valvoj
asked on
HDD: "Device not ready"
Hi,
I was given a PC without a HD installed. There was one it before but don't know what it was. Anyways, I installed A Western Digital HD and when booting it says "Device not ready" Is there something I need to do to get it to detect my HDD. I ran a program from floppy from Western Digital to see if it detects it and it did fine. Why isn't my system detecting it? Detailed help would be much appreciated
I was given a PC without a HD installed. There was one it before but don't know what it was. Anyways, I installed A Western Digital HD and when booting it says "Device not ready" Is there something I need to do to get it to detect my HDD. I ran a program from floppy from Western Digital to see if it detects it and it did fine. Why isn't my system detecting it? Detailed help would be much appreciated
The hard drive you got most likely had nothing on it, so it isn't ready to be used "as is" as a boot device. There are some standard steps you need to take to get the drive into a useful state.
1. Use the CMOS setup program to make sure the BIOS properly "sees" the drive. (Ask if you need instructions on how to do this.)
2. Decide how you are going to partition (divide up) the hard drive. There are lots of factors that influence the decision, but I think it's useful right now just to focus on the purely technical ones. Partition size is affected by the operating system you are going to install and how big your drive actually is. (Please give us answers to these questions so we can give specific advice on what to do.)
3. Run the Windows 95 or 98 install program, which will help you partition your drive, get it ready to be used (formatted), and get the operating system installed on the drive. (Some people, who really know what they are doing, will get the partitioning and formatting done before installing the operating system. It isn't necessary if you have a brand new drive.)
1. Use the CMOS setup program to make sure the BIOS properly "sees" the drive. (Ask if you need instructions on how to do this.)
2. Decide how you are going to partition (divide up) the hard drive. There are lots of factors that influence the decision, but I think it's useful right now just to focus on the purely technical ones. Partition size is affected by the operating system you are going to install and how big your drive actually is. (Please give us answers to these questions so we can give specific advice on what to do.)
3. Run the Windows 95 or 98 install program, which will help you partition your drive, get it ready to be used (formatted), and get the operating system installed on the drive. (Some people, who really know what they are doing, will get the partitioning and formatting done before installing the operating system. It isn't necessary if you have a brand new drive.)
I assume that you still have the original hardware booklet? if not check out this url..
ftp://ftp.pc.ibm.com/pub/pccbbs/aptiva/p76h6303.pdf
... It is the hardware book for your machine, check out page 98... It details changing the adapter. According to the manual if there is a on board adapter it should automatically disable when another adapter is installed.
ftp://ftp.pc.ibm.com/pub/pccbbs/aptiva/p76h6303.pdf
... It is the hardware book for your machine, check out page 98... It details changing the adapter. According to the manual if there is a on board adapter it should automatically disable when another adapter is installed.
Sorry about my previous note, wasn't looking at the right question.
.... But in regards to your problem..
I agree with RayT333, sounds more like the drive is ok but isn't mark "Active" in FDISK, from your boot disk run the FDISK utility and make sure the drive is the ACTIVE partition.. Otherwise it will not act as a boot device.
.... But in regards to your problem..
I agree with RayT333, sounds more like the drive is ok but isn't mark "Active" in FDISK, from your boot disk run the FDISK utility and make sure the drive is the ACTIVE partition.. Otherwise it will not act as a boot device.
ASKER
Thanks for all the input so far. When I run fdisk from my startup disk, it says there are no hard disks present. BPARNES, what do I need to do to make BIOS see my hard drive. I'm new at installing hard drives. By the way, I don't have software or books for the hard drive. Thanks.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
ASKER
thanks everyone for the great help!! It is finally working and being detected. You guys are great!
<smile>
Then fromat the partition (format C: /S)