xLSx

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i recently purchased a computer. nothing on it, and i booted from the cd(win2k) and it loads it drivers, and i got to set up, and says no hardware device drivers. So i go to bios and search for the hard drive it says not installed. does this mean its not formatted? and if so how do i format it. with out making it the slave.
 

jc14all

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That is most likely the problem. You have to FDisk, create an active primarty partiton, and format to either FAT32/NTFS. You can do all this from the W2k CD ROM.

Here is some more helpful information:

<A HREF="http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=47499#47499" target="_new">Recent post in THGC</A>
<A HREF="http://www.dalantech.com/hard-drives.shtml" target="_new">HDD & Partitioning</A>

<font color=purple><b>An average human brain weights aprox. 3lbs., but a thought weights a load.</font color=purple></b>
 

xLSx

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alright you say i can do this through the win2k cd but, in the links, it has it where im doing it through a diskette.
and for 2k its 4 boot disks if im not correct, which i havent made, i know how too though. but its 4 disks, i dont know if that matters, but i have only done it on 98 systems with 1 disk. if i use the win2k cd to boot up, where on earth do i see the options to partion and format?
 

scamtrOn

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ok do you want to use NTFS?

if yes you will have to make the 4 disks and format the hard drive through them since a win9X boot disk will not offer this option. but if you are ok with fat32, which i had to go with because of compatibility issues, you can use the "simple to use" fdisk option on a win9X boot disk. partition it set it, as active drive and format it. the drive is now ready to be used.

now if you do want ntfs just post back and i'll show u how to do it. i just dont want to spen the time and see u r ok with fat32. by the way, there is nothin wrong with fat32.

<b><font color=blue>micheal jackson is cool
 

btvillarin

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Well actually, use FDISK (from a floppy) to partition your hard drive. You can't use FDISK from the Windows 2000 CD. The links that <b>jc14all</b> mentioned definitely help with FDISK. You can just use the Windows 98 floppy, because you're only using FDISK and FORMAT. The Windows 2000 floppy disks are only if your CD-Rom drive and motherboard doesn't support booting to a CD.

Also, make sure that the hard drive you installed has the correct jumpers set. <i>And</i>, go into the BIOS and make that the the Primary/Secondary Master/Slave is set to Auto Detect (whichever one applies to you new hard drive). It should say on your motherboard what IDE connector it's connected to. Then, add the jumper setting that your hard drive is set to, then you know what setting in your BIOS applies to your hard drive. (I hope that wasn't confusing or complicated.)

Bryan
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AEboy128

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Dudes, he said he went to the bios and it says not installed for the hard drive. Meaning that the computer may not have a hard drive. It could be that it wasn't properly configured also. Can you set to automatically detect the hard drive?

Tom's Hardware Tested... Buyer Approved!!
 

scamtrOn

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well if bios doesn't see it, it could be many thing.

no power
wrong cable
the first pin on the cable is not where it should be connected to, on HD or mobo
needs a bios flash
the chipset is not compatible
hd is too big
hd is broke
hd cash is dead
controller is not configed
controller is broke
eide is disabled in bios
irq conflict
jumpers are incorrect


ahhhhh the list goes on and on, but thats all i thought of now. it could be any one of those


<b><font color=blue>micheal jackson is cool
 

btvillarin

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Ah, good call!

If the motherboard doesn't support that size HD, then flash it to the latest one and try again. If it's still not detected, get your manufacturer's utility to bypass this limitation.

Bryan
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