Can't store anything on new drive

[Steven Lyall]

I installed a third drive (WD 200Gb) drive on my Win XP Pro machine. I
installed the drive with the ATA controller that came with it. The WD
install software seemed to run OK and told me that the drive was ready to
use.

I can see it in 'My Computer' and it appears to be the right size. However,
when I double-click the drive, it says that it isn't formatted and I am
asked if I want to format it. When I say 'yes', I get a message saying the
drive can't be formatted.

I went back and ran the diagnostics from the WD disk and they were all OK.

I looked at the disk in 'Device manager', but it appeared exactly like the 2
working disks.

I'm at a loss and would appreciate any help.

Thanks,

Steven

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi Steven,

Remove the existing partitions created with the supplied drive software
(overlay). Start/run diskmgmt.msc and use this tool to partition and format
the drive.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x
Windows isn't rocket science! That's my other hobby!

Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone

 

[Steven Lyall]

Works perfectly, other than the size is now reported as 127Gb, not 186Gb.

Many thanks for getting me a long way forward. If you can advise on the
size thing, it would be icing on the cake.

[Please note that when I installed an earlier WD 200Gb drive (connected to
the motherboard, not the ATA controller card), I got a message saying that
my BIOS could not handle drives above 137Gb and so EZ-BIOS was installed.
That drive works perfectly and reports 186Gb in 'My Computer'. By the way,
I was surprised about the BIOS not being able to handle this as the machine
is only a year old with VIA Motherboard.]

Thanks,

Steven

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi Steven,

See if there is a firmware update for the controller card the drive is
hooked to.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x
Windows isn't rocket science! That's my other hobby!

Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone

Works perfectly, other than the size is now reported as 127Gb, not 186Gb.

Many thanks for getting me a long way forward. If you can advise on the
size thing, it would be icing on the cake.

[Please note that when I installed an earlier WD 200Gb drive (connected to
the motherboard, not the ATA controller card), I got a message saying that
my BIOS could not handle drives above 137Gb and so EZ-BIOS was installed.
That drive works perfectly and reports 186Gb in 'My Computer'. By the way,
I was surprised about the BIOS not being able to handle this as the machine
is only a year old with VIA Motherboard.]

Thanks,

Steven

Hi Steven,

Remove the existing partitions created with the supplied drive software
(overlay). Start/run diskmgmt.msc and use this tool to partition and format
the drive.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x
Windows isn't rocket science! That's my other hobby!

Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone



saying
the the

 

[Steven Lyall]

Working now - I updated the BIOS on my motherboard, deleted the partition
and used the WD software to reinstall.

Works perfectly now.

Many thanks,

Steven

Hi Steven,

See if there is a firmware update for the controller card the drive is
hooked to.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x
Windows isn't rocket science! That's my other hobby!

Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone

Works perfectly, other than the size is now reported as 127Gb, not 186Gb.

Many thanks for getting me a long way forward. If you can advise on the
size thing, it would be icing on the cake.

[Please note that when I installed an earlier WD 200Gb drive (connected to
the motherboard, not the ATA controller card), I got a message saying that
my BIOS could not handle drives above 137Gb and so EZ-BIOS was installed.
That drive works perfectly and reports 186Gb in 'My Computer'. By the way,
I was surprised about the BIOS not being able to handle this as the machine
is only a year old with VIA Motherboard.]

Thanks,

Steven

Hi Steven,

Remove the existing partitions created with the supplied drive software
(overlay). Start/run diskmgmt.msc and use this tool to partition and format
the drive.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x
Windows isn't rocket science! That's my other hobby!

Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone



I installed a third drive (WD 200Gb) drive on my Win XP Pro machine. I
installed the drive with the ATA controller that came with it. The WD
install software seemed to run OK and told me that the drive was

ready
to

use.

I can see it in 'My Computer' and it appears to be the right size.
However,
when I double-click the drive, it says that it isn't formatted and I am
asked if I want to format it. When I say 'yes', I get a message saying
the
drive can't be formatted.

I went back and ran the diagnostics from the WD disk and they were

all
OK.

I looked at the disk in 'Device manager', but it appeared exactly

like
the

2
working disks.

I'm at a loss and would appreciate any help.

Thanks,

Steven