I have a computer that needs a new HDD, but it wont take it. I have an old one out of another computer plus everything to install it. The computer recognizes it through the auto detect and I set every up in the bios like the instrucions said. I save the changes and exit. Reboot the comp and the setup opens. It gives all the hdd specs and what-not, the lisc agrmt comes up, I hit enter to accept, then it says gathering information and a "device error reading drive 1 absolute 0" pops up. Any help is appreciated. The comp is an old 266mhz p2 and the hdd is a 5.7gig Maxtor. The old hdd was a 20gig western digital. I just want to see if I can get this thing working.
PS. does it matter if there is anything the hdd I'm trying to install?
If the bios see's it with the appropriate specs, I would say it Sounds like there's a problem with the drives MBR (master boot record). Head over to maxtor's website and pick up their PowerMax diagnostic software. IIRC, you'll have to use the .exe you get to make a floppy disk, then boot of the floppy and software should automatically boot. From there just run the most extensive test you can choose. If everything checks out fine, run the low level format utility as the last resort/step.
Ok, I will give that a try. I'll let ya know if it all works. Thanks.
....half hour later..... Its dead. Failed the S.M.A.R.T. test plus others. Tried the low level format, the hdd clicked like hell and the diagnostic said it was going bad. Now to find a cheap hdd. I wonder if western digital has anything like that, maybe I can figure out what up with that one. Again thanks for helping a somewhat computer illiterate.
maxtor hard drives and seagates are the brands that I stand behind. But if it clicks, that is prolly the end of it. One of the things to check mostly, is that the jumpers are aranged correctly, personally, I just use the cable select option. Also there are alot of other things in play, such as, modes. I dont know alot about modes, but on my lil old 300mhz it will not work with my cdrom and that hard drive, but I change out either the hard drive, or the cdrom and it starts working, and all parts work on other computers.