Removed Faulty Hard Disk

[meadish_sweetball]

So I finally removed my faulty hard disk (see topic http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?s=...dpost&p=712406). The problem is, now the computer gets stuck on boot up.

After showing the initial bootup screen, it goes on to show the message "Reboot and Select proper Boot device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key."

I suspect this has to do with the Master / Slave settings somehow being disrupted when I took out the faulty hard drive, but I am not sure.

Can I fix this in BIOS or do I need to physically change anything inside the machine?

Cheers

Meadish

[rio666uk]

review the changes that you have made in the bios and recheck your jumpers - i personally prefer to change IDE devices to primary channel0 for your system drive and set you slaves to slave - im not a great fan of cable select.

assuming youre using IDE - i dont think Serial ATA use jumpers do they ?????

[Tywais]

If it is the only hard disk in the computer you need to check that the jumper is set on the 'master' position on the back of the drive (if it is IDE, SATA doesn't use them). The position will be the furthest away from the power connector. If you have another drive check its' jumper position this includes the CD-ROM unless you are using SATA. When you start the computer go to the bios and see if it recognizes the drive. Should see something about the drive manufacturer and model number.

I know this is a silly question but I assume you have formatted the drive and installed XP? Make sure in the bios you select the boot order you need to point to this drive.

Edited April 21, 2006 by tywais

[meadish_sweetball]

I now have one IDE device - the DVD writer. The remaining two hard drives are SATA.

The faulty hard disk was on the same IDE cable as the DVD writer.

When I checked the faulty hard drive, I made the DVD writer primary bootup device, but I tried to change this back now... still the computer gives the same message.

About jumpers, where exactly are they located physically, and how do I change them?

(Sorry, it's the first time this happens and I only have fragmentary knowledge of the inner workings of computers.)

[Tywais]

About jumpers, where exactly are they located physically, and how do I change them?

SATA operates off independant channels so will have no jumpers to deal with. Also make sure all SATA ports are enabled in your bios.

[meadish_sweetball]

I know this is a silly question but I assume you have formatted the drive and installed XP? Make sure in the bios you select the boot order you need to point to this drive.

There are two hard disks in the machine. One disk contains the C and D drives, with XP and all installed programs. The other is for data storage and contains no installed apps.

This worked fine prior to my taking out the faulty hard disk. So if I read you correctly then, I am on the right track in that I need to change the order of the drives. Can this be done in BIOS despite the fact that the DVD writer is IDE, or do I need to change it's jumper. I think the faulty hard disk used to be primary master...

I will go into BIOS and copy what it says there about the drives detected and then be back. Thanks a lot for your help so far.

[meadish_sweetball]

Primary IDE Master: [Not Detected]

Primary IDE Slave: [LITE-ON DVDRW]

Third IDE Master: [sT380817AS]

Third IDE Slave: [Not Detected]

Fourth IDE Master: [WDC WD2500JS-00MVB]

Fourth IDE Slave: [Not Detected]

[meadish_sweetball]

Sweetness, I went to the Hard disk menu in BIOS and changed the internal order of the hard disks, making the Seagate number one and the Western Digital number two. Now Windows is booting.

Cheers

[Tywais]

I will go into BIOS and copy what it says there about the drives detected and then be back. Thanks a lot for your help so far.

So the original XP drive is still in place and the bad drive you replaced was an additional (data) drive? When you bring up the bios at the top menu you should have a "Boot" option (depending on mainboard and bios). Under this may be to selections. One to select which drives are available and another allowing you to switch the device boot order. Need to be sure that the device available that has XP on it and the boot order (1st position) match.

[rio666uk]

About jumpers, where exactly are they located physically, and how do I change them?

as tywais says - SATA devices will not have jumpers - the bios should sort out its boot device although its worth having a poke around in the bios just to check

as for jumpers - if you look at the arse end of an IDE device - next to the power socket you'll see 6 or 7 pins - probably bridged by a small plastic "jumper", theyre used for telling the device how to behave as either primary (master) or secondary (slave)

usual set up would be to have your system disc set to master and connected to IDE interface0 on the motherboard - from here you could hang another device, such as a CDRom, onto that same cable but you would use the jumper to bridge the pins that make the device a slave - theres usually a diagram on the harddrive or CD drive to show you - if no diagram look closely at the device - you should find that theyre labelled:

ma - master

sl - slave

cs - cable select

some devices will say to set as master - remove jumper all together

hope this helps

[Tywais]

I will go into BIOS and copy what it says there about the drives detected and then be back. Thanks a lot for your help so far.

So the original XP drive is still in place and the bad drive you replaced was an additional (data) drive? When you bring up the bios at the top menu you should have a "Boot" option (depending on mainboard and bios). Under this may be two selections. One to select which drives are available and another allowing you to switch the device boot order. Need to be sure that the device available that has XP on it and the boot order (1st position) match.

Edited April 21, 2006 by tywais

[Tywais]

Sweetness, I went to the Hard disk menu in BIOS and changed the internal order of the hard disks, making the Seagate number one and the Western Digital number two. Now Windows is booting.

Cheers

Great! Guess you can ignore my last post now.