another computer question - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

fahrgewehr2 · #1 01-19-2008, 12:38 AM

I am trying to install xp on an older computer.

I bought a new HD, but the computer won't detect it.

Before I did this, I ran the 'puter using an old HD with '98 on it. Ran fine for a day or so. This would suggests cable/connection is ok?

In BIOS it says no HDs installed.

What to do?

BoomInTheTrunk · #2 01-19-2008, 01:23 AM

I think you need to format the disk. Type "fdisk" in dos and then follow the lists till you get to format.

Bill Wood · #3 01-19-2008, 02:44 AM

The bios has to see the drive before you can fdisk or format it.

How many drives do you have?
Since you said it was an old computer I would assume the drive is IDE. If so, you have to set the jumpers on the drive to master, slave or cable select depending on your setup. Whenever you have 2 drives connected to one IDE port, one has to be master and the other slave. The boot drive should be master.

diametricalbenz · #4 01-19-2008, 03:29 AM

Depending on the age of the motherboard you may have incompatabilities with the newer drive.

What is the Motherboard model?
What is the capacity of the drive? Over 120GB?

In some instances the ATA cable can be bad but it's not as common as a HW issue with new drives and old boards.

Carson357 · #5 01-19-2008, 03:54 AM

was the new drive a sata? that is likely your issue, win xp setup disk only has imbedded drivers for ide drives. if your drive is sata you will need to install the drivers when installing xp by using f6 when prompted if you have a floppy available.if you don't have a floppy available see link below, it shows how to do the install without a floppy. i did it in the past and it works excellent. you actually re-write your xp setup disk to include the correct driver for your new hard drive. i have done it before, works perfect if done correctly

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Install-Windows-XP-On-SATA-Without-a-Floppy-F6-47807.shtml

fahrgewehr2 · #6 01-19-2008, 09:17 AM

Thanks for the replies-

Computer is a 2001.

Harddrive is 160GB.

It is an IDE drive- normal ribbon cable. Checked this before I bought after hearing about SATA.

It is the only drive for the computer.

I took the jumper pin out (making it single) as per instructions.

----

Maybe HD to large or new?

LUVMBDiesels · #7 01-19-2008, 10:19 AM

If the BIOS does not detect it I would do these things...

1) Set the drive to 'cable detect' with the jumper pins

2) If the BIOS has the ability to accept manual inputs for the drive specs, you can enter them. You will find the number of cylinders, head, & etc either on the drive or in the documentation

3) If your motherboard still cannot detect it, I would buy a PCI drive controller card.

If you are going to be buying a board for the computer, I would suggest tat you buy an entire new mother board and CPU. This is what I usually do every four to five years. Make sure that you also get at least 1GB RAM as XP really needs it. It will run on less but very badly and slowly.

fahrgewehr2 · #8 01-19-2008, 11:00 AM

In the BIOS there is an option to manually set parameters or something.

I may just try and do a clean install on an older drive instead. I can use this drive as a slave on my main machine.

Reading through the HD manual it does mention a 137GB barrier. I will try an alternate jumper set up suggested in the manual.

I am trying to do this as easily (cheaply) as possible. Computer was free and will be used for word processing and internet only, so requirements are minimal.

KarTek · #9 01-19-2008, 01:35 PM

When I installed a new HD in my friends desktop, I didn't fool with the bios at all. I just installed it along side the existing drive on the SATA (IDE should be the same). Then you have to go into the disk manager in windows to format it otherwise, the system won't see it at all. Follow this:

Start>control panel>administrative tools>computer managment>disk management

You'll see a list of all the drives on the computer including the new, unformatted one. Right click on the new drive and select format to begin the formatting process. When it's done, the drive will be ready for use. You can also assign it a letter at this time.

fahrgewehr2 · #10 01-22-2008, 05:43 PM

Well i put my old (OLD) 6g (six) HD in there and it still wouldn't see the drive.

Noticed it also wouldn't see the other drives.

Swapped in another CDROM drive and it saw the little HD.

Threw XP on it and it's good to go.

Now I will try to see if it will see the 160g HD as a slave.

Computer is OLD. About 1ghz processor with 256m ram. But it works like top (so far) and the price was right.

Getting a bad_pool_caller BSOD on my other one...look for new thread soon.