BIOS has wrong disk

Question

I installed a new hard drive today, and successfully installed Windows XP Pro on the brand new drive.  Hours later I noticed that the BIOS, even though it was set on Auto, still has the old drive has recorded as the drive model

plasmojo · Answer

I don't know what happened, but I did not finish this post.  Please allow me to post another reply which will be complete my original memo.

plasmojo · Answer

I installed a new hard drive today, and successfully installed Windows XP Pro on the brand new drive.  Hours later I noticed that the BIOS, even though it was set on Auto, still has the old drive model recorded.  Everything seems to be working, but I assume XP loaded the wrong driver as a result of the BIOS setting.  What went wrong?  What should I do to correct the situation?   I was planning to reinstall my old drive (tomorrow) in the slave position.  I didn't do it right away because I didn't want any chance of desroying the contents of the old drive.   Both drives are 40GB, the old one is a Maxtor and the new is a Seagate.  I am using line select as the jumper setting.   Thanks for any help.

plasmojo · Answer

I removed the old drive (will reinstall tomorrow).  The new drive is C: and D:  XP forced me to create partitions under 32G in order to format with FAT32.  Microsoft told me it's because I had the update version instead of the 'full' version.

plasmojo · Answer

Yes, I installed the operating system onto C:, new drive (old drive is on the ketchen table not in the computer). FAT32 because I have read that if you want dual booting, that's the way to go, and I want to leave that option open. Anyway, opinions on FAT not the point. I am wondering if it is something I should try to correct. I assume that XP installed the wrong driver because the BIOS is showing the wrong drive type. As I said, however, all seems well.

Thanks.

shesagordie · Answer

plasmojo.   What you are saying is, that the old hard drive is still the C : primary drive, what letter is the new hard drive assigned?   Bev.

shesagordie · Answer

plasmojo.   The C : hard drive or partition is always the boot drive, does the C : have the operating system.   What's the reason for not using NFTS, to me it's just a lot aggro using FAT32 with XP.   Bev.

plasmojo · Answer

In other words, the old drive wasn't even in the computer (it was on the kitchen table in bubble wrap).  Therefore I have to assume the assignment never changed, even though the primary IDE device on the BIOS setup screen was set on Auto (detect?).

shesagordie · Answer

plasmojo.   What do you mean the 'wrong drive type'?   Which model of computer is it?  The C : drive with operating system automatically becomes the primary HD.   Bev.

plasmojo · Answer

Well I have to apologize. I am relieved, because nothing is wrong after all, and I also feel like an idiot. Just for closure I'll show you what I saw, but bottom line, it's correct and not in error as I had thought it was.

On the "Dell Dimension 4100 Setup screen" (using F2 on startup to get there)

Advanced ->IDE Configuration

primary IDE Master [ST340014A]

primary IDE Slave [not installed]

I thought ST340014A was the old Maxtor drive, but it is in fact the model number of the new Seagate. Sorry about that, I didn't mean to waste your time.

plasmojo · Answer

Thanks.  I'll be right back with something close to a 'screenshot'.

shesagordie · Answer

plasmojo.   Don't worry about it, that's how we all learn and you did not waste my time.   The BIOS configuration refers to the 'Primary' IDE motherboard connector, that can have two IDE drives connected to it, in this case the 'Master' and 'Slave' hard drives.   Have a good weekend.   Bev.

Storage, Drives & Media

BIOS has wrong disk

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