Harddrive installation issue

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JeradR

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Jun 23, 2006
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I'm trying to install a 2nd 80GB harddrive to a Dell. I've successfully gotten the BIOS to recognize the primary master as an 80GB drive (the original one which contains the install of xp) and the primary slave as the 2nd 80GB I added. However when I boot the machine, it posts, and right before it should begin loading Windows I just get a blinking cursor. I've let it sit there for 5 minutes now with no changes. However I hear the harddrives spinning (I think) and the fan keeps turning on so it must be doing something. Any ideas?
 
Did you check the jumpers on the hard drives?

The should both be set to cable select if possible.

If it does not support cable select then you should set your existing hard drive to master and the new hard drive you added to slave.
 
I tried both CS and master/slave. In both instances the BIOS detects the harddrives correctly but I just get that blinking cursor.
 
Did you check the boot order in your BIOS?

If for some reason it was set to the boot the secondary hard drive first and one never existed before it could be trying to boot the secondary drive first. (If that makes sense).
 
Soldur said:
Did you check the boot order in your BIOS?

If for some reason it was set to the boot the secondary hard drive first and one never existed before it could be trying to boot the secondary drive first. (If that makes sense).
Click to expand...

agreed, it is most likely the problem.

This may also help:
Some drives have options to be master with no slave and master with slave.
Be sure to make sure the master drive is set to master with slave if they are on the same cable.

If you still get no luck, I have come across drives that simply refuse to work together on the same cable.
If both are on the same cable, put them on separate cables.
Make sure any master drive that has a setting for master with slave is set to master without slave (unless you have a DVD drive as the slave, in which case set to master with slave).

Its worth trying another IDE cable, I have thrown away many IDE cables that sometimes create bad connections on one connector or more causing drives not to detect, Windows crashes and other drive failures.
 
I set it to master and removed the original hard drive. Now it seems to be working, however when I boot up the machine it hangs at a cursor, when I press something on the keyboard that seems to trigger the cd-rom drive. It sits at a blank screen for a bit (no more blinking cursor) and then with the Windows XP CD in displays the "Setup is looking at your hardware configuration, blah blah blah" and then goes to a blank screen for a bit. After that it brings up the copying Setup files screen and detects the harddrive and everything. What gives?
 
Your boot order is set so it will try and boot from CD/DVD before it tries the hard disk.
If you have a bootable disk in the CD/DVD drive, it will boot from it.

You can either remove the disk from the CD/DVD drive or change the boot order in the CMOS so hard disk appears before the CD/DVD drive.
 
also, there are no options in this Dell bios as to which harddrive to boot from. You just get to choose whether Harddrive, CD-Rom, Diskette.
 
You dont need to worry about the hard disk boot order if you make sure the drive you want to boot from is on the Primary IDE cable as master.
 
Well 2 cd-roms are also hooked up so the primary/secondary hd's are on the same cable if anything.
 
If really stuck, put one hard drive and one CD/DVD drive on each cable.
I've had more success like that with awkward drives.
 
As it is right now I only have 1 harddrive hooked up, and then a dvd/cd sharing a cable. Why would it still be hanging? The network admin just ordered a new HD because he's tired of dealing with it, but this doesn't make any sense :\
 
Sorry, I dont know what you have tried and the results so cant diagnose further.

First thing to try is no CD/DVD drives and one hard disk on each cable set to master without slave or just master.
If that works, plug the CD/DVD drives back in, setting the drives to Master + Slave if the setting exists.
Be sure that the CD drives are set to Slave not Cable Select.

I just had a thought.
If you really have got Cable Select IDE cables, you will have to use Cable select on all the drives. I rarely see those cables these days but you never know.
If there is a small hole breaking one data line inbetween the primary and secondary IDE connectors on the cable, it is a 'cable select' cable.

Cable select works by have a cut/break on the master/slave line that goes to the second connector on the cable. This makes the second connectors drive into a slave while keeping the first connector the master.
It is used instead of the Master/Slave jumpers and only tells the drive if it is a master or slave.
 
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