BIOS/WinXP doesn't recognize IDE hdd, but Linux does o_O

merihevonen · Post by **merihevonen** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 12:01 am

Hi!

So, I plugged my old IDE hard drive onto my mobo and when starting up to configure the BIOS, it didn't recognize the disk.. I tried to install Windows XP just in case I had luck that it will recognize the drive, but the Windows XP Installer says that it didn't find any harddrives to install to.. then I tried with installing Linux (Debian) and luckily, it recognized the harddrive and was ready to install..

Just what can be wrong

ts-soft · Post by **ts-soft** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 12:06 am

windows uses the bios, but linux doesn't require the bios. (linux is more intelligend than windows

)

merihevonen · Post by **merihevonen** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 5:20 pm

It seems my BIOS needs an update, because the "Boot Selection Menu" does show the hard drive in the list o_O?
Why doesn't the BIOS SETUP read it?

Num3 · Post by **Num3** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 8:48 pm

Problably because the IDE cable is not suited for an old HDD...

Try to use an old HDD cable not ready for faster transfer modes, because old HD's don't work with new cables (bios).

Linux doesn't need the bios info and goes directly to the hardware, windows needs the bios info to be there to start.

Old HDD Cables:

New HDD Cables (blue connector):

Also check if HDD is in master mode

merihevonen · Post by **merihevonen** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 9:29 pm

I tried both a new and old cable, no differences.. I also double-checked the jumper positions and the drive is in master mode.

dracflamloc · Post by **dracflamloc** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 10:20 pm

Cable wouldn't matter as long as the wire can transmit electric signals lol.

But yea I've had quite a few drives that I thought 'bit it' but linux read them just fine. I've even managed to salvage a few and get windows to recognize them again.