Can't Detect 160 GB HDD

[cardart]

Hi everyone.

I just bought the ECS K7VTA3 mobo and duron 1600mghz combo at Fry's the other day for 49.99 and I got the 160 GB WD harddrive and it cant detect the harddrive.

The WD HDD is brand new, i just got it on BF sales and havent used it.

I checked the bios for the ECS and its the latest one.

I got the jumper settings correct I think.

I have no idea if the motherboard is defective or the harddrive is defective. I have no way of testing out the harddrive. However I tried to put my old 30 gig HD in the ECS mobo and it worked fine.

Any help is appreciated.

 

[cardart]

anyone?

 

[dpm]

Well, if the MB detects a different HD (I'm guessing you used the same cable, so its not a dodgy cable), then it looks like the problem is either with the hard disk or the jumpers. Or is it an older motherboard that can't cope with a HD that bad?

 

[bluntman]

If all else fails try an IDE controller card.

 

[cardart]

THnx for the reply but its not really helping. I finnally decided to exchange for a different harddrive today at Fry's and it still doesn't work.

The jumpers are correct.
The cables are all working
The Bios is the latest release 2 months ago: ECS K7VTA3 version 8.0 C
Its UDMA 133 compatible
My motherboard detected other harddrive except this one.

Can someone please help me out

 

[StraightPipe]

sorry to pester the jumper issue, but how are they set?

some drives prefer the CS setting when they are running alone in a box, while others want no jumper or even master setting (which is usually only used when you have 2 drives in)

i would reccomend you try playing with them some more, and make sure you try at least those 3 settings, and that your drive is on the end of the cable.

if the drive is detecting as a different size than you have a different problem. (let us know)

but if the jumpers are set correctly (and the cables work and are connected) then your drive would show up, unless it's dead or not getting power.

 

[cardart]

THnx for the reply.

I tried to set the jumpers in all different combinations.

I Even tried the troubleshooting jumper setting to get the motherboard to detect the harddrive as 528MB instead of the FULL 160 GB.

I also tried to manually set the BIOS for the hardrive manually to 1023 cylinders, 16 heads, 63 sectors, and CHS mode for troubleshooting as the WD installation instruction suggested.

The harddrive should be getting power because the power connector works, and I also tried to switch in differnt ones.

Still, my system always freezes up when it say: "detecting IDE drives"

WTF? this is hella weird

 

[Don66]

Are you using the drive by itself?
If so take off the jumpers, and try it that way.

 

[billyjak]

On WD drive you should set the jumper as master if it only the only drive in the system.

 

[cardart]

yes, i tried everything.

I did took out all the jumpers.

and Even tried 2 jumpers at once.

 

[NesuD]

Try clipping the first 2 wires in the ribbon cable. This will disable the pin 1 connection. I have a 2 yr old WD drive that has this issue with some Nforce 2 boards and had it with one of the Via based Abit board a while back. WD tech support actually sent me a modified cable to correct my problem. The cable mod they did was to clip out a section of the pin 1 wires. Be careful to only cut the first 2 strands. That would be the marked pin 1 wire(usually red but sometimes just different than the rest) and the one next to it. Pin one as i understand it is a reset pin and really doesn't need to be connected. Even if it doesn't fix your issue the cable should still be fine to use with other drives. If it is the same issue I had then the fault lies in the drive. WD has a timing issue that causes the drive detection process to stall with some motherboards. They say they corrected it but I suspect that this could be a new flavor of the same issue. sounds exactly like what my drive was doing.

 

[cardart]

Okay, I just tried clipping the first 2 wires: the red one and the one right next to it.
and it still doesn't work. and I think the cable is now fvcked cuz I can't use it to detect my other harddrive. hehehe

I need to call wd support tommorow, this is frustrating!!

 

[NesuD]

you cut to many wires if it won't detect the other drive now

 

[cardart]

Naw, i think i only cut 2....

oh well hehehe, i am gonna return it to Fry's. They are really dumb, they can't tell the difference anyway