Slave drive isn't recognized in Windows

  • Thread starter Thread starter Guest
  • Start date Start date
G

Guest

I'm trying to add a second hard drive to my computer, but Windows doesn't
recognize it. The slave drive shows up fine in the BIOS and the DOS based
version of the software that came with the drive (MaxBlast from Maxtor) which
allowed me to format the drive. But, when Windows boots the drive doesn't
show up in My Computer, the Disk Management utility, the Add Hardware Wizard,
or even the Windows based version of MaxBlast.

I'm running Windows XP Pro with SP1 and SP2.
 
Make sure the master drive is at the end of the IDE chain and is jumpered to
"master". Set the slave drive jumper to "cable select" .
 
If the jumpers were a problem the bios wouldn't see the drive. I would
never mix jumper modes as you suggest. If your going to use cable select,
then use it on both drives. If you jumper one as master then use the slave
jumper for the other, keep it simple.
 
Look in Disk Management and you should see the slave drive. You may need to
Assign a Drive Letter to it.
 
andrew1830 said:
Like I said, the drive doesn't show up in Disk Managment.
Click to expand...


Andrew:
It goes (nearly) without saying that we assume your second drive is
non-defective. It might be a good idea to use Maxtor's diagnostic utility to
check the disk.

Try this first, if you haven't already...
Disconnect your second drive from the machine and boot up normally with your
primary drive. Assuming there's no bootup problem, reconnect the second
drive again and boot up. Make absolutely sure that you've jumpered BOTH
drives correctly, i.e., your primary drive is configured/jumpered as Primary
Master (*not* Single in case it's a WD drive), and your second drive is
jumpered correctly - either PM, or SM or SS. It doesn't matter, as long as
it's jumpered correctly. And make sure your IDE data cables are securely
fastened on both ends. If you're using Cable Select, make sure the drives
are correctly connected to the appropriate connector of its IDE cable.
Simply stated -- double-check your drives' connections.

I wish you hadn't used the MaxBlast program in the first place. I'm not a
fan of that program when it comes to using that utility in an XP
environment. It's best to use XP's Disk Management utility to
partition/format a HD. I know you've said the second drive doesn't show up
in DM at this point but that may be due to some problem introduced by the
MaxBlast program. It's happened before in my experience.

Anyway, what's done is done. Try what I've suggested and if there's still a
problem, so indicate.
Anna

If there's still a problem...
 
andrew1830 said:
I've tried both drives as primary drives and they work fine so I know
they're
not defective (plus I ran Maxtor's diagnostic utility). They're both
jumpered to cable select and I've checked the cable connections many
times.
I didn't run MaxBlast in DOS until after I verified the slave drive
wouldn't
show up in Disk Management so I don't think MaxBlast caused the problem
(although it certainly hasn't helped) unless simply installing it without
running it would have done something. I'm still having the same issue.

The slave drive shows up perfectly in the BIOS and in MaxBlast for DOS so
I
don't think it could be any type of hardware/connection/jumper problem.
I've
even tried disabling and uninstalling all of my optical drives so that
drive
letter assignments couldn't be an issue.

Are there any software incompatibility issues or services or processes in
Windows that might affect a slave drive?

I appreciate all the input, Maxtor's customer support hasn't been able to
resolve the issue.
Click to expand...


When you say you've "tried both drives as primary drives and they work
fine", are you indicating that the second drive you're having problems with
is a *bootable* drive, i.e., it contains a bootable XP OS? So when you
connected it as a PM, it booted without any problem? But if it's connected
as a Slave (I assume to the PM), it's not detected by the XP OS? Do I have
this right?

Or are you saying that if that second drive is connected as SM while you
boot to the PM, that second drive will "work fine"?

What happens if you connect the second drive as SS and you boot with the PM?
It's still not detected by the XP OS?

You've indicated your drives are connected Cable Select. You are using an
80-wire IDE cable to connect them, not a 40-wire cable, right? And if that
second drive is connected as a Slave, you are connecting it to the *middle*
connector of that 80-wire IDE cable, right? And you're pretty sure your IDE
cable is non-defective, yes?

If you're still having problems, have you tried connecting the drives in a
non-CS configuration? And do you have the same problem?

It's surely a connectivity issue, not software related.
Anna
 
Your first paragraph is correct. Both drives contain bootable OS's and both
work fine when connected as the primary master, but neither is recognized in
Windows when connected as the primary slave.

To connect the second drive as SS I should put it in the slave position on
the IDE chain of my optical drive?

I do have the slave drive on the middle connection, I am using 80-wire
cable, and I don't think the problem is a defective cable since I've tried
two diferent cables with the same outcome.

I tried connecting them with the jumpers set to master and slave
respectively instead of cable select and I had the same issue.
 
andrew1830 said:
Your first paragraph is correct. Both drives contain bootable OS's and
both
work fine when connected as the primary master, but neither is recognized
in
Windows when connected as the primary slave.

To connect the second drive as SS I should put it in the slave position on
the IDE chain of my optical drive?

I do have the slave drive on the middle connection, I am using 80-wire
cable, and I don't think the problem is a defective cable since I've tried
two diferent cables with the same outcome.

I tried connecting them with the jumpers set to master and slave
respectively instead of cable select and I had the same issue.
Click to expand...


Yes, you can install that second drive on the secondary IDE channel as a
Slave to your optical drive that's currently connected as Master, or you can
even reverse those two connections if you want. But first, connect the
second drive as Slave on that channel and let's see what happens. Again, if
you use CS make sure the devices are connected to their appropriate
connectors on the IDE cable.

BTW, when you connect your optical drive as PS, is there also a
non-recognition problem?
 
Back
Top