[Blue_J]

Hi there, I have WinXP Home on an older desktop and am trying to install a second hard drive as the primary is only 4gb! The computer did not come with the op. system disks so I am wanting to clone the HD onto the new one. I have tried to install two different hard drives and each time I connect the new hard drive and start up I have the following problems;
　
20gb Maxtor D740X-6L : stops or hangs at "verifying DMI Pool Data..."
　
40gb Barracuda 7200.7 / ST340014A : stops at "Detecting IDE Primary"
　
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
　
Note: when installing the 20gb hd the system tells me that the CD/DVD drive = secondary
Also Note: that should I need to make changes to the CMOS Setup it is password protected and I do not have the password.

[Elvandil]

Please use a normal-sized font.

Check the jumpers on both drives on that cable.

[iKarnt]

wow. Have you tried blowing the dust off it yet? *Jokes*

The trick here is the IDE cable, the jumpers (as elbandil) suggests and bios.

Primary IDE with the CD rom as a slave, Secondary IDE with additional HDD.
Jumpers should be set on both HDD as "Master" and the CD rom as "Slave"

Under bios all drives should detect as normal before attempting to boot into windows or whatever, if they do not, then fiddle with it more.

Good luck....

[Elvandil]

Since you can't change anything in BIOS, you can hope that all drives are set to "Auto", and they may be.

Some drives have a different jumper configuration depending on whether they are alone on the cable or have another drive. So you need to check both drives and not just the one you are connecting.

[Blue_J]

Ha Ha... yes I know what you mean, its an oldie alright, amazing it actually runs XP ... still useful though if your'e just on dial-up!

Yes it currently has the 4gb running in the machine and trying to attach a new hd (trying the 20gb or the 40gb, one at a time... with the differing results that ive mentioned above.

um, guys, you will have to explain what a "jumper" is to me. I understand the IDE cable and I have a few clues as to how to bypass the BIOS password - although not sure what to do once I get in to it...

[Megabite]

Check this out

[Blue_J]

Thanks! I see it... but what do I do with it ???? Is it a switch or do I connect something to it???
Sorry, have never done this before

[Elvandil]

There will be a map on the drive that will show how to set the jumper. Look at the one that is already set. How is that one set? Is it master, slave, master without slave, CS (cable-select) or what?

[Blue_J]

Where do I look? Is that the black boot up screen with the white writing at start-up before it gets to windows?

[Elvandil]

Look at the drive.

[Blue_J]

??? do you mean there should be a drawing on the hard-drive that I am trying to install????? blank blank blank sorry

[Elvandil]

Yes. There is a map of the jumpers.

[Blue_J]

Got it!!!! Thanks Elvandil : ) Found the diagram you were referring to, removed the little plug (jumper) on both and connected them up... they both work perfectly! Thanks Tech Support... your'e fantastic!!!!!

We can mark this one Solved : )

[Elvandil]

Good work. Thanks for following up.