Hard drive swapping on an A7N8X-X

[Robin S.]

I'm trying to get my friend's machine running and have run into a very
strange problem.

I installed Windows XP Pro onto his Seagate Barracuda drive. This eventually
led to issues (huge slowdowns, crashes, etc.) so I decided to install
Windows XP Pro onto his Qunatum Fireball drive which worked fine.

The new installation had Windows XP Pro, Office XP, and Norton AV.
Everything was working perfectly (with the Seagate disconnected). Everything
was up to date (SP2, Norton was updated, etc.) The BIOS is also up to date.

I then connected the Seagate (both drives on cable select. The Quantum had
the black connector, the Seagate had the gray connector). This caused the
Seagate to boot. This is not what I want - I want the Quantum to boot.

I then disconnected the Seagate and tried to boot off the Quantum. This led
to the Windows startup screen where you can select Safe Mode (with/without
the floppy/network, IIRC) or Normal Mode.

Trying to boot using any of these four modes results in a restart just
before the "log on" screen should appear.

There have been other issues with swapping hard drives using this
motherboard.

I have a A7V8X-X (that's the Via chipset as opposed to his nForce2 chipset)
and I was easily switching between his drives while booting off of my drive
on my system.

Could this be a virus of some type? His Seagate has old files that he wants
to keep so I'm wondering if by booting it, something in the Quantum got
affected.

I have never seen this type of behaviour before. Switching drives and
getting the right one to work has never been so difficult.

Any thoughts? Sorry for rambling. My head is still spinning...

Regards,

Robin

 

[ByTor]

I'm trying to get my friend's machine running and have run into a very
strange problem.

I installed Windows XP Pro onto his Seagate Barracuda drive. This eventually
led to issues (huge slowdowns, crashes, etc.) so I decided to install
Windows XP Pro onto his Qunatum Fireball drive which worked fine.

The new installation had Windows XP Pro, Office XP, and Norton AV.
Everything was working perfectly (with the Seagate disconnected). Everything
was up to date (SP2, Norton was updated, etc.) The BIOS is also up to date.

I then connected the Seagate (both drives on cable select. The Quantum had
the black connector, the Seagate had the gray connector). This caused the
Seagate to boot. This is not what I want - I want the Quantum to boot.

Try actual Master/Slave connections. If the OS is still on the Seagate
drive the primary partion is still "Active" & confusing the system. You
can only have "One" primary bootable partition running at one time. Wipe
it out first, hopefully you placed all the data on a "Logical" partition
& seperated it from the OS.......If not then somehow you are going to
have to make the OS "inactive" on the seagate to retrieve your
data....that's a process if you do not have the right tools....I for one
use PartitionMagic and can easily resolve issues like this.

Anyway, another solution is to create 2 partitions on the Quantum(Wipe
the OS), A Primary & a logical. Decide the size you want for the OS and
let the rest be logical. Do not install the OS yet. This is of course if
you want to use the Quantum for your OS, but one of your issues is
retrieving your data. After this is done slave this drive to you
Seagate, boot to the SeaG & you should see the other drive in windows
with the 2 PT's.....Get all your data & place it on the "Logical" drive
created on the Quantum...............Now you have choices: WIPE the OS
off of the Seagate & use that for a new install, or, wipe the Seagate &
partiton it for DATA, slave it to the Quantum & install the OS fresh to
the 1st Primary you created on the Quantum.......Got that? I confused
myself typing it.
Later you can always re-do your partitions the way you want as you will
be able to move your data around. I NEVER, NEVER, NEVER save my data to
the partition that my OS is on.

I then disconnected the Seagate and tried to boot off the Quantum. This led
to the Windows startup screen where you can select Safe Mode (with/without
the floppy/network, IIRC) or Normal Mode.

Trying to boot using any of these four modes results in a restart just
before the "log on" screen should appear.

I would have to guess that a format of the MBR will fix this due to the
sensing of 2 OS's......Just a guess.

There have been other issues with swapping hard drives using this
motherboard.

Might not be the MB....Sometimes mixing different brands of drives are
an issue. Happened to me many times.....Especially Seacraps & Quantcums.
Or actually use the Master/Slave pin configs.......

I have a A7V8X-X (that's the Via chipset as opposed to his nForce2 chipset)
and I was easily switching between his drives while booting off of my drive
on my system.

Was his OS on it also? Or were you removing your drive totally? I'd be a
tad curious how you do that if he had an OS on it......Were you using
some kinda boot manager?

Could this be a virus of some type? His Seagate has old files that he wants
to keep so I'm wondering if by booting it, something in the Quantum got
affected.

I have never seen this type of behaviour before. Switching drives and
getting the right one to work has never been so difficult.

Once again, could be mixing drives, pin configurations not being liked,
who knows? Process of elimination sometimes I suppose...........

Any thoughts? Sorry for rambling. My head is still spinning...

So is mine at the moment.....Bluh, bluh, bluh..... ;0)

 

[Blaedmon]

i'd try forcing primary/secondary and not using cable select at all, coupled
with checking your boot order in bios.