2nd Hard Drive Problem

[ashardin]

I'm building a new computer to run in a new cabinet mostly from parts laying around and am having problems getting both hard drives recongnized in Windows XP.

I've got two hard drives in the machine, a 20 gig that has all of the system files and applications and a 80 gig that has been set up with all of the roms and media.  I set the 80 gig up on my other XP machine as a secondary HD and got everything transferred and organized in it. My plan was to just put this one in the new machine when it was set up.

So, I installed XP in the new machine on the 20 gig HD and everything worked great.  When I try to install the secondary drive as a slave, XP will not recognize it.  I can see it in CMOS though, its recognized there so I know its now a cable or some other issue.  Jumpers are set correctly, the 20 gig is set as master, 80 is set as slave.

I can even see the drive in XP when I go to system --> device manager.  It shows up, but XP cannot get any information from the drive (i.e. capacity, etc).

Any ideas here.  I must be missing something easy but for the life of me I can't figure out what.  

[Sylentwulf]

That IS weird since device manager see's it. Try the add new hardware wizard?
Try Administrative tools - computer management?

Try setting it up as the secondary IDE master or slave?

[Brad Lee]

I hadsimilar problems with 2 drives, where they would work indpendently but when put in the same PC it didnt see one or the other

They were both jumpered for master, one on primary, one on secondary. One of the drives however, the jumper was labeled MASTER or SINGLE and apparently it HAD to be a single drive, even as the master on the sec ide, it would still try to boot from it, instead of the pri master

Maybe something wonky like this is going on?

[ashardin]

The master has settings for Master, Slave, and Cable Select.

The secondary has a bunch of possible settings (15 head MA, SL, CS, 16 Head MA, SL, CS, 32 bit MA, SL, CS, etc).  I just left it at 16 Head SL as that is how it worked in the other machine.  I figured it would be fine that way in the new one.  I also tried CS on both, putting the HD with the OS on the end of the IDE cable of course and still, no dice.

I also tried the new hardware wizard and it did not help me.  Its got to be something strange but I just can't figure out what the hell it would be.

[SirPeale]

It's not weird, it's Windows XP.

You have to go into the control panel --> Administrative Tools --> Computer Management --> Disk Management

Select the drive in question and right click on it.  There should be some option to initialize or something like it (it's been a while since I've done it)

[StephenH]

Try making sure your BIOS is correct.    Additionally, try putting your CD-ROM as slave, and running the D drive as the second master.

Another thing is that I would check is the jumpers.  Not all cables and cards do cable select well.    Additionally, if a CD-ROM or other device is on the same chain, make sure its jumpers are not wrong.

Additionally, I would check the UDMA settings on the drive and interface you are connecting it to, and see if they are compatible.

I would also try booting PartitionMagic or a similar program, and make sure its partition table is not having a problem.

[LoRDDeVO]

It happened to me the easiest thing i can tell you is to run "Add New Hardware"  from Control panel them check if it detects it.  If not go to You have to go into the control panel --> Administrative Tools --> Computer Management --> Disk Management Like peale said and right click the drive on the bottom and hit assign letter or something like that... Sorry I can't be more specific I am at my job.   If you still have problems PM me and I will get back to you when I get home

[ashardin]

Thanks guys!

I got it up and running.

Control panel --> Administrative Tools --> Computer Management --> Disk Management

and then -->Import Foreign Disk.  

I knew it had to be a software issue since I could see it in the bios.  Its always something simple with these things.  Its recognized in XP now, I can get to all of the media, and it works on Restart.

Thanks again for your help.  Andy