New XP Computer Cannot Find Hard Drive, But Can Find Everything Else

[sjaguar13]

New computer with an ASUS motherboard, Western Digital 180GB
hard drive, 2 x 512mb Kingston PC3200 RAM, cannot find the hard drive. It can find the floppy and the CD-burner, but no hard drive. Other jumper settings were t were tried, and other cables, but nothing.

[Confused]

SATA or IDE drive?
What OS?
How is drive connected? If IDE it should be on 80 wire cable with blue connector to mobo and drive to black connector. Only one way to connect with SATA, so make sure that you have power to drive (note: only use 1 power source).
Is BIOS set to AUTO detect?
Chas

[glc]

If it's IDE, you can't jumper it to "master" unless a slave is present. Use Cable Select or remove the jumper.

[sjaguar13]

It's a 250GB, not a 180GB like I originally stated. It's IDE. I plugged it into the blue cable that's marked "HDD CABLE" and plugged that into the blue plug on the motherboard. The jumper has been set to master/single, and cable select and still nothing. The CD-rom is in the "CD-ROM CABLE" and the black plug, and it works. I tried making the hard drive secondary slave to the CD-rom, actually, I tried making it slave on the primary, and secondary, I tried making it master on primary and secondary, nothing worked. I tried to run the Data LifeGuard thing, but it says it cannot find a drive, either.

[Panama Red]

Try setting the jumper to the factory default postion. Check this link for proper setting.

http://support.wdc.com/techinfo/general/jumpers.asp

This has worked for many folks.

[regans cortina]

are you sure your system is set up to recognize the 250gb ??
did you use the western digital new drive facility??
and is your bios up to date ??

download the new drive software from western digital onto a flopy and follow the instructions.

some manufacturers like maxtor have a program called the big drive enabler !!

[sjaguar13]

Don't know if the system is set up or not
Tried to use it, but it also couldn't find the drive
Yes, BIOS is up to date

I tried downloading the newest version from WD, but I get an error loading some file on the disk.

[regans cortina]

hmm, ive had replies from people like glc who have told me that some large drives just cannot be recognised and have to be partitioned . if i remember there were 2 versions of the wd software, try both , and use a brand new floppy.
also start from scratch, as in reformat, and go from there.
post back with how far you got mate.

[regans cortina]

also try and source an old hard drive and try that. if it sees it then you got a dodgy hd. it does happen

[glc]

If the bios can't see the drive, you have a bad drive, bad cable, bad controller, or incorrect jumpering. There really isn't anything else that can do it.

[sjaguar13]

After taking the computer back to the place I bought parts, they said the power supply was messed up. I get it home and the hard is found by the bios, but still cannot install XP. It says drive not found.

[glc]

1. Check cabling and jumpering.
2. Run Data Lifeguard Diagnostics off its boot floppy.

[sjaguar13]

I called WD, but they didn't have any record of that hard drive, so I have to mail them a copy of my receipt. Because of that they couldn't help me, but the guy said to completely remove the jumper and I don't need the Data Lifeguard at all.

[glc]

I'm suggesting Data Lifeguard *diagnostics*, not the installation program. If you completely remove the jumper, the drive must be a standalone on the IDE channel, and must be plugged into the end connector, not the center connector.

[sjaguar13]

The jumper is completely removed, the drive is plugged into the end of the IDE cable and the other end is into the master slot on the mother board. BIOS can find the drive and says it's 250gb.

I ran the diagnostics. It said the drive was good. I went to write all zeros to the drive, and it locked up.

[regans cortina]

jees, you havin a nightmare. id take it back the sho[p, and tell them to sort it. why didnt wd themselves recognise your hd??? is it a blag one or something ???

[regans cortina]

hang on a sec, why were you writing zeros to it ???????
you dont need to low level format a new drive . it needs to be formatted with ntfs, and then do a clean install.

[sjaguar13]

I just tried writing zeros to see what utilities could find the drive, and which ones couldn't.

[regans cortina]

you havent done yourself any favours doin that fella. try and use a win 98 floppy to format it . that should do it , but itl format in fat 32. then make sure your bios is set up to boot from cd rom first. and install with the xp disc.
i take it you made sure the bios sees all your drives ??? as in hard drive, cdrom etc etc???

[glc]

There is nothing wrong with writing zeros to a drive with the manufacturer's utility, it can only help. That's what it's for, to totally wipe the drive. Also, there is no need to format it or anything with a floppy, the XP setup will take care of everything. If it can't, you have a hardware issue that needs to be nailed down and fixed.

[regans cortina]

its a new drive, why write zeros to it ????? its just just a time consuming pointless excercise. if everythings set up correctly and xp still will not see it, then its a hardware issue, either swap each part out , or take it back the shop you got it from

[glc]

Hardly pointless if the drive has a logical problem caused by another hardware issue - it ensures that the drive is truly clean. I had one just yesterday - a Raptor that Win2K setup could not format - problem turned out to be a bad ram stick, but once replaced, 2K now said that the partition was damaged, a zero fill took care of this very nicely and it only took 10 minutes.

[regans cortina]

fair point then glc, thats what i like about pc mech. good healthy banter.