Problems installing IBM Deskstar 75GXP

[MoneyDontMatter]

I just got my IBM Deskstar 75GXP 45GB Retail today. I installed it and set everything to auto in the CMOS. It wouldn't detect. I tried all the same settings and cables with my old hard drive and it works perfectly. Any ideas on what I may be doing wrong? Do any of you have any special tips on installing this drive. I have installed many hard drives before, but it's been a while, especially installing a new drive into an old computer.

 

[PliotronX]

A common error is misaligning the red side of the ribbon with pin 1.. have you checked this? What kind of mobo are you running? Is your old drive set to slave and the GXP set to master?

 

[Trader05]

make sure to update your bios so it can read the 45gbs

 

[MoneyDontMatter]

The red side fo the pin is on pin 1, I believe. It is facing the power. I have made this mistake before and this is the trick I was taught. It works installed this way on my old hard drive. I tried using 2 drives at first, but to avoid possible conflicts, I am currently running it with only one drive set to master. I am running an old mobo by a brand called DTK. It has a 440LX chipset. I went to go update the bios, but I can't find the manufacturer's website. Is there another way to update the bios? When I was installing the power cable, the connector on the hard drive it was going into seemed to move a little more than I am comfortable with. Is something wrong? I was gentle with it at first, but the second time, I made sure it was securely installed. Could something have gone wrong? Could the drive just be defective? I have heard this drive is very quiet. Either it is close to silent or it isn't getting power. This is my best guess. What do you think?

 

[bacillus]

while it seems to go against the grain, I've heard of some reports of trouble installing the gxp 75 if you don't use an ata66 cable even though technically it's backwards compatible!

 

[Pardus]

i have 3 of them drives, and one is on a old p2-266 box with a ata/33 cable. older mb's dont support drives higher than 20gig's. Trader05 advise is good advise.

 

[DaddyG]

Moneyman, Look at all the jumpers on your hard-drive. I'm pretty sure that there should be one descibed as 'Limited Cylinder' mode . This will restrict the size of the hard-drive to 32 gigs which should be OK with an older BIOS.

 

[MoneyDontMatter]

I got the retail package, so I used the cable provided. This same cable works on my old hard drive. I am actually running an old p2-266. I know, I need to upgrade, but it is one part at a time for me. So, will it not recognize at all or just recognize at 20 GB? I know I have seen this in FDisk, but you just enable large disk suport or something like that and it works fine. Is this what you are talking about?
ActiveX, what size is the drive you are running in the 266?

 

[Pardus]

MoneyDontMatter, its a 30gig but i didnt mention i am using a promise ata/66 controller card. the bios on this crappy system only supports up to 8.4gig.

 

[DaddyG]

Moneyman, The large disk support in FDISK sets up the drive to use FAT32 instead of FAT16, it won't help your problem. Your old BIOS most likely only support INT13 24bits, which limits the max drive size to about 8gig. Int13 BIOS extensions added 4 more bits to the cylinder, head and sector addressing, allowing drives of about 128gig. Check out IBM's site, and possibly Maxtors, they will probably recommend that you manually enter the maximum cylinder, head and sector info for the drive. Then, you can install some software onto the drive that will simulate the BIOS13 extensions.

This is one solution, not the best. An add-in PCI controller card will support the drive at its max rated speed, and comes complete with its own BIOS, its money well spent IMHO.

 

[gaucho]

ok.. im starting to think i have a bad one here.. same problem but i cant even manually enter the cylinders, etc.. i have an Asus A7M266 ATA/100 with cable that came with MB..
is this drive bad? or is there some secrete to this thing? ive tried all sorts of different jumper settings, double and triple checked the pin 1 alignement.. AAARRRRRGGGG!!! PLEASE HELP! i've never had so many problems installing a freaking HD.. and i've built over 10 systems for people and myself..

 

[DaddyG]

Gaucho, I'm assuming that you have just a single drive on the Primary Channel of the VIA 686B controller. If you have already set the IBM drive to Master and connected it to the black connector, then leave it on the Black Connector and try setting the drive to Cable Select, sometimes this helps.

Other options would be to try a different ATA 66/100 cable.

 

[gaucho]

thanks daddy.. but after 1 hour with the IBM tech we determined the drive was bad.. it was making a God awful noise (at first i thought it was my cpu fan).. so im about to try again.. wish me luck!

 

[MoneyDontMatter]

Thanks fellas. I tried the limited cylinder thing and it works like a charm. It recognized as 32GB just like you said it would and eventually once I get my new mobo, I will be able to use the full 45GB. This thing is so fast compared to my old drive. Now I just need to set the old drive to slave. I can't get the old drive out. The thing just doesn't seem to want to come out. If I really tried, I could get it out, but I was hoping you could help me out. It is an old Maxtor 4 GB. I was thinking Maxtor may have standard jumper settings. Do any of you know what the slave setting is on Maxtors or where I could find this info?

 

[gaucho]

SUCCESSS!! the new drive went in without a hitch.. win2k pro already installed! now to work on that multiplier..

 

[uncouth]

Has anyone had any success using the Maxtor MaxBlast Software? I have been unsuccessfully trying to get my 60 giger to install although my MB has a 32 gig limit. Any hints for me?

 

[MoneyDontMatter]

Thanks guys. I found the info on Maxtor's website and it worked like a charm. Thanks for all of your help.