[SOLVED] Weird Hard Drive Problem

969 Views 2 Replies 2 Participants Last post by satisfier23, Jan 10, 2012

satisfier23

Discussion Starter · Jan 10, 2012

I have two computers. One is a Dell Optiplex GX 100 the other a HP Pavillion A620n. The Dell has a Segate H D. The HP a Eide HD.
I was having a problem with the HP CD & DVD player so disconnected the power cord and ribbon from both of them. A few weeks later had a system crash and had to wipe the hard drive, Re-install my OS which is Windows XP Home Edition.Found out the HD Jumpers for the HP were set to Cable Select and the HD was attached to Slave on the Ribbon. After install instead of loading windows the system It shut down, rebooted up and went to a screen that said Start Windows with Safe Mode Start Windows With Networking, Start Windows with the command prompt, Start Windows with the last known good configuration that worked and finally Start Windows normally.

I opted for Start Windows Normally. Again it went through the POST operation then right back to the option screen to select how to start Windows. This time I opted for Last Know Good Configuration. Went through the post then right back to the Windows Option Screen. Checked the connections and everything was nice and tight. Tried one more time with Safe Mode but the same thing happened.
Thought something may be wrong with the hard drive so I disconnected the power supply to the HD, disconnected the Ribbon from the mother board and installed them in my Dell Optiplex GX 100.Instead of keeping the HD connected to slave I connected it to Master. Booted my Dell machine and Windows Loaded normally.

Thought problem was solved. Boy was I wrong.
Disconnected the Power Cord from the HD and disconnected the ribbon from the mother board in my Dell Optiplex and reinstalled them in to the HP with the Master connection still attached to the hard drive. Checked to make sure everything was tight and it was. Booted up the system and again it went to the screen for options to load Windows. Now I'm a total lost on what to do next. Any suggestions or tips would be appreciated. Thank you in Advance.

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pip22

· #2 · Jan 10, 2012

Re: Weird Hard Drive Problem

Cable Select was meant to remove the confusion some people had with the "Master" & "Slave" concept on old hard drives, but in fact it often didn't work as it was supposed to. For a start, it required an 80-wire ribbon cable (not the standard 40-wire) which many people didn't realise. Furthermore, some systems just refused to work with jumpers set to cable select.

Set the jumper on the system hard drive to "Master" (MA) and attach that drive to the end connector of the ribbon cable.

Then, if there's another drive which needs to share that ribbon cable, set it's jumper to "Slave" and connect that drive to the middle connector on the ribbon cable.

The system should should boot into Windows provided Windows itself is not messed up.

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satisfier23

Discussion Starter · #3 · Jan 10, 2012

Will this work on my hard drive

As I stated in my previous post I have two computers. A Dell Optiplex GX100 and a HP Pavillion A620n computer. The HP does not want to load Windows XP Home edition. It Keeps shutting down, Re-booting, Does the post and then goes to a screen with options to load windows. Anyway The EIDE Hard Drive Jumpers In the HP Pavillion A620n are set to Cable Select and it has a ribbon that has a Master connector and a Slave connector. The Hard Drive is connected to the Slave connector.

Now here is the funny part. When I disconnect the hard drive and ribbon from the HP Change the ribbon from Slave to master and install it in My Dell Optiplex it boots into Winows XP Home Edition perfectly. Already tried re-installing the Hard Drive and Ribbon set to Master back into my HP. It boots up does the post and then goes right back to Options to open windows.

Now here is the question. If I took out the hard drive and Ribbon from the HP and reset it to the master connector put it back into my Dell Optipex then go to the CMOs and set it to boot from the CD. Use my Hard Disk Wipe program to wipe the Hard Drive clean then take it out of my Dell Optiplex Re-install it back into the HP with the original Settings Re-install Windows Xp Home edition. I also have Backup disk of the whole HP so I could use these also to bring it back to factory settings.
Do you think that this might work to be able to boot up and get into either Windows XP Home Edition or boot up to the original factory Settings?

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