HDD Not Detected
 

Hi, Yesterday I got the stuff (from Newegg) to build my computer.
So I built it (I havent built before so it took 3 hours).
Specs:

AMD Duron 1.4 GHz,266 FSB
128 MB Kingston PC 2100
Asus Mobo
WD 40 GB HDD
Cheap case (Aspire or something like that)
Lite-on CD-ROM

So, I let it burn in over night so when I got home today I decided to go and check out it's BIOS. So I went thru it...(38 celsius processor) So I go to the IDE assignment things and when I selected the primary slave (where my HDD is supposed to be)
and selected identify or something like that, it did'nt detect my HDD. It did'nt detect my Liteon but I know thats working cuz I can open its door and it turns on when I turn on the system.

So is this something I should worry about? I don't want to buy (or borrow) WinXP and then not having it work..

I assume that you have both the CDROM and the HDD on the same IDE channel... They arent both set as master, are they?

Check all the connections (power and IDE). Make sure they are snug.

Are you absolutely sure that the jumper settings are on the HDD and CD-ROM correctly? Misplaced jumpers will cause BIOS to not read the drives at all.

Some motherboards force you to put the HDD on a certain channel on the cable if you only have one HDD. My friend's mobo forces you to put the HDD on the primary cable under slave if it's the only one. Weird, but it's in the manual. BIOS wouldn't detect it otherwise. Your motherboard might have a requirement like that but on a different cable or channel.

And yes, you probably need to worry about this. If BIOS won't recognize the HDD, then WinXP won't either during installation.

Since neither your CD-ROM or HDD are recognized in BIOS, I'd say the jumpers are simply not on the correct setting. Check'em over and over again. If they're on the correct settings, make sure the HDD is on the right cable and setting for your motherboard (if it has a requirement). If none of that works, I don't know what to tell ya! Good thing NewEgg has an EXCELLENT RMA service in case there's something fucked up. It happens...I've sent about $1,500 worth of PC parts back to NewEgg in the past year. Good luck in getting it working!

-Lasereth

When you say jumpers, do you mean like slave/master?
If so I've saved my self some worrying.

I mean the little black pieces of plastic that go over two prongs on the back of your HDD and CD-ROM. You put them over top of two prongs according to if you want your HDD master or slave. After you put the jumper on the HDD correctly, you have to put it on the right connector on the cable. So you need the jumper set to Master on the HDD, and then put it on the Master connector on the IDE cable. Same thing with CD-ROM if you want it Master on the secondary cable. Like I said before, if the HDD or CD-ROM have the jumpers set wrong, or if they're not on the right connector on the IDE cable, BIOS simply won't detect them. Good luck!

-Lasereth

I don't see two black prongs.
EDIT: I think i see two small prongs..
EDIT2:On the circuitboard I see 10 dots and CS SLAVE MASTER and PM2 by them
And is it alright if I have a CD-ROM and HDD on the same IDE cable?

No no, not on the motherboard. Look on the BACK of your hard drive, and there is probably 5 really small prongs. There should be a black piece of plastic covering up TWO of the prongs. On top of the hard drive there should be a diagram telling you where to put the black piece of plastic (jumper). Depending on which two prongs you cover up on the hard drive, your HDD will be set to master or slave. The exact same method is used on the CD-ROM as well. If you do not set the jumper correctly on the back of both devices, they won't show up in BIOS.

Yes, it's ok to have the HDD and CD-ROM on the same IDE cable, but you'll have to make one device Master and one Slave.

-Lasereth

heres a pic
http://www.tomshardware.com/storage/...es/jumpers.jpg

hes talking about the circuit board of the drive, not the PC. the EDIT2: are the ones you want,

its technically ok to have cd and hdd on same IDE cable, but it'll slow down your hard drive to the speed of your CD when using it, if you can use one cable fro HD drives and the other for CD, jaz, zips etc

Yeah, I'd seperate them on different cables too. It'll work on the same cable, but it's better to keep them seperate for speed issues.

-Lasereth

I meant the circuitboard on the bottom of the drive...

Ok.. I understand it all now. Thanks guys


EDIT: Ok I have the CDROM on Slave jumper and on Slave on the cable, and the HDD on Master Jumper and on the Master on the cable.

I checked BIOS and it detects the CDROM but it doesnt detect the HDD.

What now?

Like I said earlier, some motherboards force you to make the HDD slave if you only have one. Try the HDD as slave and the CD-ROM as master. Those jumpers can be tricky sometimes, so make sure to check the diagram carefully!

-Lasereth

you can also try putting the HD on CS ( cable select too ) it'll work as long as you only have one drive, if Lasereths suggestion doesn't work.

ideal layout is going to be

MotherBoard IDE0 --- cable -- HD Set to master or CS if only drive or as Lasereth sas if it needs to be slave..

MotherBoard IDE1 --- cable -- CD Set to master Jumper position

CS requires a special cable witha twist between the two IDE HD connectors, so don't use it on a cable with no twist and two devices on the same cable.

ok... Because I am lazy and I had no reason to try and fix it, I did so today, using the HDD on slave.
No go, even the CDROM wasnt detected. However when I tried to detect the HDD, it was named like 6-8 random characters (like $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @)

On the bright side, I popped in Paul McCartneys Wingspan disc in the CD ROM drive, plugged in some old speakers into the drive (it has a output jack), pressed the play button (it has two buttons, on has play and next track on it, other has stop and eject on it) voila i have a $260 cd player.

And I might get another ATA cable on xmas, ill try the CS.

Are you sure it's messed up? :) HDD's are supposed to be named really weird letters like that. Mine are usually "WD120HDF" or something like that. You may have got it working!

-Lasereth

I mean it really is something like @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $. Not ewghnowegbowe12. And it doesnt detect size.

Stupid question considering that you just bought all this equipment a few days ago and its probably safe to assume that they are all running on ultra DMA or serial ... but ...

Are you sure that the CDROM and HDD are running on a 133 or 100mhz DMA? I mean, you sometimes can't mix standards even if your HDD supports both. It has to do with your IDE cable.

As far as the size issue, that could be a number of things. How large is the HDD? Sometimes you need to flash the BIOS before a HDD larger than 137GB can be recognized.

Ok now... where to start..

Well, here I learned I could purchase XP home for $90. This inspired me to tool around with my computer to see if i could get it working again.

I checked the HDD jumpers, all good to go.
On the CDROM I found that the jumpers were on slave but the cable was master. I changed the jumper to master, and I closed the case (lol) and started her up.

In the BIOS it said it detected both the CDROM and the HDD.

Thanks for all the help.