New drive not found

  • Thread starter Thread starter litwakfamily
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litwakfamily

I posted last night that my hard drive seemed to fail and my system
would not boot This failure took place while the computer was running
and I was doing work I was advised to try a new disk and then save
data from the old one. I put a new hard drive in and tried to install
Windows XP. I got an error that Windows could not find the drive.
Or, rather, it said "Unknown drive"" and told me there was nothing
there. Does that mean two drives are bad or does it probaby mean
something else is bad? When I tried to do a Windows system repair on
the first drive, it could not give me files for the C drive but could
for the D drive. When I installed the new drive, I did not change
BIOS settings because I didn't see anything that was different.
Should I have?Also, ever since whatever went wrong last night went
wrong, the initial power up phawe (where I see a big "VPR Matrix" logo
on the screen before Windows starts) takes about four times as long as
usual. What is that perhaps about? Does it indicate something about
the problem? Thanks.


Duncan
 
I posted last night that my hard drive seemed to fail and my system
would not boot This failure took place while the computer was running
and I was doing work I was advised to try a new disk and then save
data from the old one. I put a new hard drive in and tried to install
Windows XP. I got an error that Windows could not find the drive.
Or, rather, it said "Unknown drive"" and told me there was nothing
there. Does that mean two drives are bad or does it probaby mean
something else is bad?
Click to expand...

OK, first, is the new drive detected in the BIOS properly?

What type of drive is it? SATA or IDE?

Then, early during Windows Setup, you'll be offered the chance to load
drivers for hardware, and this can be needed for some motherboards with SATA
drives (very seldom for IDE). This driver will be on floppy, you may need
to download it.
When I tried to do a Windows system repair on
the first drive, it could not give me files for the C drive but could
for the D drive.
Click to expand...

What is the D drive?
When I installed the new drive, I did not change
BIOS settings because I didn't see anything that was different.
Click to expand...

Reset the CMOS to force it to re-detect all hardware. If this is a desktop,
unplug, open the case, remove the battery and short the CMOS CLEAR Jumper,
or wait half an hour or so. Put the jumper back, put the battery back,
restart. The system date should be out by a decade or more.

If it's a laptop, unplug AC and remove the battery. Press and hold the
power switch for one minute.
Should I have?Also, ever since whatever went wrong last night went
wrong, the initial power up phawe (where I see a big "VPR Matrix" logo
on the screen before Windows starts) takes about four times as long as
usual. What is that perhaps about? Does it indicate something about
the problem? Thanks.
Click to expand...

It probably means it's looking for hardware. Clear the CMOS.
 
I posted last night that my hard drive seemed to fail and my system
would not boot This failure took place while the computer was running
and I was doing work I was advised to try a new disk and then save
data from the old one. I put a new hard drive in and tried to install
Windows XP. I got an error that Windows could not find the drive.
Or, rather, it said "Unknown drive"" and told me there was nothing
there. Does that mean two drives are bad or does it probaby mean
something else is bad? When I tried to do a Windows system repair on
the first drive, it could not give me files for the C drive but could
for the D drive. When I installed the new drive, I did not change
BIOS settings because I didn't see anything that was different.
Should I have?Also, ever since whatever went wrong last night went
wrong, the initial power up phawe (where I see a big "VPR Matrix" logo
on the screen before Windows starts) takes about four times as long as
usual. What is that perhaps about? Does it indicate something about
the problem? Thanks.
Click to expand...



try resetting your bios
 
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