Optiplex GX1 Hard Drive Problems

Question

Hi, I have a Optiplex GX1 running Windows NT 4 workstation and I have just put in a second HD and rebooted.   The system will not recongise either of them. I have run the disk wizard for the second hard drive and it goes ok, then I go to start and it says   Hard Disk 0 failure or something along those lines, i click F1 to continue and it says there is no OS installed.   I put the Windows XP Professional CD in to install it and after about 3 hours it comes up and says the partition is not recognisable be Windows XP.   Now I can't use the PC at all.   Help???

peterfelgate_ce40d3 · Answer

The second disk MUST be jumpered for cable select to be recognised (not master or slave) as must th eexisting disk.  Then make sure the tweo disks are set to AUTO in the bios.  Finally, make sure the processor speed is set to normal and not compatible in the bios.  XP should install in less than an hour.....

Hingis · Answer

They are both set as cable select and they both are set as Auto in the BIOS.

And they speed is set to 400mhz, which is the only other option apart from compatiable.

It seems to recognise them, but when I go to install Windows XP it says "setup was unable to format the partition the disk may be damaged"

I have tried installing it on both and neither will work

peterfelgate_ce40d3 · Answer

I suspect one disk is faulty and affecting the other on the same IDE channel.  Try one disk alone first.

speedstep · Answer

3 common problems. 1 The AME connector is NOT AN IDE CONNECTOR. 2 use 80 wire cables with new drives. 3 set all drives to cable select.

Hingis · Answer

Ok i have swaped the HD's over so the new one is the master and the old one is the slave, it works this way and I can install windows XP on the new HD, but there is still a problem with the old HD, so when Windows finished installing and it reboots an error comes up saying there is a problem with the HD 1 and you have to press F1 to continue, but the keyboard isn't responding, and I asume this is because the drivers aren't installed for this old keyboard.

What an I do?? I can't even get a bootable floppy to work with the drivers because to get that far you have to click F1

peterfelgate_ce40d3 · Answer

You need to sort out with just one drive as I am sure the original hard drive, now as the slave, is suspect.  Disconnect it.  You have a different problem with the keyboard.  Try another to verify - making sure it is inserted in the correct socket.......

speedstep · Answer

Still sounds like the old drive is BAD. OR you still refuse to set cable select and its not happy with that.

You could get a usb to IDE adaptor but I think the drive has physical damage so thats not going to help.

Hingis · Answer

I am 100% sure they are both set to cable select.

I have been able to install XP successfully now on the new hard drive and the PC is now working, but the second (the one that was originally in the PC) will not allow it self to be formated.

If I go into computer manager through the Admin Tools in control panel it says that it is healthy but every time I go to format it I get to the end and it say "unable to format drive".

This is weird because before I put the new HD in this old one was working fine with no problems??

Storage, Drives & Media

Optiplex GX1 Hard Drive Problems

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