harddrives don't get along

  • Thread starter Thread starter Gin
  • Start date Start date
G

Gin

Hi,

When I install an older harddrive on the second ide, the machine won't
boot.
I double checked to make sure no conflicts with master/slave
selection.
If I pull the drive, the machine boots and runs normal.

Would the solution be to delete the MBR in the older drive? I just
want to pull data off the older drive and don't have cdrom-r.

I have other very old drives that I would like to do this to also.

Thanks for your reply.

^gin^
 
When I install an older harddrive on the second ide, the machine won't
boot. I double checked to make sure no conflicts with master/slave
selection. If I pull the drive, the machine boots and runs normal.
Click to expand...

What does it show on the black bios screen at boot time drives wise ?

List the model details off both drives. Some drives have an extra
jumper for use when the OTHER drive isnt fully ATA compliant.
Would the solution be to delete the MBR in the older drive?
Click to expand...

It likely wouldnt make any difference.
I just want to pull data off the older drive and don't have cdrom-r.
Click to expand...

Do you have more than one ribbon cable ? If you
do, it doesnt necessarily have to be on the same
ribbon cable as the drive it doesnt like coexisting with.
 
Previously Gin said:
Hi,
Click to expand...
When I install an older harddrive on the second ide, the machine won't
boot.
I double checked to make sure no conflicts with master/slave
selection.
If I pull the drive, the machine boots and runs normal.
Click to expand...
Would the solution be to delete the MBR in the older drive? I just
want to pull data off the older drive and don't have cdrom-r.
Click to expand...

No. If multiple bootable disks are found the BIOS just takes the first.
There may be a very broken MBR on the first disk, that cannot deal with
an active partition on the second disk. In this case, setting
all the partitions on the second disk to "not active" would help.

Or it might be a hardware problem, in which case nothing helps,
except using an other first drive that works with the old one.

Arno
 
No. If multiple bootable disks are found the BIOS just takes the first.
Click to expand...

Not necessarily. Most modern bios allow you to boot off any
hard drive and you sepecify which one to boot off in the bios.
There may be a very broken MBR on the first disk, that
cannot deal with an active partition on the second disk.
Click to expand...

Very unlikely. Its the bios that passes control to
the MBR once its decided which physical drive to
boot off, and the MBR just decides which of the
partitions on the physical drive is on to boot from.
In this case, setting all the partitions on the
second disk to "not active" would help.
Click to expand...

Bet it doesnt.
Or it might be a hardware problem,
Click to expand...

Yeah, thats the most likely. The bios cant read the drive
MBR properly with the second drive present for some reason.
in which case nothing helps, except using an
other first drive that works with the old one.
Click to expand...

And that may not help if its a controller problem.
 
zot said:
Not necessarily. Most modern bios allow you to boot off any
hard drive and you sepecify which one to boot off in the bios.


Very unlikely. Its the bios that passes control to
the MBR once its decided which physical drive to
boot off, and the MBR just decides which of the
partitions on the physical drive is on to boot from.


Bet it doesnt.


Yeah, thats the most likely. The bios cant read the drive
MBR properly with the second drive present for some reason.


And that may not help if its a controller problem.
Click to expand...

//////
Thanks all for your replies.

I switched IDE's/drives around,,, and switched drive master/slave
options, but results are still no joy.

Any software out there that I might try??

Gin
 
zot said:
Not necessarily. Most modern bios allow you to boot off any
hard drive and you sepecify which one to boot off in the bios.


Very unlikely. Its the bios that passes control to
the MBR once its decided which physical drive to
boot off, and the MBR just decides which of the
partitions on the physical drive is on to boot from.


Bet it doesnt.


Yeah, thats the most likely. The bios cant read the drive
MBR properly with the second drive present for some reason.


And that may not help if its a controller problem.
Click to expand...

//////
Thanks all for your replies.

I switched IDE's/drives around,,, and switched drive master/slave
options, but results are still no joy.

Any software out there that I might try??

Gin
 
Thanks all for your replies.
Click to expand...
I switched IDE's/drives around,,, and switched drive
master/slave options, but results are still no joy.
Click to expand...

Exactly what do you mean by 'the machine wont boot' ?
Do you still get that result, regardless of the config ?
Any software out there that I might try??
Click to expand...

The older drive may have had a bios overlay used
so that it could be seen on the older PC. When its
not the boot drive, the bios overlay wont be loaded
and so the drive wont be visible at the win level.

That doesnt usually prevent the PC from booting tho.

I'm not aware of any software that would
allow for that with the drive as a slave. It
may or may not be possible to remove the
bios overlay and not lose the data. You can
do that with some, by booting the bios overlay
from a floppy and getting it to remove itself.
 
Rod Speed said:
Exactly what do you mean by 'the machine wont boot' ?
Do you still get that result, regardless of the config ?


The older drive may have had a bios overlay used
so that it could be seen on the older PC. When its
not the boot drive, the bios overlay wont be loaded
and so the drive wont be visible at the win level.

That doesnt usually prevent the PC from booting tho.

I'm not aware of any software that would
allow for that with the drive as a slave. It
may or may not be possible to remove the
bios overlay and not lose the data. You can
do that with some, by booting the bios overlay
from a floppy and getting it to remove itself.
Click to expand...

//////
When I say 'the machine won't boot', I don't even get the bios screen.

Gin
 
Gin said:
//////
When I say 'the machine won't boot', I don't even get the bios screen.
Click to expand...

Thats odd. You sure the drive isnt dead and
is preventing access to the normal boot drive ?
Or you're doing something wrong like putting
 
Rod Speed said:
Thats odd. You sure the drive isnt dead and
is preventing access to the normal boot drive ?
Or you're doing something wrong like putting
Click to expand...

////////
Hi Rod,

Thanks for your interest.

Your last post trailed off and out of the universe, last word is "putting".

I'm grasping at every straw on this problem.

Thanks.

Gin
 
Gin said:
////////
Hi Rod,

Thanks for your interest.

Your last post trailed off and out of the universe, last word is "putting".
Click to expand...

It did indeed. Tad tantalising |-)

It should have read

Thats odd. You sure the drive isnt dead and
is preventing access to the normal boot drive ?
Or you're doing something wrong like putting the
ribbon cable on backwards with that particular drive ?

VERY unusual to not even get the black bios
screen whenever that drive is plugged in anywhere.

Obviously one other possibility is that the drive is
just dead and so dead that you dont even get the
black bios screen. You can get that if its a short
on the 5V or 12V lines and the power supply wont
even start up because of the short it sees.

Do you get the fans spinning up and the flash
on the keyboard and front panel leds when you
try to boot with that drive plugged into the system ?
I'm grasping at every straw on this problem.
Click to expand...

Yeah, starting to look very like the drive is rather dead.

You into necrophilia ?
 
Rod Speed said:
It did indeed. Tad tantalising |-)

It should have read

Thats odd. You sure the drive isnt dead and
is preventing access to the normal boot drive ?
Or you're doing something wrong like putting the
ribbon cable on backwards with that particular drive ?

VERY unusual to not even get the black bios
screen whenever that drive is plugged in anywhere.

Obviously one other possibility is that the drive is
just dead and so dead that you dont even get the
black bios screen. You can get that if its a short
on the 5V or 12V lines and the power supply wont
even start up because of the short it sees.

Do you get the fans spinning up and the flash
on the keyboard and front panel leds when you
try to boot with that drive plugged into the system ?


Yeah, starting to look very like the drive is rather dead.

You into necrophilia ?
Click to expand...

Have to go out of town. Taking the drives for an old tech to look at.

Will post [on this thread] what he found.

Thanks.

Gin
 
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