BIOS won't detect HD

[P2Mc28]

I've got an old system than I'm fixing up and trying to get running. Been shuffling around components between a few systems I have. Well everything is now up and running, except this last system.

When it boots up, it detects just the optical drives. It then boots from the WinXP cd, and the WinXP setup detects the harddrive with no issues. It does it's thing, restarts, and bam, BIOS doesn't find the drive during startup and I'm once again welcomed by the WinXP install screen.

I've tried formatting both FAT32/NTFS because that was the only thing I could think of. I've had this drive running in this system before too, as I used it to pull off backup data from the previous drive that it was running. However I'm not sure if BIOS was detecting it then, since the system had an OS and was starting fine anyway.

Anyone have something to suggest? It's been a rather annoying problem. One thing I think I'll try next is install the drive in a different system, see if the XP install finishes... ah but then if BIOS never sees the drive then that won't matter either. Would manually setting the HD in BIOS do the trick? I've got no idea how to go about that one tho.

 

[Dizzymon]

If it's absolutely old as dirt you might need to load some special software onto the boot sector to find it if it's really ancient.

 

[boomerang]

I believe you've got a jumper and/or cabling issue. Older drives can be finicky about jumper settings. I've found the labels to be wrong or unable to be correctly comprehended. In those cases, I've turned to the manufacturers site.

Also, make sure the ribbon cable is correctly connected. Older cables sometimes have a notch cut out of the ribbon itself near the end to be connected to the motherboard. (blue connector) With this type I suggest making sure if the drive is connected to the gray connector that it's jumpered as Slave, or if connected to the black connector that it's jumpered as Master.

These cable with the notch are still out there. I have one in front of me right now.

Get the drive correctly and quickly identified by the BIOS before installing your OS. The motherboard would have to be truly ancient to need manual configuration of the drive in the BIOS.

What board and HD you're dealing with could be helpful for us to know.

 

[P2Mc28]

Alright, the jumper settings sounds like it makes the most sense. The unfortunate thing is I've got no jumpers on hand to test it atm (I *know* I have some SOMEWHERE, you don't build all your own systems without accumulating some).

The motherboard is whatever is in an eMachines T4160. It came w/ XP installed so it couldn't possibly be that old. This machine was donated to my brother when his friend got a new computer. So I don't think it's so old it needs any special treatment. I think I just need to find me some jumpers.

 

[RebateMonger]

There might be an unused jumper on your motherboard somewhere. The Clear CMOS jumper usually doesn't do anything and usually has a jumper attached to pings 1-2 in case you need it. You can also pull a jumper from another hard drive or motherboard temporarily.

 

[P2Mc28]

Success! I dug out one of my motherboard boxes and found a generous helping of jumpers. Slapped one on onto the drive and BAM! Problem solved. Thanks Boomerang!

 

[boomerang]

You're welcome! Thanks for posting back with the results.