WD HDD installation issues

[ed207063]

OK, this is kinda long and complicated, so I apologize in advance. Today, I bought a WD 80GB EIDE drive for additional storage. I already have 2 identical 40GB WD drives (that are getting full) on the primary IDE channel, and a CD burner alone on the second channel. Hoping to add the 3rd drive as the master drive on the secondary channel, I physically installed it. Upon reboot, it took my machine about 5 minutes to boot, as opposed to the 1-1.5 minutes it normally takes. (I'm running XP Pro). I downloaded the latest Data Lifeguard software and attempted to set up the drive. The drive shows up in the BIOS and Windows Device Manager, but it was not recognised by the WD software. Figuring my system didn't like 3 HDDs, I removed my primary slave and installed the new drive in its place. Still a long boot, drive seen in BIOS and Device manager. Upon running the WD setup program, it took a full 3 minutes for the program to even reach the setup screen. I followed all the prompts, and no error messages were reported. Upon reboot, it was as if I had never run the setup program at all. I cannot access this drive in Windows, and it does not show up in disk management or under Explorer. By all accounts, this drive SHOULD be visible and usable, but it is simply not the case. I'm starting to wonder if I got a lemon.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. I'm pulling out what's left of my hair over this.

--Ed

P.S. - Oh, yeah, forgot this....the first time I got the Data Lifeguard program to work, I ran the diagnostic tool, and I got a 'cable error'. I tried 3 different 80-wire cables, and got the same result each time. Before you ask...yes, I double-verified that the cables were attached correctly.

[mc2phat]

Is the drive jumpered properly? If so, sounds like a bum drive to me. Were you runing DLG from CD? If so, go to WDC's website, download DLG and follow the directions to create a floppy disk, boot to it, and try the diagnostics again.

[ed207063]

Re-running DLG, I get this - "11-Cable Test::Read diagnostics sector error!" under the Test Error Code section. The drive is cabled and jumpered correctly.

[spyder003]

Is it a 0011 error? If so, it just says "Re-test Drive". It's at the bottom of the first section.

http://support.wdc.com/techinfo/gene...rcodes.asp#v10

[ed207063]

I've retested ad nauseam. Same result.

[Panama Red]

Think I'd try another cable just to be sure that's not the problem. If it errors out again, sounds like time to contact WD for a replacement.

[b.r.lancas]

Originally Posted by ed207063 OK, this is kinda long and complicated, so I apologize in advance. Today, I bought a WD 80GB EIDE drive for additional storage. I already have 2 identical 40GB WD drives (that are getting full) on the primary IDE channel, and a CD burner alone on the second channel. Hoping to add the 3rd drive as the master drive on the secondary channel, I physically installed it. Upon reboot, it took my machine about 5 minutes to boot, as opposed to the 1-1.5 minutes it normally takes. (I'm running XP Pro). I downloaded the latest Data Lifeguard software and attempted to set up the drive. The drive shows up in the BIOS and Windows Device Manager, but it was not recognised by the WD software. Figuring my system didn't like 3 HDDs, I removed my primary slave and installed the new drive in its place. Still a long boot, drive seen in BIOS and Device manager. Upon running the WD setup program, it took a full 3 minutes for the program to even reach the setup screen. I followed all the prompts, and no error messages were reported. Upon reboot, it was as if I had never run the setup program at all. I cannot access this drive in Windows, and it does not show up in disk management or under Explorer. By all accounts, this drive SHOULD be visible and usable, but it is simply not the case. I'm starting to wonder if I got a lemon. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. I'm pulling out what's left of my hair over this. --Ed P.S. - Oh, yeah, forgot this....the first time I got the Data Lifeguard program to work, I ran the diagnostic tool, and I got a 'cable error'. I tried 3 different 80-wire cables, and got the same result each time. Before you ask...yes, I double-verified that the cables were attached correctly.

Some times you must use two jumper on each hard drive to get WD HDD to work in system master/slave or master/ master to work. the details are on WDC.com website.

[ed207063]

Good thought, but it states that the dual jumper settings should NOT be used with 2000/XP/NT. I'm heading back to the store today to swap it out.

[ed207063]

Bum drive confirmed. New unit works flawlessly. Thanks to all for your help.

Happy New Year!