I got a new hard drive and it makes my comp not work! :(

[Pakaraatzi]

Hello, I just got a new hard drive(quantum fireball, 30gb, 7200rpm) today, and i put it in my computer so i would have a second hard drive.

When i put it in, it gets detected and all, but when windows starts loading I get a BSOD and it restarts, i tried several times to work it, and everytime it did the same. When i take the new one out, everything works fine.

I dont know whats going on <IMG SRC="http://www.duhspot.com/users/smiley/s/cwm/kodama/14.gif" border=0> , please help, i want to get it in and all before schools starts and i'll have no time.

Thanks! <IMG SRC="http://www.duhspot.com/users/smiley/s/otn/realhappy/jump.gif" border=0>

[Bovon]

New hard drives come jumpered as master, and you must change the jumper to slave in order to run it as a slave to the master drive. The new drive must also be fdisked and formatted before it is usable.

[Pakaraatzi]

ok, so now i just got to figure out how to change it to slave, theres instuction on the hard drive if i remember corectly right?

[Bovon]

Thats right. On the top of the drive, near the back (usually) is a small diagram of the jumper positions. one will be master(ususllay just an M) another will be the slave jumper position (usually just a S) and the third is Cable Select. (Usually CL) The jumper blocks are on the back next to the IDE ribbon cable pins. Figure out which pin the jumper is on now (Usually shipped set up for master) and change the jumper over to slave (Usually the next two pins) Connect the hard drive to the same ribbon cable the master is connected to, but on the cable connector back from the end...the end socket goes to the master drive, and the socket back towards the motherboard goes to the slave. The red wire on the ribbon cable goes in the IDE socket next to where the power cable plugs in.

[bertbell]

While you have the case open check your current drive. Some have settings for 'only drive in system' being different from 'master drive'.

[Pakaraatzi]

well i got it set right now and it works fine, though beofre it did i had to switch cables cause the one i bought for the new drive, cause the one on the old wouldnt reach for both drives was not the right one, said something about it being a something 40 cable not 80, so it would only run at ata33, so i had to move everything to get the old cable(which looks completly different fomr the new one) to fit to both drives.


So now i just need to fdisk it, which iam not sure how to do excatly so if someons could explain to me how i go about fdisking it, i would be very happy, thanks!!!

[Pakaraatzi]

now i have another problem i think, there no letter assigned to it, its listed in my device listings, and part magic sees it, but it has no letter?

is this a problem and if so can u tell me how to fix it?

[Bovon]

It won't have a drive letter assigned until it is fdisked and formatted. It cannot be used until it is formatted.

This is a process that takes a little learning, and I'm not sure how to begin. I think there are some applications that will do this for you that are easier to do if you have never created a boot disk and put format and fdisk on it.

I'll wait and see if somebody will come along to help you do this the easy way if possible. If not, then I will give you a step by step post on how I do it.

[Pakaraatzi]

ok thanks a lot i have never used fdisk cause my old computer had a recovery disk so i never had to format myself, so i would be very happy if someone could find an easier way, but if not iam sure i can get fdisk to work with some help, so thnaks a bunch!

[Pakaraatzi]

wait a minute! cant i just use partition magic to format it? yes i think i can, if i can i dont know why i never thouguht before, since i even open it to see if i could see the new hard drive!

[Bovon]

I have an older copy of partition magic, but have only used it once...and had problems understanding the process. I am a little thick between the ears sometimes http://www.sysopt.com/forum/biggrin.gif

So, I just use the old way with fdisk and format utilities that come with Windows.

If you can fdisk, setup the partitions and format the drive with Partition Magic, that should fill the bill for you.

Good luck.