I'm having a problem trying to get my "old" Western Digital 120GB
(WD1200BB) drive to work in my new system. If the drive is connected,
then the BIOS hangs while trying to detect it. If I don't power on
the drive until after I enter the BIOS setup, then it is detected just
fine, and everything works until the next time I completely turn off
the system.

- I've tried several power supplies, 250W, 300W, and 380W, and that
didn't matter.
- The drive is jumpered correctly, as a single master, and WDC
diagnostics didn't find anything wrong.
- There are no other drives or cards installed in the system, just the
Motherboard, CPU and 120GB drive.
- The same problem occurs if I use an add-on ATA card.
- This drive still works fine if I put it in my old Athlon 650 system.
- A 40GB 5400RPM Maxtor drive does not exhibit this problem in the
system, it is detected right away.

Right now, the system consists of:
- Soltek 75MRN-L motherboard
- Athlon XP 2500+ Barton CPU
- Centon 512MB PC2700 RAM
- WD1200BB Western Digital 120GB hard drive

Has anyone run into a problem like this before? Any other ideas on
what parts to swap? I RMA'd the original motherboard because it did
this, but since the second one does it, I'm guessing it's something
else. The drive is one of the early WD 120GB drives, and not under
warrantly anymore.

Thanks for any help!

Brian

auto detect is enabled in the bios for the IDE controllers?

"Brian Groose" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> I'm having a problem trying to get my "old" Western Digital 120GB
> (WD1200BB) drive to work in my new system. If the drive is connected,
> then the BIOS hangs while trying to detect it. If I don't power on
> the drive until after I enter the BIOS setup, then it is detected just
> fine, and everything works until the next time I completely turn off
> the system.
>
> - I've tried several power supplies, 250W, 300W, and 380W, and that
> didn't matter.
> - The drive is jumpered correctly, as a single master, and WDC
> diagnostics didn't find anything wrong.
> - There are no other drives or cards installed in the system, just the
> Motherboard, CPU and 120GB drive.
> - The same problem occurs if I use an add-on ATA card.
> - This drive still works fine if I put it in my old Athlon 650 system.
> - A 40GB 5400RPM Maxtor drive does not exhibit this problem in the
> system, it is detected right away.
>
> Right now, the system consists of:
> - Soltek 75MRN-L motherboard
> - Athlon XP 2500+ Barton CPU
> - Centon 512MB PC2700 RAM
> - WD1200BB Western Digital 120GB hard drive
>
> Has anyone run into a problem like this before? Any other ideas on
> what parts to swap? I RMA'd the original motherboard because it did
> this, but since the second one does it, I'm guessing it's something
> else. The drive is one of the early WD 120GB drives, and not under
> warrantly anymore.
>
> Thanks for any help!
>
> Brian

Brian Groose wrote:
> I'm having a problem trying to get my "old" Western Digital 120GB
> (WD1200BB) drive to work in my new system. If the drive is connected,
> then the BIOS hangs while trying to detect it. If I don't power on
> the drive until after I enter the BIOS setup, then it is detected just
> fine, and everything works until the next time I completely turn off
> the system.
>
> - I've tried several power supplies, 250W, 300W, and 380W, and that
> didn't matter.
> - The drive is jumpered correctly, as a single master, and WDC
> diagnostics didn't find anything wrong.
> - There are no other drives or cards installed in the system, just the
> Motherboard, CPU and 120GB drive.
> - The same problem occurs if I use an add-on ATA card.
> - This drive still works fine if I put it in my old Athlon 650 system.
> - A 40GB 5400RPM Maxtor drive does not exhibit this problem in the
> system, it is detected right away.
>
> Right now, the system consists of:
> - Soltek 75MRN-L motherboard
> - Athlon XP 2500+ Barton CPU
> - Centon 512MB PC2700 RAM
> - WD1200BB Western Digital 120GB hard drive
>
> Has anyone run into a problem like this before? Any other ideas on
> what parts to swap? I RMA'd the original motherboard because it did
> this, but since the second one does it, I'm guessing it's something
> else. The drive is one of the early WD 120GB drives, and not under
> warrantly anymore.
>
> Thanks for any help!
>
> Brian
I have seen where some hard drives do not get up to speed fast enough
for the bios to detect the drive when looking for a hard drive. That
might be happening here if you can detect the drive AFTER it is once
running. If the drive is consistently detected properly after once
having been detected by BIOS, leave power on and do a Ctrl+Alt+Del.
Since the drive never stopped, the speed will already be up and it might
detect it every time. If so, it would support the drive speed theory.
One way you might overcome such a problem is to remove the Fast Boot
option in CMOS so that it allows the drive more time to get up to speed.

Ken

Yes. However, if I turn auto detect off, the system will boot just
fine. If I go into the BIOS with auto detect off, and try to detect
the drive in there, it will hang in the BIOS.


On Wed, 10 Sep 2003 06:09:10 GMT, "JAD" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>auto detect is enabled in the bios for the IDE controllers?
>
>"Brian Groose" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> I'm having a problem trying to get my "old" Western Digital 120GB
>> (WD1200BB) drive to work in my new system. If the drive is connected,
>> then the BIOS hangs while trying to detect it. If I don't power on
>> the drive until after I enter the BIOS setup, then it is detected just
>> fine, and everything works until the next time I completely turn off
>> the system.
>>
>> - I've tried several power supplies, 250W, 300W, and 380W, and that
>> didn't matter.
>> - The drive is jumpered correctly, as a single master, and WDC
>> diagnostics didn't find anything wrong.
>> - There are no other drives or cards installed in the system, just the
>> Motherboard, CPU and 120GB drive.
>> - The same problem occurs if I use an add-on ATA card.
>> - This drive still works fine if I put it in my old Athlon 650 system.
>> - A 40GB 5400RPM Maxtor drive does not exhibit this problem in the
>> system, it is detected right away.
>>
>> Right now, the system consists of:
>> - Soltek 75MRN-L motherboard
>> - Athlon XP 2500+ Barton CPU
>> - Centon 512MB PC2700 RAM
>> - WD1200BB Western Digital 120GB hard drive
>>
>> Has anyone run into a problem like this before? Any other ideas on
>> what parts to swap? I RMA'd the original motherboard because it did
>> this, but since the second one does it, I'm guessing it's something
>> else. The drive is one of the early WD 120GB drives, and not under
>> warrantly anymore.
>>
>> Thanks for any help!
>>
>> Brian
>

On Wed, 10 Sep 2003 12:03:11 GMT, (E-Mail Removed)lid wrote:

>
>
>Brian Groose wrote:
>> I'm having a problem trying to get my "old" Western Digital 120GB
>> (WD1200BB) drive to work in my new system. If the drive is connected,
>> then the BIOS hangs while trying to detect it. If I don't power on
>> the drive until after I enter the BIOS setup, then it is detected just
>> fine, and everything works until the next time I completely turn off
>> the system.
>>
>> - I've tried several power supplies, 250W, 300W, and 380W, and that
>> didn't matter.
>> - The drive is jumpered correctly, as a single master, and WDC
>> diagnostics didn't find anything wrong.
>> - There are no other drives or cards installed in the system, just the
>> Motherboard, CPU and 120GB drive.
>> - The same problem occurs if I use an add-on ATA card.
>> - This drive still works fine if I put it in my old Athlon 650 system.
>> - A 40GB 5400RPM Maxtor drive does not exhibit this problem in the
>> system, it is detected right away.
>>
>> Right now, the system consists of:
>> - Soltek 75MRN-L motherboard
>> - Athlon XP 2500+ Barton CPU
>> - Centon 512MB PC2700 RAM
>> - WD1200BB Western Digital 120GB hard drive
>>
>> Has anyone run into a problem like this before? Any other ideas on
>> what parts to swap? I RMA'd the original motherboard because it did
>> this, but since the second one does it, I'm guessing it's something
>> else. The drive is one of the early WD 120GB drives, and not under
>> warrantly anymore.
>>
>> Thanks for any help!
>>
>> Brian
> I have seen where some hard drives do not get up to speed fast enough
>for the bios to detect the drive when looking for a hard drive. That
>might be happening here if you can detect the drive AFTER it is once
>running. If the drive is consistently detected properly after once
>having been detected by BIOS, leave power on and do a Ctrl+Alt+Del.
>Since the drive never stopped, the speed will already be up and it might
>detect it every time. If so, it would support the drive speed theory.
>One way you might overcome such a problem is to remove the Fast Boot
>option in CMOS so that it allows the drive more time to get up to speed.
>
>Ken

I don't have a Fast Boot option in this particular BIOS (that I could
find, at least). But when I power the system on, and it hangs trying
to detect the drive, then I reboot it, it still hangs after that, even
though the drive is clearly powered up at that point.
If I power the system on with auto detect disabled, I can go into the
BIOS and try to auto detect the drive manually. It still hangs in
this case, and the drive has had plenty of time to power up by then.
I've never seen anything like this before, and it's really confusing
me!

Brian

try a new cable.....I was just about to toss a Burner when I decided to replace (The new) cable, still have the burner.... ;^)

"Brian Groose" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Wed, 10 Sep 2003 12:03:11 GMT, (E-Mail Removed)lid wrote:
>
> >
> >
> >Brian Groose wrote:
> >> I'm having a problem trying to get my "old" Western Digital 120GB
> >> (WD1200BB) drive to work in my new system. If the drive is connected,
> >> then the BIOS hangs while trying to detect it. If I don't power on
> >> the drive until after I enter the BIOS setup, then it is detected just
> >> fine, and everything works until the next time I completely turn off
> >> the system.
> >>
> >> - I've tried several power supplies, 250W, 300W, and 380W, and that
> >> didn't matter.
> >> - The drive is jumpered correctly, as a single master, and WDC
> >> diagnostics didn't find anything wrong.
> >> - There are no other drives or cards installed in the system, just the
> >> Motherboard, CPU and 120GB drive.
> >> - The same problem occurs if I use an add-on ATA card.
> >> - This drive still works fine if I put it in my old Athlon 650 system.
> >> - A 40GB 5400RPM Maxtor drive does not exhibit this problem in the
> >> system, it is detected right away.
> >>
> >> Right now, the system consists of:
> >> - Soltek 75MRN-L motherboard
> >> - Athlon XP 2500+ Barton CPU
> >> - Centon 512MB PC2700 RAM
> >> - WD1200BB Western Digital 120GB hard drive
> >>
> >> Has anyone run into a problem like this before? Any other ideas on
> >> what parts to swap? I RMA'd the original motherboard because it did
> >> this, but since the second one does it, I'm guessing it's something
> >> else. The drive is one of the early WD 120GB drives, and not under
> >> warrantly anymore.
> >>
> >> Thanks for any help!
> >>
> >> Brian
> > I have seen where some hard drives do not get up to speed fast enough
> >for the bios to detect the drive when looking for a hard drive. That
> >might be happening here if you can detect the drive AFTER it is once
> >running. If the drive is consistently detected properly after once
> >having been detected by BIOS, leave power on and do a Ctrl+Alt+Del.
> >Since the drive never stopped, the speed will already be up and it might
> >detect it every time. If so, it would support the drive speed theory.
> >One way you might overcome such a problem is to remove the Fast Boot
> >option in CMOS so that it allows the drive more time to get up to speed.
> >
> >Ken
>
> I don't have a Fast Boot option in this particular BIOS (that I could
> find, at least). But when I power the system on, and it hangs trying
> to detect the drive, then I reboot it, it still hangs after that, even
> though the drive is clearly powered up at that point.
> If I power the system on with auto detect disabled, I can go into the
> BIOS and try to auto detect the drive manually. It still hangs in
> this case, and the drive has had plenty of time to power up by then.
> I've never seen anything like this before, and it's really confusing
> me!
>
> Brian

"Brian Groose" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> I'm having a problem trying to get my "old" Western Digital 120GB
> (WD1200BB) drive to work in my new system. If the drive is connected,
> then the BIOS hangs while trying to detect it. If I don't power on
> the drive until after I enter the BIOS setup, then it is detected just
> fine, and everything works until the next time I completely turn off
> the system.
>
> - I've tried several power supplies, 250W, 300W, and 380W, and that
> didn't matter.
> - The drive is jumpered correctly, as a single master, and WDC
> diagnostics didn't find anything wrong.
> - There are no other drives or cards installed in the system, just the
> Motherboard, CPU and 120GB drive.
> - The same problem occurs if I use an add-on ATA card.
> - This drive still works fine if I put it in my old Athlon 650 system.
> - A 40GB 5400RPM Maxtor drive does not exhibit this problem in the
> system, it is detected right away.
>
> Right now, the system consists of:
> - Soltek 75MRN-L motherboard
> - Athlon XP 2500+ Barton CPU
> - Centon 512MB PC2700 RAM
> - WD1200BB Western Digital 120GB hard drive
>
> Has anyone run into a problem like this before? Any other ideas on
> what parts to swap? I RMA'd the original motherboard because it did
> this, but since the second one does it, I'm guessing it's something
> else. The drive is one of the early WD 120GB drives, and not under
> warrantly anymore.
>
> Thanks for any help!
>
> Brian

Rather than letting BIOS detect it with the "Auto" setting, set it for "User
defined". If you don't know the settings, go to WD's web site & get the info
from them.

> >> I'm having a problem trying to get my "old" Western Digital 120GB
> >> (WD1200BB) drive to work in my new system. If the drive is connected,
> >> then the BIOS hangs while trying to detect it. If I don't power on
> >> the drive until after I enter the BIOS setup, then it is detected just
> >> fine, and everything works until the next time I completely turn off
> >> the system.
> >> - The drive is jumpered correctly, as a single master, and WDC

Brian, if it's the only drive on the cable then you need to
remove the jumper from Master. For WD drives, you only put a jumper on
Master when there is a Slave drive on the same cable.


---
Kevin Chalker, Owner KC COMPUTERS
E-mail: (E-Mail Removed) Web: www.kc-computers.com
Internet dealer for 12+ years!!! See WWW.RESELLERRATINGS.COM!!!

On Tue, 09 Sep 2003 21:53:47 -0400, Brian Groose
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>I'm having a problem trying to get my "old" Western Digital 120GB
>(WD1200BB) drive to work in my new system. If the drive is connected,
>then the BIOS hangs while trying to detect it. If I don't power on
>the drive until after I enter the BIOS setup, then it is detected just
>fine, and everything works until the next time I completely turn off
>the system.
>
>- I've tried several power supplies, 250W, 300W, and 380W, and that
>didn't matter.
>- The drive is jumpered correctly, as a single master, and WDC
>diagnostics didn't find anything wrong.
>- There are no other drives or cards installed in the system, just the
>Motherboard, CPU and 120GB drive.
>- The same problem occurs if I use an add-on ATA card.
>- This drive still works fine if I put it in my old Athlon 650 system.
>- A 40GB 5400RPM Maxtor drive does not exhibit this problem in the
>system, it is detected right away.
>
>Right now, the system consists of:
>- Soltek 75MRN-L motherboard
>- Athlon XP 2500+ Barton CPU
>- Centon 512MB PC2700 RAM
>- WD1200BB Western Digital 120GB hard drive
>
>Has anyone run into a problem like this before? Any other ideas on
>what parts to swap? I RMA'd the original motherboard because it did
>this, but since the second one does it, I'm guessing it's something
>else. The drive is one of the early WD 120GB drives, and not under
>warrantly anymore.

I hooked up a separate power supply to the hard drive from an external
enclosure, and if I power that and the system on at the same time,
everything works great! It almost seems like the PSU in the case
isn't getting enough power to the drive during the initial startup,
and the drive gets in some weird wedged state. Someone else suggested
trying a different outlet, so I'm going to try playing with more
power-related issues.

Brian

-
Brian Groose stood up at show-n-tell, in
(E-Mail Removed), and said:

> On Tue, 09 Sep 2003 21:53:47 -0400, Brian Groose
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>> I'm having a problem trying to get my "old" Western Digital 120GB
>> (WD1200BB) drive to work in my new system. If the drive is
>> connected, then the BIOS hangs while trying to detect it. If I
>> don't power on the drive until after I enter the BIOS setup, then it
>> is detected just fine, and everything works until the next time I
>> completely turn off the system.
>>
>> - I've tried several power supplies, 250W, 300W, and 380W, and that
>> didn't matter.
>> - The drive is jumpered correctly, as a single master, and WDC
>> diagnostics didn't find anything wrong.
>> - There are no other drives or cards installed in the system, just
>> the Motherboard, CPU and 120GB drive.
>> - The same problem occurs if I use an add-on ATA card.
>> - This drive still works fine if I put it in my old Athlon 650
>> system.
>> - A 40GB 5400RPM Maxtor drive does not exhibit this problem in the
>> system, it is detected right away.
>>
>> Right now, the system consists of:
>> - Soltek 75MRN-L motherboard
>> - Athlon XP 2500+ Barton CPU
>> - Centon 512MB PC2700 RAM
>> - WD1200BB Western Digital 120GB hard drive
>>
>> Has anyone run into a problem like this before? Any other ideas on
>> what parts to swap? I RMA'd the original motherboard because it did
>> this, but since the second one does it, I'm guessing it's something
>> else. The drive is one of the early WD 120GB drives, and not under
>> warrantly anymore.
>
> I hooked up a separate power supply to the hard drive from an external
> enclosure, and if I power that and the system on at the same time,
> everything works great! It almost seems like the PSU in the case
> isn't getting enough power to the drive during the initial startup,
> and the drive gets in some weird wedged state. Someone else suggested
> trying a different outlet, so I'm going to try playing with more
> power-related issues.

It might be that all of the PSU's you've tried, up to this point are crap
and cannot handle the full load of everything in your case. I think the
fact that a separate PSU solves the issue, points to that. You never
mentioned what brand of PSU's you've used. There are a lot of crap ones,
out there.

>
> Brian

--
Strontium

"It's no surprise, to me. I am my own worst enemy. `Cause every
now, and then, I kick the livin' **** `outta me." - Lit