HDD installation ... failed!

teutonica · Post by **teutonica** » Tue Apr 25, 2000 10:41 pm

I feel like a stupid beginner posting this here among all these much more advanced questions ... please feel free to advice me on a discussion forum for the newbies

)

Having installed several extension cards in my pc successfully, I tried to take the next step and to install an additional hdd in my pc. I have a MS-6167 mobo and one of the 1st generation Athlons (550) with 2 IDE controllers. Thing is that the current HDD is ATA-33 (primary master) and the HDD a ATA-66 (Diamond Maxtor). Installation instruction was only for adding the HDD as a master drive and I had no idea if I could connect the ATA-33 as a slave to the ATA-66 cable (or, if I could even leave my HDD as the master but being connected with the ATA-66 cable). Also, I wanted to save me the time of moving data from the old to the new HDD, so I thought I could configure the new HDD as a secondary master. Alas, I removed the cable that attached the CD-ROM from the second IDE controller, hooked up the HDD with its enclosed cable and attached the CD-ROM as the secondary slave to it.
First of all, what happened was that the HDD wasn't detected at all (and the CD-ROM as well). While I was playing around in WIN98 trying to find any hint where I could make the pc recognize the new HDD, the monitor went black, and there was a smell like something had burnt coming from the inside of the pc (I had the case open). Switching off the pc was impossible so I had to pull the plug. This happened twice, so I decided to put everything in place as it had been before the attempted installation.
This happened about 2 weeks ago and I haven't had any further problems.

I would be so grateful if anybody could tell me where the problem lies - maybe the hdd is defective or was there an overload for the power supply?

You may be wondering why I'm posting this here, admittedly, English is my second language and I prefer gathering written information before I approach Maxtor's helpline. I'm just afraid I might not understand everything they would try to convey over the phone.

So, thanks a lot in advance, guys!

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cko

Battleship · Post by **Battleship** » Wed Apr 26, 2000 1:24 pm

K, If I read your post correctly I think I can offer a couple things to try. Assuming the new hard drive is still functional after that burnt smell you encountered. You should have the 2 hard drives on the same controller. I am not familiar with that motherboard and do not know if there is a ATA66 controller and connector on the board. If there is you will want to use the ATA66 controller and the supplied ATA66 ribbon cable that came with your motherboard. You should set the new ATA66 hard drive as master and the old drive as slave to it. Let the CD have its own connector(try secondary IDE if you are using ATA66 controller for HD's) as it would slow other devices on the same cable. Make sure you watch the boot up process to see what the PC lists what storage devices it is using.

Please post back after you set up like this and tell what happens. I just hope that HD is not dead.

LikeAGlove · Post by **LikeAGlove** » Wed Apr 26, 2000 3:43 pm

WELCOME TO SPEEDGUIDE, teutonica

the problem is not Win98. it seems to be a hardware configuration issue.

here's what "should" be done, if i were you.
(n.b. the ata66 drive would be best used as your main, Win98 drive, aka C:, but if you don't want to got through the hassle of reinstalling everything, then follow this info)

(i'm assuming that everything has the correct ribbon cables and connectors and that the HDD is not defective: most likely it's fine)

1) there are JUMPERS at the back of your existing harddrive as well as cd-rom and the new harddrive. make sure they are configured properly as follows:
a) the main drive (umda33) should have the jumper in the MASTER position
b) and the CD-rom should have it in the SLAVE position
c) the new HDD should have the jumpers removed (you don't need them to operate the drive alone)

2) connect the existing drive to the Primary Master ide slot and slave the cd-rom to it.

3) connect the new HDD to the secondary master ide slot with the cables that came with it

4) boot up your computer and make sure that the drive is detected by your motherboard. if it isn't, make sure that the auto-detect for the ide slots is enabled (most likely is already) as some people diable the autodetect to save a few seconds on boot time.

5) lemme know how it goes.

6) DO NOT BE TIMID ABOUT ASKING QUESTIONS HERE: WE ARE ALL HERE TO HELP ONE ANOTHER, NO MATTER HOW TRIVIAL THE QUESTION MAY SEEM.

cheers,
glove

by the way, what language do you speek? (just curious, as i am a transplant in canada too)

teutonica · Post by **teutonica** » Thu Apr 27, 2000 11:29 am

1000 thanks for your replies so far - I'd liked to respond earlier but got stuck with another problem last night.

I won't be able to give it another try before Saturday. The only concern I have is about that funny burnt smell. I'm just afraid that everything might blow, I'm not an electricity expert at all. Since I'm running the pc since 2 weeks with the new hdd unplugged, it hasn't occurred since. What about the power supply issue - could it be that it's not able to connect so many devices? At the moment, I've got the floppy, hdd, CD-ROM and a CDRW connected to it.

The mobo has UDMA 66 support according to the manual. Question: if I make the new ATA66 hdd the master and connect the old one (ATA33) as slave, will it work being connected to the ATA66 ribbon cable?
I think I'd rather go for this option since I have info about the jumper settings for both hdds, but not for the CD-ROM, so I'll better leave it on the 2nd controller.

Glove - with some interpretion on my name - I hail from the land of the square-headed Teutons - Germany

Talk to you soon ...
Connie

LikeAGlove · Post by **LikeAGlove** » Thu Apr 27, 2000 10:53 pm

figured you were a transplant from the land of bavarian motorworks and carl zeiss lenses.

cheers. don't worry too much about the electricity part of it. unless there is something seriously wrong with your puter, there isn't much you can screwup than can cause serious damage. just don't put something in the wrong place (pun intended

).

simple philosophy to follow: 99 times out of 100, don't force anything that doesn't want to sit in a particular slot or accept an adapter. in other words, if the shoe fits... but if it doesn't, then you might be using the wrong foot!

good luck.

paul

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GO LEAFS GO!!! Lord Stanley awaits...

... the Devils can go to hell... pun intended

LikeAGlove · Post by **LikeAGlove** » Thu Apr 27, 2000 10:59 pm

by the way... your power supply is sufficient for all those devices plus at least 1 or two more. i have a cd-r, cd-rom, iomega zip, floppy and 2 HDDs on my system, and mine is older than yours. power should not be an issue (i'm 99% sure of this).

good luck.

may the ohms be with you.

glove

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____________________________________
GO LEAFS GO!!! Lord Stanley awaits...

... the Devils can go to hell... pun intended

teutonica · Post by **teutonica** » Mon May 01, 2000 12:14 am

Sorry for being so quiet ... o.k. here's the update for anyone interested. I reattempted the hdd installation by unplugging my old hdd and installing the new hdd on its own, and ... WOW ... it got detected!

But then, Maxtor hdds come with an utility disk so I ran a disk check and guess what, the hdd failed a test! Since Maxtor eventually replied to my email inquiry (after more than 10 days) and offered a replacement, I think that's what I'm going to do.
Alas, watch this space ... until the next installation!

BTW, glove, I was so focussed on this 'puter stuff that I completely forgot to ask where you are from?

Thanks to everybody here for your advice!

Connie

teutonica · Post by **teutonica** » Mon May 01, 2000 10:50 pm

Has anybody ever come across a defective power connector? Strangest thing happened last night: I reconnected my old hdd and after running a while I ended up with several blue screens of death. Checking the connections again, I noticed I had connected the hdd with another power connector than its regular one.
Interestingly though, it was that certain power connector I had used some weeks ago to connect the new hdd (see my first post on top) and where I received similar 'fatal exception' messages, too.

Any thoughts would be highly appreciated! :-)
Connie

LikeAGlove · Post by **LikeAGlove** » Tue May 02, 2000 2:21 am

not even the foggiest idea what to do.

will ask around for you.

cheers,

glove