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mabuhass

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2nd hard-drive on secondary IDE not detected

Okay, I am in the process of installing a new hard drive. So replaced the old one with the new one, set it to master, etc. I leave my cd-rom drive as a slave as it was before. Now I put my old hard drive on the secondary IDE as a master. Then I ran the BIOS setup. Now, the problem comes. BIOS detected my new hard drive and cd-rom fine. BUT.... couldn't detect my old hard drive on the secondary IDE. Why and how do I fix this problem?
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ckayter

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rmarotta

Using the configuration you have described, set the secondary IDE controller "active" in your CMOS setup.
Let me know if you need help with it.
Regards,
Ralph
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Thank you, ckayter, for your respond. But I'm afraid I've tried that option only to face new problem that is my cd-rom drive couldn't  be set up when it is on the secondary controller. Come to think of it, may be my secondary controller or the cable interface is defective... but it worked fine before.
More respond please.   :)
mohd.
You might test the secondary controller by disconnecting the cable from the primary controller and placing it on the secondary controller. If it can't see any hard drive (incl. your new one), then you'll know it's the controller. Using the same cable as the one you use on the Primary Controller would rule out the cable...

Colleen


Good idea colleen! I might just try that.   :)
Mohd.
Did you check that CMOS setup yet?
Two thumbs up for Colleen!
I don't know why but BIOS detected both drives perfectly. May be part of the cable is defective. I might have used the defective part... When I switched the primary and secondary cables... zap! it worked! It is actually very simple... isn't it?
Thanks a lot.
Mohd.
Thanks Ralph, I have it running now. Anyway... if in case I face this problem again in the future, GOD FORBID, tell me how you set up the 2ndary controller ACTIVE? I did check it out but couldn't figure out how?
Mohd
Mohd,
The option should be listed on one of the BIOS setup pages that you can access at startup.

On many computers, the setup screen has an option to disable one or both of the on-board IDE controllers.  Perhaps yours does not.

The symptoms you described seemed to point in that direction to me, though.

Cables & connectors occasionally fail, too, and I'm happy you got it resolved.

One other point....
Some controllers don't permit booting from the secondary IDE port.  So it might not be a fool-proof controller test if the computer fails to boot from a drive connected there.

Best regards to you & Colleen,
Ralph