Why is slave harddrive not letting system boot?

[n64man120]

I'm formatting a friend's computer, and its a Gateway so of course It'll be retarted. It refuses to format with the WinXP disk and always freezes at 0%, and quick format gives sum other error about not being able to write setup files or anything. So first off for that, any suggestions? To continue I tried hooking up the Gateway's HD to my rig as a slave drive. Everything is recognized fine and it shows the winXP loading logo... then the screen just goes black and nothing happens. If I take out the slave drive then it boots fine. Any ideas on the original problem or how to solve what is occuring now?

[133]

try this, it worked for me

put his HDD in your computer as a slave, open my computer, right-click his drive, and format

then put it back in his computer and you have a blank HDD and can do a fresh install.

[paymepunk]

also consider trading out the ide cable, i had problems with my rom drives, and it was the IDE cable. Double check the jumper settings.

[n64man120]

133 that is what i'm trying to do. the jumpers are set to master and cable select, but like i said it shows the winxp loading screen... then instead of desktop it goes blank

[BB Gun]

If one is forced to master, force the other drive to slave with its jumpers, don't leave it on cable select.

Could it be a power issue? Whats your PSU rated?

BB

[wayne]

try taking out the the harddrive from your computer and put his harddrive in as master and format that way and see if it works

[n64man120]

If one is forced to master, force the other drive to slave with its jumpers, don't leave it on cable select.

Could it be a power issue? Whats your PSU rated?

BB

I thoguht of that, its a 350watt psu but a very old computer. I unplugged both my optical drives and tried booting it and same thing happened.

[n64man120]

try taking out the the harddrive from your computer and put his harddrive in as master and format that way and see if it works
i'll try taht thxn ;)

[defakto]

Don't, for the love of god, use cable select, some drives have issues when set as cable select, put the jumper to slave.

[BlownFuse]

Don't, for the love of god, use cable select, some drives have issues when set as cable select, put the jumper to slave.
I can't count how many times cable select has been a problem. I always set jumpers to what it should be - never use cable select.

[sc0tty8]

Never had problems EVER with cable select....

As for the gateway not allowing an install of xp, some older OEM's where not designed and will not run an os like that, example, I have an HP that they said will not run win2k, it took a bit to get it on there, but, it is on there now, I think I had to upgrade the bios, I don't remember....

As for the drive not working in your computer, set the drive to slave, and try that, if that does not work, then, try a new cable. You would be surprised at how often a cable that is new(er) and looks to be in good shape, will cause headaches like you won't belive.

[defakto]

not all drives have a problem, but some do, with cable select, besides is it so hard to set a single jumper to slave? It's not like most people swap the drive out so often they need to worry about the jumper.

[n64man120]

OK, UPDATE: I have tried every possible method possible to reformat. Tried to format through the OS, tried to put the hard drive in several diff computers, tried formatting with XP Boot disk and the Gateway Restore disk with ME on it... the drive always freezes no matter what. I'm assuming it is a lost cause unless someone has a solution. Is it possible for viruses or spyware to permenantly damage a drive?

[wayne]

is it a western digital caviar?... if so, dont use any jumpers... i learned that thru a long and hard toiling process

give us specs on everything especially the harddrives

[n64man120]

Yes it is in fact a Caviar. I tried no jumpers and it still freezes at 0% when formatting through the XP boot disk. I tried the drive in several systems with same results so specs dont really matter.

[wayne]

Yes it is in fact a Caviar. I tried no jumpers and it still freezes at 0% when formatting through the XP boot disk. I tried the drive in several systems with same results so specs dont really matter.
if its a caviar and you're using it as a single drive, you cannot have a jumper... i dont know your current setup so just put it in your computer as a single drive wihtout jumpers and see if that works

[n64man120]

I tried single drive without jumper and it didnt work. Props to gateway they shipped it with jumper on CS

[wayne]

I tried single drive without jumper and it didnt work. Props to gateway they shipped it with jumper on CS
gateway sucks anyways, lol

i dont know then, sorry

[Philip]

Put that HDD in as a single drive and boot from the floopy and run the MFG's diagonstic disk. I bet you find it bad.

[n64man120]

no disk... w/e 4get it

[Sarge]

Download the Western Digital Data Lifeguard Tools (http://support.wdc.com/download/index.asp#dlgtools) and do a format with it. Also write zero's to the drive. You don't need to write the whole drive, just a few minutes to wipe out the MBR.

[n64man120]

Thanks I wish I could have tried that. I already returned it to my friend and said "let gateway bother with it" lol

[wayne]

Thanks I wish I could have tried that. I already returned it to my friend and said "let gateway bother with it" lol
not the best solution..but it works :D