wd 80 G hd bios won't recognize

[noapology]

On one system, I partitioned and formatted the new WD 80Gig drive ata 100, & installed w2k prof. No problem- took the drive and tried to install it on another system. bios won't read the drive. These systems are 8 years old, but working ok. I re-formatted, hd back to zeros. Still cant get bios to recognize the drive. Anybody help me?

[Midknyte]

the bios is so old that it can't address the larger drive. pretty common. either get a new controller card or use an overlay software like ezbios.

[BipolarBill]

WD drives are very particular about jumpering. Be sure to turn the jumper sideways if the drive is alone on the cable. Cable select may not work on older systems/cables.

[Sterling_Aug]

Nothing like throwing good money after bad. Get ready to spend more money after this upgrade. The power supply, mobo, processor, and RAM will need to be replaced soon. I have seen more hardware fail after an upgrade that I can throw a stick at.

[noapology]

You said it. This is for a friend who bought an old, crappy system. Sorry I ever told him I'd try to help. I finally found some sdram for it, the drive was 6 gigs, so I got the drive. Guess I'll try the ezbios. Serves me right. Never again. Thanks so much for your help.

[noapology]

BipolarBill - "Be sure to turn the jumper sideways if the drive is alone on the cable" -

Like this?
...--
.....

and not like this-

....|
....|

Did I understand you?

[Sterling_Aug]

Yes. Look at the little drawing on the drive. All drives have a description on how the jumpers should be set.

[BipolarBill]

That's called the "null" position. It's the same as removing it and prevents loss.

[noapology]

On this drive (wd caviar ata 100 80G), the dia shows no jumpers for primary master, and jumper on pins next to the 4 ps pins, i guess they are, for "cable select setting"- whatever that is.

I have one other question, if you have the time: I just built a system, and I can't get the floppy drive to work. It's connected properly, but the light comes on at boot, and stays on, but the bios isn't reading the drive. I popped in another FD i know is working, and the same thing - light on, drive not read.

Any suggestions?

[noapology]

Oh, the mobo is asus p5w dh deluxe

[Sterling_Aug]

Turn the floppy connector around. You have it on backwards. Look for the red or blue strip on the cable and then match it to the dot or #1 on the mobo connector.

[noapology]

hmmm - ok, changed the cable around, same thing - light on, not reading Flpy-drive

Hey, if I don't get a chance later - MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

[BipolarBill]

He meant that you should *flip* the connector on the floppy drive end - not reverse the cable. Miscue.