Boot Problems.. PLEASE HELP!

[Alcoholik]

Okay heres the deal... I just took out a harddrive...i had 2 in there... and whenever i have just the one plugged in it freezes my motherboard, like i can even enter my bios.. it just seizes up...... also my harddrive gets really hot when i have it plugged in, could that have anything to do with it?. Any suggestions

 

[Harvey]

I don't know about the heat problem, but check to be sure the jumpers on your drives are set correctly as Master and Slave. Some boards do not work correctly with some drives (or some combination of drives) if you have them set for Cable Select.

For your basic test, try setting one drive as Master, and make sure it is conncted to IDE channel 1. If that works, you can try other combos to suit your requirements, but at least you'll know the basic problem.

 

[Alcoholik]

Welll um i only have 1 drive in(i sold the other one)... and if you werent saying that.. i dunno... when i boot and i dont have the cable for the drive plugged in it will let me enter my bios... but when it is plugged in it seems to freeze my mother board... can you tell me what you meant in more (computer illiterate terms, cause i just know how to do things on computers not what those things are called ...)

 

[Harvey]

There is at least one jumper on your drive, probably on the back with the IDE connector and the power cable. Almost all new drives also have a legend somewhere on the drive showing the jumper setting for Master, Slave, and Cable Select (or CS).

If your motherboard is supposed to recognize Cable Select, and the drives are set that way (and CS is working), the drive at the far end of the cable should be the Master drive. If you set the jumper to Master or Slave, it should work that way no matter which connector on the cable you use.

Your board also probably has two IDE channels. For your first test, make sure you are using IDE channel 1, and your drive is set as Master.

Note -- If your drive is a Western Digital, there may be a jumper setting for single drive operation. You can try that setting, as well.

Does your IDE cable have a key to prevent it from being plugged in upside down? If so, turn the cable over and try again. You won't hurt your drive if this is wrong. It just won't work, but that is where you are, now.

Tell us the make and model of your drive and your motherboard. Of course, the heat suggests there is always the possiblity your drive is fried.

 

[Alcoholik]

My harddrive is a western digital 120gig WDcavlar enhanced IDE harddrive
my motherboard is an Nvidia NForce2 MCP

 

[Alcoholik]

Also how do i change the settings (im a newb first off second i have a friend that does all this for me but he is going to be sleeping for a while so i thought i would find help here ....

 

[Harvey]

Western Digital jumper settings. Try the Single (Standard Installation) setting for one drive. The "Neutral Position" setting is actually the same because the jumper is actually doing nothing, but it gives you a place to park the jumper.

If that doesn't work, try the Dual (Master) setting.

This info should also be somewhere on the top or bottom of your drive.

 

[Alcoholik]

Yeah it shows a picture but i dunno how to change the setting. How do i?

 

[Harvey]

This is not brain surgury. The jumper contains metal between the two contacts that short one pin to another. Pull the jumper off, and put it in the position that sets the drive the way you want it to work.