Master/Slave HDDs misbehaving...

[j_cocker]

I have an oldish Medion desktop that has a dodgy hard drive (bad sectors that cannot be repaired, and hence Windows sometimes fails to start).

The machine has two hard drives. The one I am replacing is the one holding the OS (Win XP Home).

The one I am replacing is one of these: WD2000JB (HDD1)
The new one I bought is one of these: WD3200AAJB (HDD2)

The secondary (slave) HDD is one of these: (HDD3) http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.j...00000f5ee0a0aRCRD&locale=en-US&reqPage=Legacy

In the original setup both HDD1 and HDD3 had no jumpers, which makes HDD3 the slave (see above link), and hdd1 the "Single or Master" as indicated in a diagram on the HDD itself.

HDD1 is at the end of the IDE cable, HDD3 in connected to the "middle"
connector.

HDD2 has exactly the same pin/jumper diagram on it as HDD1, so I simply replace HDD1 with HDD2.

I inserted a (legit) winXP Home cd into the drive and tried to install
windows on the new HDD. However, the new (master) HDD it is not shown in the list of possible partitions, only the slave (HDD3).

I looked at the BIOS, and the new HDD2 is there as master, with HDD3 as slave.

I disconnected the slave HDD, and then managed to install winXP onto the new HDD without a problem. The machine boots into it without a problem.

I then re-connected the slave HDD, and the machine will not boot, although the BIOS still reports the correct master and slave.

I also tried without success:

- Using a brand new cable.
- both the new and the old HDDs (HDD1 and HDD2) have the same jumper diagram (see http://tinypic.com/r/jqjaeu/7). However, despite what it says in the diagram everything worked just fine with HDD1 using no jumpers at all ("single or master" mode, rather the "master w/slave" mode). I tried the new HDD (#2) in both modes, and in both cases
the machine refuses to even boot (although the BIOS thought that the master and slaves were set up correctly)...
- Verifies that the BIOS recognises both disks at their proper sizes just in
case.
- All pins look nice and straight.
- Connectors are keys, so inserted the right way around.
- To eliminate other possibilities I also re-connected the old HDD using my original setup and everything worked fine.

Any idea what is going on?

 

[rpstewart]

Does the machine have another IDE controller you can use so that the 2 HDDs are on different cables?

 

[j_cocker]

Does the machine have another IDE controller you can use so that the 2 HDDs are on different cables?

There is another one that the DVD ROM and DVD RAM are connected to.

Not sure what this will prove? Both HDDs are working ok, it is something to do with the master and slave priority I would have thought?...

 

[ns400r]

Just put jumpers on so each drive is set as you want it. Or set them to cable select and use an appropriate cable.

 

[rpstewart]

I then re-connected the slave HDD, and the machine will not boot, although the BIOS still reports the correct master and slave.

How far through the boot sequence does it get in this case?

 

[j_cocker]

How far through the boot sequence does it get in this case?

Not even starting...

It simply reports that there is no bootable drive (or something like that). I believe that it tries to boot from the slave (not bootable) as it does not see the master.

 

[malcolm]

Just put jumpers on so each drive is set as you want it. Or set them to cable select and use an appropriate cable.

Agreed, I've had the situation where a new disc would upset the Cable Select scheme, only way to fix is to fit jumpers.

 

[rpstewart]

Not even starting...

It simply reports that there is no bootable drive (or something like that). I believe that it tries to boot from the slave (not bootable) as it does not see the master.

Have you checked that the boot order is correct when both drives are connected?