IDE not detected??

Smiley012

Hello!

I am very much a novice and have learnt stuff from books, but I recently bought a computer to tinker around with and learn from.

So it's been fun and all that, but the 80gb HDD it came with won't seem to let me install any OS on it, for windows it says it's not a compatible partition and with ubuntu it keeps saying error.

So I decided to try and put in a 40GB HDD i had lying around, thought I hooked it up well etc and when I turned it on, all whirrs and works fine, then on the BIOS it comes to detecting IDE and it just doesnt!

I don't know whether I have connected up the wrong power cable there seems to be sooo many of them! I'm sure I got the cables right, the HDD is connected to IDE 1, and the DVD/RW to IDE2 and then I have a floppy to IDE 3.

Do you thing I may have knocked something?

I would really appreciate any responses, I am really trying to learn how to do all this!

Thanks in advance!

ethernet

Have you remembered to configure the jumpers on the drive(s) on the same IDE channel, e.g. a hard drive and DVD writer being the master and slaves drives respectively on IDE1?

irlrobins

OP has HD one one IDE cable and the DVD on the other. So both can be set as master on their respective cables. Could be a jumper issue as ethernet has said though. I'd place the HD at the end of the ide cable and either have the jumper set to cable select or master.

Quick info about jumpers: http://www.pcguide.com/byop/byop_SettingHardDriveJumpers.htm

Smiley012

ok great, when i'm home tonight I'll have a look, I really appreciate your replies guys, I'll read up on both your links now!

Also, irlrobins, free anytime next week?

irlrobins

Smiley012 wrote: »

Also, irlrobins, free anytime next week?

Eh...this sounds rather dodge. So just to be clear to everyone, I offered to help smiley with another tech issue and she's not asking me out on a date.

(And yes I am, PM me!)

Smiley012

haha, yeah oops! my apologies... anyone in doubt, refer back to 'Grannys Computer Issue'.

Thanks, will send pm!

Smiley012

Its still not working, and I don't think it's recognising my keyboard either.

It says:

Detecting IDE drives...

and then nothing, it just stays on that. Damn my lack of knowledge. Does it sound fixable? Or could I have buggered it up totally??

I sorted out the jumpers, put them all onto cable select, and still nothing.

Anyone help?

Thanks.

ethernet

Smiley012 wrote: »

Its still not working, and I don't think it's recognising my keyboard either.

It says:

Detecting IDE drives...

and then nothing, it just stays on that. Damn my lack of knowledge. Does it sound fixable? Or could I have buggered it up totally??

I sorted out the jumpers, put them all onto cable select, and still nothing.

Anyone help?

Thanks.

Have you also tried using the master-slave setup instead of cable select? Are you using 80-pin IDE cables?

Smiley012

yes and yes to answer your questions ethernet.

i believe my CMOS battery has died, and am awaiting replacements. i think that perhaps this should help my problem... otherwise its off to the tech shop for me!