Having computer problems

[jmet]

Well I got my NEC 3520A today and decided to install it. Well while I was in the case I swapped hard drives out for a 80 GB I bought.

Somehow I messed things up pretty bad. The only way I can get my computer to boot up is if I put the NEC drive as Primary Master, and my DVD ROM as Primary Slave. If put my 40 gig as Primary Master, it stalls at detecting IDE channels. I thought the burner and ROM drives were suppose to be on Secondary IDE channels?

The other hard drive I want to install has all of my much needed information on it but, if I make it Secondary Slave, my computer won't boot.

Believe it or not, I am not real familar with building computers. (Hardware aspects of it anyway.)

Any suggestions?

[cynthia]

If you enter BIOS mode - what have you there as 'boot first device'

The normal order would be
1. Floppy
2. Hard disk
3. CD-ROM

[jmet]

1. Floppy
2. HDD-0
3. CD-ROM

[cynthia]

The jumpers back on the devices are they ok? Master/Slave/Cable select

[jmet]

What do you mean are they ok?

[cynthia]

Your
hard disk with windows - master or cable select
Burner - master or cable select
Reader - slave or cable select

The masters should be set on the outer part of the IDE cable - slaves in the middle of the cable.

[cynthia]

Normal way:
Hard disk with Windows - master and IDE Channel 1
Burner - master and IDE channel 2
Reader - slave and IDE channel 2

[jmet]

Let me look, be right back............maybe lol

[jmet]

I have a 40 Gig hard drive. Then I have another 40 Gig hard drive that was partioned in to two seperate drives.

If I try to hook up the second hard drive, it won't boot up.

[cynthia]

Sounds as both hard disks are set as master in the jumper settings.

[cynthia]

So basically - if you have your hard disk with windows as master on channel 1 and nothing else connected you can get it to boot?

[cynthia]

Also the IDE settings in the BIOS are they set to AUTO?

Should be three alternatives: Auto, Manual, None.

Another problem that can happen is if your partition on your hard disk is not set to active using Fdisk or the Windows "computerhandling" don't know what it's called in the english version. (The place where you can manage your hard disks) Could be named Logical Disc handling - it should be in the Microsoft management console.

There is also another setting in BIOS that could be a problem:

IDE Prefetch mode - should be set to Enabled.
Onboard IDE-1 controller - should be set to Enabled
Onboard IDE-2 controller - should be set to Enabled
Master/Slave drive PIO/Ultra DMA mode - should be set to Auto

[jmet]

Primary Master = Hard Drive
Primary Slave = None
Secondary Master = NEC 3520
Secondary Slave = Toshiba DVD ROM

If I have it with the above settigs, it works.

If I try to put my 2nd hard drive as Primary Slave, it will not boot up.

(Now it is showing my NEC as just a CD Drive. lol )

[cynthia]

Originally posted by jmet
(Now it is showing my NEC as just a CD Drive. lol )

That's normal.

Your 'new' hard disk - is that the 80Gb you didn't had installed before? Is it formatted?

And your jumper settings in the back of the hard disk are:
The old one as master
The new one as slave

If you enter BIOS mode - can you find the second hard disk there?

Is it when it's trying to launch Windows it hangs?

[jmet]

Well, I got it back to working like it was before. (Kinda)

Only thing different now that I know of, is the way the drives are listed in "My Computer" window. It used to read C:, D:, then E: as the hard drives. Then it listed my DVD-ROM, then my burner.

Now its alittle different. (Screen Shot Below)



Other screen shots below of my BIOS: