new hard drive install problem

[maginoodle]

Hi all, i just got a new 1tb sata for my htpc. I installed it a couple of days ago and have had the comp on several times without initialising the new drive. Last night i went into device manager and set the new partiton on it. While it was formatting the comp froze. I couldnt get any response from the comp except the mouse pointer would move. So i turned the comp off using the on/off switch.
I then tried to re-boot the comp. It wouldnt even get to the press f1 for set up screen or the xp bootup screen. I then switched it off again and disconnected the new drive, it then booted up fine except giving me the not found hard drive error message.
I didnt install any other hardware or software as i know it is easier to find problems if you only do one thing at a time.
The new hard drive is a WD Caviar Green SATA Hard Drive, 1 TB, SATA 3 Gb/s, 64 MB Cache. If that makes any difference.

Any help appeciated,
Cheers Shane

[CSP]

Did you set it up in the bios properly?

[Uber_Flacky]

Sounds odd.... try formatting the drive using the windows install disk. Easiest way to do it as there is nothing else to interfere with the format.

[CSP]

lol you guys need to start a low level. sort it out in the bios first ffs!

[dijm8]

try this...boot up from ur old hdd, plug the power into the new hdd b4 you boot...once ur all loaded etc plug in the sata cable into the hdd see if that can get it to show up in disk management

[CSP]

lol are you serious? you guys REALLY think INTERNAL hard drives are plug and play?

Connect it to the motherboard correctly, set it up correctly in the bios, boot the computer, initialise it in Disk management, format it, good to go.

I give up if you won't do the basic steps!

[50LTRv8]

Hi all, i just got a new 1tb sata for my htpc. I installed it a couple of days ago and have had the comp on several times without initialising the new drive. Last night i went into device manager and set the new partiton on it. While it was formatting the comp froze. I couldnt get any response from the comp except the mouse pointer would move. So i turned the comp off using the on/off switch.
I then tried to re-boot the comp. It wouldnt even get to the press f1 for set up screen or the xp bootup screen. I then switched it off again and disconnected the new drive, it then booted up fine except giving me the not found hard drive error message.
I didnt install any other hardware or software as i know it is easier to find problems if you only do one thing at a time.
The new hard drive is a WD Caviar Green SATA Hard Drive, 1 TB, SATA 3 Gb/s, 64 MB Cache. If that makes any difference.

Any help appeciated,
Cheers Shane

Just to make things a bit clearer, is this an extra drive or a replacement drive?

[50LTRv8]

lol are you serious? you guys REALLY think INTERNAL hard drives are plug and play?

Connect it to the motherboard correctly, set it up correctly in the bios, boot the computer, initialise it in Disk management, format it, good to go.

I give up if you won't do the basic steps!

He was in device manager trying to put a partition on the drive, that to me says the the BIOS is reading the drive.

[dijm8]

yes hdd's are plug and play thers no reason why u should have to go into the bios..

[CSP]

yes hdd's are plug and play thers no reason why u should have to go into the bios..

LOL!!!! Riiiiiiight....

[maginoodle]

try this...boot up from ur old hdd, plug the power into the new hdd b4 you boot...once ur all loaded etc plug in the sata cable into the hdd see if that can get it to show up in disk management

i was always told not to move plugs etc while the comp is on.

I have to side with csp on this one. As it is a new drive that is not replacing an old one i had to enable the sata port that i connected it to to allow the comp to find the drive.

Will try hooking it up as the primary drive and loading xp onto it just so it gets formatted. Then i will put it back to the port its in now and see if that fixes it. Then i will format it again.

Cheers Shane

[UFO]

ok, a couple of things....

1) how old is pc you are installing into, and what OS you using?
2) how old/big is your power supply, and do you have any other drives installed? when dianosing problems with new hardware components, always remove all other parts to see if they are causing issue either directly (conflict) or indirectly (too much power drain from psu).
3) is this your first sata drive? you realise it needs two plugs going into it right? sata power (and not the old power plug at same time!) and sata data.
4) got a spare sata cable to double check the one you are using isnt faulty? this can be a common problem with formatting drive. system detects it ok, but once you try sending data down the pipe it craps itself.
5) once physical drive is installed correctly, BIOS is first place to start... yes everything should be 'auto' but if for some reason a setting has been disabled, this can cause you dramas.
6) is this the boot disc or an addon? sounds like an addon as you are trying to format within windows, but please clarify.
7) if you have other drives installed on old ports... remove them and see if system detects and formats your new sata drive correctly. if it does, slowly reintroduce each drive until you repeat the issue. then yo know where the problem is.
8) download latest chipset drivers and bios update for your mainboard. sometimes the larger drive capacities play havoc with older drivers.

do/answer the above, and let us know how you go.

i recently installed a WD 2TB Cav Green and had issues with it conflicting with 3 older drives I had installed. Removed the old drives and problem sorted itself out.

Also, go to WD website and download WD's Lifeguard software and run the tests to see if drive passes them.

[maginoodle]

I think i managed to get a bad drive, i tried making it a primary drive and installing windows on it- it wouldnt boot. I then put it in an external enclosure, it wouldnt format. I tried it in another comp, it wouldnt let it boot either.
So i am hopeing that it is the drive and not something i did.

Cheers Shane

[UFO]

Run the WD lifeguard tests on it.... if its got bad sectors or doesnt do a zero read/write throughout the whole drive successfully, take it back. But try different sata cable! Very unlikely that drive is the culprit (QA on modern hard drives is actually very good).

[HarmlessMuffinMan]

Yeah WD's have a very low DOA rate. This does really sound like a cable fault. Rud the Lifeguard, or if you want you can use testharddisk from the Hirens CD. You could be one of the unlucky few who get a DOA, in which case, it might be RA time.
I would be tempted to tell you to try the Hard Disk in another computer, but I would only say that if the MB you are running it on is relativly old.
If the drive returns zero errors (And do a Read Write test, so it writes on the whole drive, much like a DOD wipe), and the cable is swaped (Try a trusted cable, like the one on your current hard drive), and if that fails... You might want to check the caps on your MB... Because it a could be a bored issue, and thats not a guess, its comeing from experiencing something very simmilar to this.

Hard Disk shows up in device manager... Why would you go into the Bios? Thats just silly :S

[edals]

yes hdd's are plug and play thers no reason why u should have to go into the bios..

Macs are Just plug and Play, Cannot believe STILL that Some PCs do require you to enable the Sata port or some shit like that, No idea why they are just not all enabled to start with.