Hard Drive Problem

[MrBenDover666]

some one help me pleez! i recently bought computer parts and have built my own computer but when i boot up the BIOS says there is no hard drive connected. The HD is plugged into IDE 1, and everything looks good. But i must say this also. the HD was previously used on my AMD Athlon and it works fine on that computer. It is a Maxtor 40MB hard drive. I am using a 2.8 Ghz P4, not sure on the motherboard model but if needed i can get it. If any more info is needed ask, thank you

 

[Akm2k]

have you checked that in bois it is set to detect the hdd, check the bios version it might be out of date

 

[MrBenDover666]

thnx, how would i go about setting it to detect my HD, or updating my BIOS?

 

[jcline]

You will need to know the make and model of your mobo. You should be able to go to the manufacturer's site and download the bios, there should be instructions as well.

Do you have the HDD chained to anyth other device (CD-Rom, etc)?

 

[Nubius]

Make sure you have the jumpers on the HD selected right. If it's on the IDE by itself it needs to be on the connector at the very opposite end of the one connected to the motherboard. You can then have the jumper set to CABLE SELECT or MASTER....if you have two hard drives on the same IDE cable then the Master like I said needs to go on the furthest connect and the slave goes in the middle. Set both to cable select or you can try putting the main to MASTER w/ SLAVE and the other to SLAVE, cable select works for me. Also I've had times when my HD didn't show up and I simply unplugged the IDE and plugged it back in assuming somehow a good connection wasn't being made and this has fixed the HD not showing up in the BIOS many a times.

Also you can not just simply switch out HD's from systems...you will have to format that hard drive if you brought it from a completely different system otherwise you'll get nothing but errors and crashes

EDIT: BTW there is no setting in the BIOS to 'detect' your HD...either it shows up or it doesnt...the only thing you can do is select the boot sequence no 'Please detect my HD' option

 

[MrBenDover666]

thnx again, but do you think flashing the BIOS might help at all?

 

[MrBenDover666]

ok the motherboard model is the MSI PT880-LSR Socket 478 Mainboard and heres the link http://shop4.outpost.com/product/4008442

 

[DavidWatersUGP]

Oh Hey Brandon,

Are you going to bring the computer into our Cisco class tomorrow/today? I'll see if I notice anything that may be causing the problem. lol I finally got my computer working so mabye I can help you get yours up and running too.

 

[Rareware]

hey ben if your hdrive isnot showing has connected or blank in your bios,and everything is connected and u havent altered any settings at all apart from swopping yor hdrive the fault will be that your ide/hdrive cabel needs turning around either on your hdrive or mobo slot that will sort it because i once had the same proble

hope that will hep cheers

 

[Rareware]

some ide cables dont have the notch in the middle so it is easy to get them the wrong way round,and try each connector on yor ide/hdrive cable