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Windows 98 not detecting hdds on ide2

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zer0nix

Member
Joined
Mar 7, 2005
i think it's a driver/registry problem; i probably have to delete some value somewhere or install something but i need your help! ide2 used to hold two optical drives: a master dvd burner and a dvdrom slave. i switched out the dvdrom for a working, properly jumpered hdd and when windows 98 wouldn't detect it (bios did perfectly), i decided to switch the jumper on the hdd to 'single' and take out the remaining optical drive. that didn't work either and i'm out of ideas :( help?


ps: at least this isn't happening again -i think: http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=412748

pss: aye, it's taken a long while to get back on the saddle with this one...

psss: also tried 'cable select' which also didn't work...
 
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do the optical drives detect and show in windows if you put them back in?
the hard drive, is it not showing in device manager or are you just not seeing a drive letter in my computer? if you see it in device manager, it may just need to be partitioned and formatted. if you don't, that's another problem.
 
Know Nuttin said:
if you see it in device manager, it may just need to be partitioned and formatted. if you don't, that's another problem.

My guess, too. And one thing I space out on from time to time: set the partition to 'active'.
 
thanks for all your replies!

the hdd in question is a secondary hard drive pulled from another computer that also uses windows 98. i'm still using this os because i never got around to installing xp; i ran into some problems the first and second time... but that's a problem for another thread.

i don't see the hdd in the 'add new hardware wizard' and it doesn't show up as a letter in explorer. the optical drives show up when i plug them back in. the hdd works perfectly in other computers.
 
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uh, don't mean to sound impatient but i'm still waiting on an answer here :(
 
It is possible that there are jumper settings limiting the size of the drive or what the bios can see.Do not change these! Go into bios and find the settings that say automatically detect IDE.Click that again but do not enter settings manually unless the data can be lost.If there is an E.S.C.D. setting in bios change to enable and reboot(it will return to disabled after booting).If the data can be lost enter the settings manually from the hard drive,cylinders,sectors and try it.
 
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boot from a bootdisk and see if you can see the partitions on the second hard disk in DOS.

So is the hard disk is present in Device Manager?
 
interestingly, i do see the second hdd in device manager. i'm not sure how to go about 'seeing the partitions on the second hard disk in DOS.' do you mean going into 'd:' in dos? i'll try that and report back asap. sorry i didn't post rejoinder sooner.

bios detects and reflects the proper size and type of hdd. i'd like to be able to use the hdd on this computer without reformatting because the reason i'm hooking it up at all is to have access to stored files.
 
ok, not good... i used this bootdisk: http://www.troyedwards.com/downloads/BootDisks/boot98.exe and 'd:' seems to be a virtual drive for the bootdisk or something (entering 'dir' brings up "volume in drive D is ms-ramdrive")... i couldn't find the second hdd at all... if i have some spare time i will try to test this hdd out on another computer again (only the one availible atm and i'm severely busy these days) but i'm almost certain it should work... idunno... the fact that it's not showing up when i use the bootdisk is making me nervous...

preemptive 'oh ****' question: is there any program that can be used to recover accidentally wiped data? :(
 
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