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JagedNS 0 Newbie Poster

14 Years Ago

I'm trying to get my friends PC up and running again.

I've read forum posts on this problem already. I can't solve this issue.

The PC is a Dell Dimension 4600 with an 80 gb Maxtor IDE drive.

I've tested the drive...it works in an external hard drive case on my PC so the hard drive is not bad.

I've changed the CMOS battery and have tried alternate IDE cables. All the connectors are on tight and none of the pins are bent. The PS is powering the PC fine. The BIOS is set to auto-detect the drive.

that's all I got. I have no other idea why this drive isn't being detected but it's about to go out in a snowbank along with this POS Dell. :)

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

JagedNS

troubleshoot-hardware

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Latest Post 14 Years Ago Latest Post by high heels

high heels 0 Light Poster

14 Years Ago

1. Will it detect it if you put it as a slave on the secondary IDE port with the cd as master?
2. Have you tried reading here? http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/crm/selfservice/search.jsp?DocId=168595&Hilite=
3. When you had the drive install as an external drive, did you scan it for virus / rootkits?

Sorry for the dumb questions but trying to get a feel for the issue.

I'm trying to get my friends PC up and running again.
I've read forum posts on this problem already. I can't solve this issue.
The PC is a Dell Dimension 4600 with an 80 gb Maxtor IDE drive.
I've tested the drive...it works in an external hard drive case on my PC so the hard drive is not bad.
I've changed the CMOS battery and have tried alternate IDE cables. All the connectors are on tight and none of the pins are bent. The PS is powering the PC fine. The BIOS is set to auto-detect the drive.
that's all I got. I have no other idea why this drive isn't being detected but it's about to go out in a snowbank along with this POS Dell. :)
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
JagedNS

high heels 0 Light Poster

14 Years Ago

To be honest, I think the quick fix for this is going to be reinstall it as an external drive and back up all personal data that you can. Put the drive back in as a slave and format it. Personally I hate formatting hard drives as a fix,

I'm thinking to be honest with you.....

Edit:
Remove thought as it could not be it.

Edited 14 Years Ago by high heels because: n/a

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JagedNS 0 Newbie Poster · Answer 1 · 2010-01-31T00:53:03+00:00

>>1. Will it detect it if you put it as a slave on the secondary IDE port with the cd as master?

Ok, these are good points. I set it as SLAVE on the secondary IDE with the CD rom as the primary. I altered the BIOS to reflect this etc etc. It read the CD rom as the Secondary Master Drive "AND" it now SEES the hard drive as the Secondary Slave Drive BUT it says Capacity 0 when I go into the slave drive. I never got it that far before. Interesting. Great Idea btw

>> 2. Have you tried reading here? http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/crm/selfservice/search.jsp?DocId=168595&Hilite=

I have not read this...I will.

>> 3. When you had the drive install as an external drive, did you scan it for virus / rootkits?

I did scan the drive and nothing was found. This is the first thing I suspected since friend has 2 younger kids(10 and 13) who go on all the free crap game websites.

>>Sorry for the dumb questions but trying to get a feel for the issue.

My question was the dumb one. Thank you for the response. I feel I am closer to resolution but not yet. :)

JagedNS

JagedNS 0 Newbie Poster · Answer 2 · 2010-01-31T01:04:41+00:00

hmph, I took the IDE cable out of the hard drive and powered up the PC....the drive isn't spinning up at all.

I wonder if it is a bad hard drive and it was just a fluke it read on my PC.

OR, if the Power supply is faulty...is it possible that the computer will still fire up as if it were going to boot BUT isn't working well enough to actually boot the drive?

high heels 0 Light Poster · Answer 3 · 2010-01-31T01:21:40+00:00

it is possible for the system to power up and not spin up the hard drive. This is common when drives die. try tapping on the side and see if it starts to spin. sometimes it work sometimes it does not.

As far as power supply goes I have not seen one start the main board not have the power to start a hard drive. The motherboard monitors the power and shuts down if it falls below a certain plateau

hmph, I took the IDE cable out of the hard drive and powered up the PC....the drive isn't spinning up at all.
I wonder if it is a bad hard drive and it was just a fluke it read on my PC.
OR, if the Power supply is faulty...is it possible that the computer will still fire up as if it were going to boot BUT isn't working well enough to actually boot the drive?