120gig HDD problems

[jeff_okeeffe]

Hey all I recently bought a new western digital 120gig HDD. I plugged it in as a slave and it worked fine for the first time as a second hard drive. but when i restarted the PC it wouldn't detect it anymore. I also tried to use it as a master but it didn't detect it at all. There are no BIOS updates that i can do and my PC is only about 2 years old. Would anyone have any ideas on what the problem is?
Thanks

 

[ag3]

Can you give some specifications on the system?

 

[jolancer]

maybe your using a faulty EIDE cable. try substituting it with another cable.. also try the same with its power cable.

also make shur you have the jumper propperly setup on the back of your HD.

if nothing seems to work, it might possibly just be that u have a shitty mobo and bios as i do. i have this old HP... and when i add a HD or change the internal configuration of some, like substitue 1 for another or change it from 'slave to master' it sometimes wont detect it, so i restart a few times and it will finally get it strait... i now its just cause my comp is so shitty, but i dont care, ill be replacing it.

 

[jeff_okeeffe]

Its a SIS730 chipset mobo, AMD duron 1.3, 30gig maxtor hdd, geforce 4 PCI graphics, 512mb of RAM. Would my current IDE cable be a standard IDE cable? and whats an EIDE cable? I have jumpers set correctly it even detects the HDD in the BIOS, but doesn't boot up......

 

[Marvel]

A WD HDD will not be recognized by the bios when plugged as master(and only disk on cable), use cable select jumber position or removing the jumper may do the same thing.

 

[jeff_okeeffe]

Why wont the HDD be recognised as a master? please explain....

 

[-AnGuiSh-]

A WD HDD will not be recognized by the bios when plugged as master(and only disk on cable), use cable select jumber position or removing the jumper may do the same thing.

 

[ag3]

That is completely false.

 

[ag3]

jeff_okeeffe,

Remove all of the jumpers from your HDDs. Have the BIOS configure it for you. If the problem persists, then we'll go from there.

Keep in mind that there is a specific order to the IDE connectors.

 

[Marvel]

Hi Jeff, I went back and read your configuration again to make sure I understand it. First go read some tech information and jumper settings on the WD site here
it will tell you more than I ever could. I don't think you should have a problem installing a second disk in a 2 year old system. It would may work out better using cable select instead of master slave jumpers because the position of the connectors on the cable will determine who is who.
I experienced the same problem of plugging the disk master(only one disk on the cable) and it would not work. After much research and email to WD the solution was to plug it either cable select or remove the jumber achieving the same thing.
A suggestion, maybe you have the master disk on the wrong connector, as connector position determines master or slave. So you can see how jumper and cable position may confuse the issue. But please go to the WD site and read their stuff its very good. They also have a diagnostic program you can down load to help out.
I hope this information helps.