Trying to reinstall windows in order to format hdd, help

[Druid]

ok, thanks

I think you were right about it being the slave drive. It is connected with a slightly different shaped piece that says bay 2 on it. Those wires don't seem to want to come out to easily; is it supposed to be like that? I'm a little afraid to tug on them.

 

[Kharn]

Are you talking about the IDE ribbon cable or the molex? The molex is the one with 4 wires in two colours (black an red) at times they can be hard to remove, but make sure the computer is off before attempting anything.

 

[Druid]

the colored wire cables are all I need to remove, right? Yeah, the power is off. I got two pcs.

Switched them. Just gonna wait for confirmation that I don't need to switch those ribon things as well.

 

[carnageX]

The ribbon cable is what you have to switch, as well as check the jumpers on both drives to see what they're labeled as. The molex power connectors (4-pin connector) could have been left on, as that doesn't matter what that is.

 

[Druid]

ok, check the jumpers for what? What are the jumpers?

 

[KSoD]

Their settings. You have to look at the drive to see where the jumper settings are for master or slave.

See this pic. This is what you are looking for.

CS - Cable Select
MA - Master
SL - Slave

Have to set the DVD Drive to Master. The CD to slave

 

[Druid]

There was nothing plugged into the part with those markings. The cd drive is the only one that has the markings, but I would expect it would be the same for the dvd drive. However, I still don't know what I'm supposed to do here. What do I plug in? Those ribbon cables plug into the big long slot to the right of the area you are talking about. Besides, since there is so short of a distance between the two insertion pieces, it would be impossible to switch them and still have them facing the correct way.

 

[KSoD]

Not every drive needs a jumper to have a setting. The missing jumper could signify that settings as the slave or cable select setting. you have to physically check the drive. Each drive is labeled differently. That is just a example. It is not going to be that exact way for your drive.

If the cable doesnt allow you to switch the positions change the drive postitions. Remvoe he CD Drive and put the DVD Drive there so the cable can reach.

 

[Druid]

Ok, I watched this video on youtube and figured out what you are talking about: YouTube - Computer Upgrades & Repairs : How to Change the Master/Slave Designation on a Hard Drive

Do I even need to change which drives the ribbon cables are plugged into? Can't I just move the jumper things? However, it would appear they are both set to CS. What doe this mean, there is no master drive? Does this mean that the dvd recovery disc should have worked and the problem is something else? If not, should I just move the jumper from cs to master on the dvd and from cs to slave on the cd? Can I then just put the ribbon cables back were they were?

 

[KSoD]

No CS means Cable Select as i have already said. A few posts up. This means that the cable selects which drive is the master. There is a master and slave connection on the IDE cable.

connector to motherboard-----------------------connector 1 (Master)------connector 2 (Slave)

The connection furthest out from teh mother board is the slave. The connection closest to the mother board is the master. If it is set to CS that means that which ever drive is there is the one that is the master drive.

If the DVD drive is the master then you have to go into your BIOS and check your boot devices and change which Optical drive it boots from.