizes the hard drive.

Like Basic said, make sure the red stripe on the IDE cable is on the correct side, next to the power connecter. Although, since it's keyed, you shouldn't have to worry about it.

Also make sure every connection is tight. Check for bent pins. It's extremely easy to bend a pin and not even know it. I know, I've done it.

Make sure only one drive is master. Or set both to CS.

You said you could hear the HDD, so the power works.

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Check the jumper settings on your HDD's. It's located where it says 'jump' on the pic below. A diagram on the HDD should show what the settings are.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ShowImage.asp?Image=22%2D144%2D122%2D06%2Ejpg%2C22%2D144%2D122%2D07%2Ejpg&CurImage=22%2D144%2D122%2D07%2Ejpg&Description=Western+Digital+Caviar+SE+WD800JB+80GB+7200+RPM+IDE+Ultra+ATA100+Hard+Drive+%2D+OEM

Also it's usually "better" to have the master, the one with Windows, plugged into the end of the cable. It would be required on a cable select setup.

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