Installed new HD, can't read old one.

[jlsohio]

My hard drive crashed, phone support indicated the operating system (XP Pro) was corrupt. They said I will have to reformat. However, I would like to copy some of my data from it before I format it.

Here's what I did...

First, I bought a brand new HD (serial ATA ). Installed it as the primary drive & installed XP on it. I disconnected the old one (also a serial ATA). I plugged the new drive into the motherboard where the old one was plugged in. I got the Dimension up and running & everything is fine.

Now I would like to hook the old drive back up. I plugged it into the second ATA slot on the mother board. The machine booted up just fine, but I'm not seeing the second drive?

I did not do anything with the jumpers, the manual said it was not necessary. Do I have to modify something in the bios? Did I miss a step? Or could the drive be toast?

Thanks.

jls

[Majestic]

Not quite sure what Dell model you have.  After a hardware change it is not uncommon for the information stored in the NVRAM (CMOS) to not be updated properly.  If this information isn't updated correctly then the system will have a hard time detecting all the installed hardware correctly.  Click here for a forum FAQ on the topic of clearing the NVRAM (CMOS).  Follow the directions listed for your model. 

In the event after clearing the NVRAM you get an error regarding the diskette drive on boot up and you don't have a floppy drive then just go back into the BIOS Setup.  Turn Off the option for the Diskette Drive and the error message will be gone on the next reboot.  That option can be found in the Drives sub-menu with most of the newer Dells.  The reason this occurred was that clearing the NVRAM defaulted all your BIOS options back to their factory settings. On some models this defaulting will turn on the Diskette Controller even though there is no floppy drive in the system.

[jlsohio]

I have the 8300.

[Majestic]

To clear the NVRAM on your model do this...

• Reboot system and enter the BIOS Setup by pressing F2. 
• Turn on Caps Lock, Scroll Lock and  Num Lock.
• Press ALT + E then ALT + F (should hear beep) then ALT + B

[jlsohio]

OK, I did the NVRAM technique. For some reason I lost my multi media audio controller after I did it? How do I get that back?

My bios is now setup as follows:

SATA primary drive - hard drive

SATA secondary drive - hard drive

Primary master drive - unknown device

Primary slave drive - unknown device

Secondary master drive - CD-Rom

Secondary slave drive - CD-Rom

IDE drive UDMA - on

The second drive is now there,  I ran the chkdsk utility when it booted up. All segments were unreadable.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

jls

[Majestic]

The clearing of the NVRAM defaulted all your BIOS settings which in turn enabled the integrated audio.  I'm assuming that you have a sound card installed rather than using the onboard audio.  If that is correct then simply go into the BIOS Setup and turn Off the Sound option which can be found in the Integrated Devices sub-menu.  That should restore the sound to your sound card.

If CHKDSK was unable to read the drive then it maybe dead with no hope of retrieving any data.  I'm assuming that you can not access the drive as well with Windows Explorer.

Message Edited by Majestic on 04-03-2007 07:12 AM

[Majestic]

One more thing....

"SATA primary drive - hard drive

 SATA secondary drive - hard drive

 Primary master drive - unknown device

 Primary slave drive - unknown device

 Secondary master drive - CD-Rom

 Secondary slave drive - CD-Rom"

If you do a lot of copying of CDs you might consider moving the optical ROM drive over to the Primary Master IDE port and put your optical burner on the Secondary Master port.  That should offer you some performance benefit when copying CDs and it will only cost you another ribbon cable. 

If you chose not to go this route then you should go in and turn Off the Primary Drive 0 & 1 IDE ports.

[jlsohio]

OK, Thanks Majestic on the cd drive tip.

As far as my hard drive goes, I ran a Linux (Knoppix) CD from my drive & was able to mount my old hd. I then burned all the files using the Linux CD software. Worked like a charm.

My last issue is,  the audio controller driver is missing since I reset the bios. I have an Audigy2 sound card. I inserted the Soundblaster CD with the driver on it, but the PC can't find it? I even pointed it to the drive, but the PC is going to the 3.5" floppy looking for it?

Thanks for all your help.

jls

[Majestic]

Regarding the audio, did you check to see the integrated audio was disabled? 

With the integrated audio disabled, what I would do is uninstall the sound card in Windows Device Manager and then let the system redetect the card on the next reboot.  You should be able to reinstall the driver then if it is requested.

Message Edited by Majestic on 04-05-2007 01:39 PM