PC help - Hard Drive Problems

**Kelly Lee** · #1 12-28-2007, 06:42 PM

As some may know my PC went down a while ago and I had been using my antique laptop. Anyways, I got a new system (well actually used, friend gave it to me) and I'm having a little problem. I can't get more than one hard drive to work on my new system. It's a 2.4ghz Pentium 4 w/hyperthreading(?), 1.5g memory, on a Intel Desktop motherboard.

I have three HD's I would like to hook up as they are all small in size. I have a 60g Western Digital WD600 that I'm currently using, a 30g Maxtor DiamondMax Plus, and a 40g Seagate Barracuda ATA IV. I would like the Maxtor to be my C drive, the Seagate for my programs, and the Western Digital for my music/storage/backup. I have checked the jumpers and appear to have them set correctly but I could post pics/diagrams of how I set them if needed.

Can anyone tell me what I might be missing so I can get this hooked up and running right? I know PC's pretty good but this one has me stumped. I have multiple PC's over the years and never had a problem switching and/or adding different HD's. Help!

i_got_a_mohawk · #2 12-28-2007, 06:47 PM

If using IDE are they setup properly on the cable? (i know that on the cable, one socket is for the master and one socket is for the slave on IDEs, well i think thats the case, probably wrong as ive not looked at them in years)

Are they showing up in the Bios?

**Kelly Lee** · #3 12-28-2007, 06:52 PM

Yea, they show up in BIOS and in the proper location (ie; primary master, primary slave, etc.) but it won't boot after that. I'm really confused.

i_got_a_mohawk · #4 12-28-2007, 06:57 PM

Ah, bugger. Doesnt boot at all?

Have you tried removing the other two drives to see if it boots?

I had a similar(ish) problem with mine, 3 drives, but when it booted only the C drive was visible. Had to do something in the Disk Management part under the Computer Management screen (Control Panel/ Administative Tools/ Computer Management).

**Kelly Lee** · #5 12-28-2007, 07:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by i_got_a_mohawk

Ah, bugger. Doesnt boot at all?

Not at all with multiple drives. I get a black screen showing a blinking cursor and then the cursor dissappears and I'm left with a black screen. Nothing else happens.

Quote:

Have you tried removing the other two drives to see if it boots?

Yep, and it boots. I'm on the PC right now typing this.

i_got_a_mohawk · #6 12-28-2007, 07:10 PM

Have you tried different combinations of only adding one other drive? (like in different positions and stuff). See if you can boot with two drives in?

**Kelly Lee** · #7 12-28-2007, 07:13 PM

Treid and got the same result. It doesn't matter which drive is in what position of if it two or three hooked up I always get the same result.

TrooperFarva · #8 12-28-2007, 09:18 PM

What are the exact jumper settings? Don't use 'Cable Select' I find that can cause problems sometimes, make sure they're actually in the 'Master' or 'Slave' position.

MJ5150 · #9 12-28-2007, 10:30 PM

Kelly....would you mind posting a pic of how you had it set up?
Does the BIOS identify the drive by size or name or any other identifiers?
What OS are you using, and is it legit?

-Mike

Hawaii Islander · #10 12-28-2007, 10:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TrooperFarva

What are the exact jumper settings? Don't use 'Cable Select' I find that can cause problems sometimes, make sure they're actually in the 'Master' or 'Slave' position.

+1

Could be the physical jumper settings on the hard drives themselves.

**Kelly Lee** · #11 12-29-2007, 06:35 AM

TrooperFarva, I never use cable select.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MJ5150

Kelly....would you mind posting a pic of how you had it set up?
Does the BIOS identify the drive by size or name or any other identifiers?
What OS are you using, and is it legit?

The BIOS identifies each HD by model # and size.
My OP system is XP Pro w/SP1 and it is legit.

Here is how the jumpers were set...

skaliwag66 · #12 12-29-2007, 05:13 PM

Are the drives new (formatted)?

**Kelly Lee** · #13 12-30-2007, 07:47 AM

Eh, I got two of them to work together and that's good enough. I had to go into the recovery console and fix the boot record and the MBR. That seems to have taken care of it as I'm on the PC right now. Maybe it's finally time to go to bed as I have been working on it from about 2pm Saturday and I'm still up!

Thanks for the input guys.