Problems with trying to install second hard drive

Wow. Detailed post.

How come you didn't use the new drive to set up the system to dual-boot (where you'd have a boot menu at power on so that you could choose the disk/OS you wanted)?  Probably have a good reason I'm sure....

Only way I know to alternate booting the way it appears you have it setup would be to go into BIOS and turn to "OFF" the primary drive 0 or 1 and set the drive you wish to boot to to "auto".  That might very well do it, but it's kind of a hassle.

Hope I didn't misunderstand.....

Thanks for replying!

I don't really know what you mean by setting it up to dual boot, but I will try to turn off the older drive as you say. I have seen that feature in the setup menu. It's why I know the BIOS sees my new drive in there. Do you know why the old drive is still c: and my new drive e: no matter how their connected? Plus what does it actually mean to have one as a master and the other as a slave. how you use them on a daily basis?

Sorry about the detailed post. It was confusing me and I wanted to "try" and make my problem as clear as possible.

I'll let you know how I get on!

Ok, here's where I'm at.

I connected my new drive as master and my old drive as slave. I turned off the old drive in the setup menu. This cured my drive lettering thing. New drive is c: and old is d:

I installed windows XP to the new drive and again it never asked for my product key or activation. I still can't install the drivers for my graphics card. I get the error ATI failed to run installation (0x80040707) Norton wouldn't install client something {again} and won't turn on auto protect and e-mail protection.

I had changed the graphics card since I first purchased the D4550. {it was only 16mb ATI Rage pro 128} I changed it to a 128mb Radeon 9700 Pro sometime ago} Could this somehow have something to do with why windows won't install the drivers? Should I again re-install windows using my old graphics card first then upgrade the card again?

I turned the old drive back on then restarted, but the BIOS boot menu still doesn't offer two drives to boot up from, only drive c: is listed {now my new one}. How can I boot from the slave without putting it back as master? Could the old drive that came from Dell be set as master only, even though they use cable select drives. It only has one pin on the jumpers.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Message Edited by Trace T on 03-12-2004 11:36 AM

Tracy T

Because of the Norton problem, you may wish to use the old OS as you may not be protected.

Concerning the drive lettering, drive letters are assigned by next available, A to Z. This is why the new drive was being seen as E (your DVD was D). From your last post you now have the new drive (80G) on the end of the ribbon cable C:\, the old drive (30G) on the middle connector being seen as D:\ and if you check in "My Computer" I would guess your DVD drive is now lettered E:\. In setup did you turn off, then on "secondary drive 0"? This would explain the change in lettering.

In setup you are seeing two IDE channels, primary and secondary. Your HDD are connected to the primary channel, "drive0" is the end connector and "drive1" is the middle connector. Your DVD is connected to the secondary channel end connector "drive0".

To get a choice of which drive to boot from, if XP is indeed on each, try Start>Run>"msconfig">OK. Select the "BOOT.INI" tab then "Check all boot paths". When you restart, you should have a choice. These will be two "Microsoft Windows XP Home", one for each drive. I am not sure if you want a dual boot, and why/what you want as an end setup.

Marc

Message Edited by MSL on 03-12-2004 01:51 PM

Message Edited by MSL on 03-13-2004 12:13 AM

Thanks MSL for clearing that up that lettering thing for me. It now makes sense.

I only have windows XP, but I don't think it installed properly on the new drive as it won't recognise my graphics card and won't let me install the drivers for it, nor did it ask for my product key. Maybe I should post the OS questions on another board.

I installed a second hard drive as I was running out of disc space. I will try to run the command you gave me to get a choice of boot drive.

Thankyou for your time.

Message Edited by Trace T on 03-12-2004 11:12 PM

Tracy T

There is an error in my first post and it has been corrected. The secondary channel end connector for your DVD is "secondary drive0" the middle connector is "secondary drive1". Sorry, I was on my way to work and did not take the time to proof read my post.

I recently added a 160GB HDD, installed a copy of my XP Pro, then did a clean install on the original 80GB HDD. I was never asked for the product key, and my name was already entered during both installations.

The graphic card, Norton, and OS installation may be seperate issues.

Before reinstalling the OS, have you tried System File Cheker? (Start>Run>enter "cmd" (without the quotes). In the command screen enter "SFC /scannow" (without the quotes) note the space before"/", you may be prompted for the disk, if the blue installation screen opens, close it. There will be another window, let it complete. This checks the OS for file errors and replaces them if needed.

Your error (0x80040707) may have to do with a installation wizard problem. I have the same graphics card and there has been a number of driver updates for the ATI9700, available from M$ Update, in the past couple of months. Have you checked in device manager(Start>Rt Click "MyComputer">Properties>Hardware>Device Manager>expand "Display Adapters">Rt Click "Raedeon 9700" and select "Properties">"Driver" tab>"Driver Details") to see what driver is installed for the card? Where are you downloading the driver from? Are you removing the current driver and then installing the new driver? See this and follow "Catalyst Driver".

To Norton, have you tried to uninstall your product version and reinstall? Use the instructions here for your specific product.

Thanks for answering the "Why". Now the "What", 80G as the default drive?, 30G for backup/storage?, a copy of OS on each drive?, are you going to partition?

Marc

Message Edited by MSL on 03-13-2004 12:12 AM

Thanks Marc

I want to install the OS on my new drive {properly} and then I considered copying all my stuff over but this isn't recommended. Could I leave my stuff on the old drive and run it from there without having to boot from it first as the drive is OK, I was only running out of disc space! Is it better to re-install it all on the new drive. This would take me ages. I would then probably format the old drive and use it for data storage and backups.

Why would I want to partition the drive ,what's it all about, what would I gain from doing so?

Did you mean run file system checker on the OS install disc?

According to DELL Windows doesn't recognise 128mb cards by default, but I couldn't install the drivers from my install disc or from the DELL disc without getting the same error. My Norton antivirus came from DELL on one of their disc's.

I'm sure several steps were missed out during the install process according to install guides I've read. { I was asked to enter my own name during install} The standby option is no longer lit, activate windows isn't where it should be. I thought you had to enter your product key to verify the copy or it will stop working after 30 days.

Many thanks for your help again you've cleared several things up for me already!

Message Edited by Trace T on 03-13-2004 09:45 AM

Tracy T,

Did you mean run file system checker on the OS install disc?
Yes, run SFC as in my previous post. Have the OS CD ready just in case. Be sure this is your newly installed OS (the one on the 80G HDD C Drive). I set no records in typing speed, I'm working on the rest of your post.

Marc

Tracy T,

Before copying over your old drive, lets get the new drive up and running and setup the best way for you.(We don't know the best way yet)

There are many reasons for partitioning. Separate the OS and Programs from data (then ghost over the OS and Programs to a separate partition in case the operating OS crashes). Once the data is seperate you can make data backups, in case one hard drive fails you have copies on the second hard drive. Dual OS's if you wish to have XP and say Windows 98 for older programs. Reading material here and here.

Follow the link for the ATI drivers in my previous post then go to Windows Update, scan your computer, you should have updated drivers available for the ATI card.

I used install guides from The Elder Geek, with the install on a new hard drive or the clean install on the old hard drive I was never asked for activation. My name and numbers were already completed at that step.
Marc

Thanks again for all your advice Marc.

I can confirm I'm up and running with XP installed on my new drive and my graphics card and antivirus fully working!

I chose not to partition at this time because I honestly didn't feel confident to do so. I don't fully understand the concept it is above me at present. I believe I shouldn't take something on board if I don't know what I'm doing.

What I liked to know next is, how does the average person use two installed HDD's? {I now have XP on both my HDD's}

Do I need to move everything over to my new drive and re-format the old one or can I run my stuff from my old drive as it is? I have a lot of games on my old drive.

Thanks once again!