IDE I/O error

[projektz_born]

i built a new computer and took an older WD 200 gig ide hard drive and am installing it in the old computer. i hooked the HD up to my new computer to try and reformat it and its not reconized in bios. it doesnt show up on my computer but i can see it when i manage my drives. how ever it will not let me format it it gives me an I/O error. is the drive dead?

 

[aford10]

The HD you are trying to format is a slave drive or your primary?

 

[projektz_born]

it will be the master

 

[Jack64]

hmmm, ok is your new system SATA? And the older hdd a PATA (ribbon cable)?

If so, does the older drive have the jumper set as master? I haven't mixed drives like this before, if that is what you are doing. but I bet we can figure it out, or someone on here with vastly more knowledge than me can... First, if it is a PATA then set the jumper on the drive to slave then try it. Not sure with a mixed drive system how this works, but if it is PATA and is set to master, it might confuse the bios and keep it from being accessed.

 

[projektz_born]

i get thois error when i try and format.
the request could not be performed because of an I/O device error

just tryed a new ide cable that did nothing took ou the shunt that didnt work either. the drive spins up and everythign i dont get it.

some info incase this helps. this hard drive was used only in a external case. not sure if that matters but hey you never know.

 

[projektz_born]

hmmm i have been tryong to get it working in my new comp. ill leave it in the one im tryingto get working and see fi that will help. that one will be all ide run

 

[projektz_born]

also im running the hd and a dvd drive on the same cable. does it matter which is master and which is slave?

i set the dvd drive to master the hd to slave and was able to get the dvd drive to appear in bios.

i went on to the windows install and it says i require drivers. i looked at WD and i cant seem to find drivers for it for vista

 

[aford10]

You should check in the bios to make sure all of your IDE devices are enabled.

It doesn't matter that you have HD and optical on the same cable. You just need to make sure the cable and jumper settings on the drives match.

It sounds like a bios setting though.

 

[Jack64]

The last system I built using Pata, Had 2 HDD's and 2 dvd/cd drives, I put both HDD on Primary IDE and Both dvd/cd on Secondary IDE One as Master and the other as slave. But with it working Both on Primary IDE channel, I would set the DVD/CD drive as Master and the HDD as Slave and set the Bios to boot from the DVD/CD drive to the windows cd and format the HDD with a fresh windows install. But that is what I would do, others may have another idea. It's been a long while since I have done a PATA setup, so I may be wrong, but it is worth a try.

 

[projektz_born]

yes i am running the dvd as master and the hd as slave. but when bios comes up it shows the exact name of the dvd drive and nothign appears as the slave. when i select boot prioity i select dvd 1st then it has hard drive(generic) as 2nd. why doesnt my hard drive show in bios. when i hooked it to my other comp it would show either but i could get to it in hardrive management but was unable to format their. i have been messing with this for like 4 days and am about ready to just buy a new HD grrrrrr.

also what would i have to change/select in bios to make the HD show?

also the only drivers i can find for the HD only support up to XP

 

[Jack64]

Well, there are no drivers for the hard drive, as far as it not showing in the bios, I suppose that the firmware on the hdd could be corrupt if it spins up and stuff. Exactly how old is this drive?? I suppose you could enter it's stuff into bios manually the old fashioned way, all the drive criteria are on the sticker on the drive and see if it works then. Thats the way we used to do it for every drive you installed back in the day.

 

[aford10]

There should be a tab or menu called I/O peripherals or something along those lines. You should have a setting for master drive and slave drive. The slave drive needs to be enabled.

An easy test would be to unplug your optical and set the HD as the master on the cable and jumper(or cable select). Change the boot order in the bios to boot off of the HD first. Watch to see if the bios then picks up your specific HD. If it does, it's the bios. If it doesn't, it's probly your HD.

 

[projektz_born]

i didnt see anything close to i/o peripherals. also i had set it to boot from hd and it still didnt show up in ide, with no jumper or it in the master position.

the drive i would say is between 2-4 years old not sure. i really would like to still use this hd so my next question is...
how do you add it manually like you said. i know it spins up and the computer recognizes it. because like i said it shows up in the windows management thing. appreciate all the help guys.

 

[projektz_born]

also i have never flashed bios b4, how bad or problematic can this be for a computer? i have read a bunch of stuff stateing how this should be the last resort type of thing.

im not sure if you read or i posted it but i bought this HD and slapped it into an external case right away. so it never had an OS or anything liek that. also another note i think the HD might have dumped all the info on it because when it came up in the computer it said it had nothing on it. not sure if that is a sign of anything. or it could be that i just deleted everything and forgot.

 

[aford10]

My fault, the tab that I was referring to in the bios is called 'integrated peripherals'. This is where the onboard controllers are located.

You should be able to unplug your current master drive. Plug in the problem drive as the master. Set the optical drive as the first boot device. Boot off of an OS disc and format that drive.

 

[projektz_born]

ill try that when i get my new comp all set up.