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kftgjde

17 Posts

15821

September 27th, 2005 05:00

second hard drive detected in bios but not in windows

Os windows xp,Dimension 4600 with 80gb ata/100 hard drive originally then added a new second drive seagate ST3250823A in the slave position jumpered cable select bios set to auto, drive is recognized in bios but nowhere to be found in disk management or device manager can't continue. Thanks for the help!

kftgjde

17 Posts

September 28th, 2005 03:00

  After contacting Seagate and speaking with a tech and changing cables and cable jumpers to every possible configuration except the configuration recommended by dell which I am now back to. My 250gb ata/100 drive is showing in the bios in it's full capacity and enabled in the slave position primary but is still not found in Disk Management. The  tech came to a conclusion somehow that there was a drive capacity limitation in the bios I said how, I'm running windows xp SP2 with bios ver. A12 impossible right? The drive is bad right? Maybe I'm wrong but I can't find anything different. Thanks for all the help ladies and gentlemen!
 
Dell 4600i 2.8 ghz
80gb seagate ata ultra 100
250gb seagate ata ultra 100
1gb corsair value select 3200 400

Majestic

9.4K Posts

September 28th, 2005 12:00

From a BIOS stand point you're already using the latest BIOS version for your system.  The BIOS is recognizing the drive and about the only thing left would be to try clearing the NVRAM to rule out any conflict between the BIOS and the installed hardware.  To clear the NVRAM on your model just do the following....

  • 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 then ALT+ B

If that doesn't resolve the problem then the next thing I would try is running the Dell Diagnostics to see if the drive is detected and that the diagnostics can be performed on the new drive.

As for the operating system not detecting the drive I really don't know what to say.  The only thing I can think of is.... at one time or another you ever install the Windows XP Power Toys or TweakUI?  If you did then with TweakUI you must enable the new drive in My Computer in order to Windows XP to see it.

Majestic

9.4K Posts

September 28th, 2005 15:00

The clearing of the NVRAM not only redetected all your installed hardware, but also defaulted your BIOS settings.  That is why a floppy drive is now appearing even though you don't have one.  No problem.  Just go into your BIOS setup and set the option for the Diskette Drive to Not Installed. 
 
The Windows Power Toy that would cause the problem is the TweakUI program.  If it is installed it should be in your Control Panel folder.  At least it is in the earlier Windows versions so I suspect Windows XP will be as well.  

kftgjde

17 Posts

September 28th, 2005 15:00

Thank you Majestic,

 I performed the reset and checked Disk Management and Disk 1 was there but at closer inspection it was my printer no good. Went to my computer out of curiosity and drive C , A floppy which I don't even have somehow enabled, and removeable drive G show up. Then ran dell diagnostics as you suggested and sure enough there was the 250gb seagate ran diagnostics on it and it passed checked Disk Mangement still not there. File search shows two power toy folders 1 containing the file wmplaylistimport.xls the other folder is video screen saver powertoy. Can't figure this thing out somehow I think it's something simple any other advice would be graciously excepted. 

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