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PDXGirl

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PDXGirl

38 Posts

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January 6th, 2007 05:00

Installing a second drive

Hi, hopefully somebody can help me here because Seagate offers 0% Tech Support and won't respond to anything.

I have an XPS 400 with a 300gb hardrive (that it came with) and I also installed a Seagate 320gb hardrive. About a month ago the additional Seagate hardrive died so I sent it back and got a replacement drive.

With the new hardrive, my machine isn't detecting it. When I installed the same brand and model hardrive on this XPS 400 before, installation was a snap, but now, I don't know what's wrong.

I have connected the hardrive to the SATA-1 and also SATA-3 (separate times), turned on through BIOS and is still undetected. I have replaced the SATA cable to see if that's what it was, no problem with that. If I disconnect the drive and keep it turned on in BIOS, it says it's missing, so somewhat the computer knows.

I've tried installing through diskwizard software that came with Seagate and it only sees the media drives, not the new hardrive.

However, in Device Manager, it can be seen (starts with ST)
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n195/sxechic/drive-1.jpg

But it's not detected in Computer Management
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n195/sxechic/diskmanagement.jpg

Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong?
  • scott31337

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    Posted January 6th, 2007 06:00

    If it is detecting in the BIOS and in Device Manager, it must be software related. First thing I would recommend is going to the dell support website, updating the bios and the Intel Chipset drivers. Then after that, hit F12 at the Dell Screen and run Hard Drive/IDE Diagnostics - see if it passes/picks up both drives there, if yes, then its a Windows Issue, and not hardware...
  • PDXGirl

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    Posted January 6th, 2007 10:00

    Thank you for your help. I ran it through diagnostics and the drive did indeed pass. Does this mean I have software that is keeping it from installing or how do I find out the problem? Should I reboot with only windows programs working and use diskwizard to see if it might install? I'm not sure how to go about this.
  • gdwrnch3

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    Posted January 6th, 2007 16:00

    Is the power cable good?
    maybe try and unplug and replug your power cable, make sure it is seated good?
    Disk management should see it.
     
  • PDXGirl

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    Posted January 7th, 2007 09:00

    I'm not sure, it's difficult to tell. If they power cord is bad, would the diagnostics still pass the drive? The cable is seated in there nice and snug but it's difficult to determine anything since they all the cables go down a metal tube like chamber. I don't know how to explain it.
  • gdwrnch3

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    Posted January 7th, 2007 15:00

    Very good point about scrolling down Tim!
  • Timdrouilard

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    Posted January 7th, 2007 15:00

    Stupid question time...
     
    In the photo of Disk Management, it looks like there's room to scroll down a bit? Is there anything shown below where it shows the CD drive?
     
    Also, here is a really remote possibilty. Your Seagate drive appers to be a newer SATA II drive capable of the higher transfer speeds of SATA II.
     
    I have heard reports of rare problems with connecting some SATA II drives in systems that only support the older SATA I interface. In those cases, they mentioned having to install a jumper on the drive to force it to run in the older SATA I mode.
     
    Can't hurt to try it, here's a link to show the jumper in question...
     
     
     
    Another question would be, is your Windows XP up to date with all the latest Microsoft patches??
  • PDXGirl

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    Posted January 8th, 2007 13:00

    Yes the jumper is removed like it's supposed to be for optimal performance. Here's a screencap of the rest of computer management.

    http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n195/sxechic/computermanagement2.jpg

    What's strange is this exact drive, same model # was installed on this system before just fine but once it quit and I had to send it back for warranty and got another one sent to me, it doesn't register. I haven't changed like operating systems or anything and the XPS 400 was made in the beginning of July. The last windows update I allowed was a Windows Media player one, which messed up my player so I reinstalled that but I haven't updated anything since. So I think I have all the updated patches. I checked the site a couple days ago and there aren't any critical updates and the only ones available are software I don't have related.
  • Timdrouilard

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    Posted January 8th, 2007 14:00

    OK, the jumpers not currently installed.
     
    as I mentioned, the problem I've heard about entails installing the jumper to force the drive to run in the SATA I mode.
     
    Just for the heck of it, power down the system, install the jumper , and re-boot the system.
     
    It's a long shot admittedly, but what the heck...
  • gdwrnch3

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    Posted January 8th, 2007 14:00

    That is very strange. The only other suggestion is to reboot,  go into setup screen, and turn on all your sata channels, esc, save and exit, when it reboots, see if the drive is in disk management. Then you can go back into your bios and turn off the unused channels. If that doesn't work, go back to the segate site here:
    And run the seagate SeaTools and see if that detects any problems.
    Wish I could be more help, I know how frustrating this can be.
    Good luck,
    jd
  • gdwrnch3

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    Posted January 8th, 2007 16:00

    Tim, thats interesting for shure. I don't recall seeing them on my western digital drives, except of course my old raptor. Is this just a seagate thing?
    jd