my computer wont detect my harddrive, even at boot up.

unknown8585

Member
Feb 27, 2001
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i'm trying to install a new harddrive into my computer. prior to this, everything was detecting perfectly. however, ever since i've been trying to install my new harddrive, the computer won't detect it at boot up! i'm trying to make this my master. i have set all the jumpers correctly. i have unplugged and replugged everything at least twice. the wierd part is that the computer will detect my dvd rom and my cd burner. it just won't detect any harddrives. anyone know what it could be?
 

AndyHui

Administrator Emeritus<br>Elite Member<br>AT FAQ M
Oct 9, 1999
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Make sure that the IDE devices in your BIOS are set to AUTO and not NONE.

Also make sure that one device is slave and one device is master on each cable. Sometimes I forget and accidentally set both devices to slave...:p
 

Loricariidae

Senior member
Oct 22, 2001
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If what FAQ-Master Hui suggests doesn't work, check to ensure that your primary IDE channel is enabled in the BIOS.
 

Mavrick007

Diamond Member
Dec 19, 2001
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How big is your new hard drive? Some older mobos have bios's that might not let your mobo detect anything over 8Gig, and some nothing over 32Gig, so if your new drive is alot larger than your last, then I would check the bios version to see what it actually supports. If you need to, you might have to flash a new bios to your mobo to get it to detect your hard drive.

It would still pick up your cdburner and dvdrom but not a large hard drive necessarily. My advise, flash a new bios, run the new hard drive as a slave, set to LBA in bios, format in windows and then use it after as a master if you want to run everything off of that.

I had a hard drive that wouldn't detect at all cause of my bios and I've had hard drives that would detect lower than they actually were cause of the bios wasn't correct. Good luck!
 

samgau

Platinum Member
Oct 11, 1999
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At the minimum set the HD to cs (cable select) and pug it in by itself on your ide1 slot... also make sure that the power connector has juice in it... I had a situation where the power connector went dead... swap it with the one used by your cd or dvd...
 

unknown8585

Member
Feb 27, 2001
187
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wow, thank you for the responses. i am currently looking for updated bios and will see if that works. i'm guessing that must be it cuz the harddrive works on my roomates computer, but not mine.